# New wireless router doesn't connect to shared network drive



## ghettofunk (Oct 25, 2012)

Our previous wireless router (Netgear Rangemax wpn802) died yesterday so I went out and bought a Western Digital My Net N900. The issue is that now anyone using the wireless signal can't connect to a shared network folder that they were previously able to connect to using the old router.

I'm not able to log into the old router to see any of its settings. I do have access to the server that has the shared folder - I just don't have any idea what needs to be set in order for the N900 to allow me through to the shared folder - whether it's on the router side or the server side.

I get a Windows cannot access \\servername\sharedfolder message when trying to map the network drive.

Hardware/software details:
Router: WD My Net N900
Plugged into: EdgeMarc 4550
Server OS: Windows Server 2003 R2 SP2
Windows Firewall is turned off

wireless router:
IP: 10.10.0.129
Default Gateway: 10.10.0.2
Primary DNS: 8.8.8.8

server:
IP: 10.10.0.6
Default Gateway: 10.10.0.2
Primary DNS: 127.0.0.1

The N900 has DHCP turned on currently - in doing some research prior to posting I saw references to needing to turn this off - if that's correct, do I use the same IP/DNS information as the server?

I'm happy to provide more information if it would be helpful, though I'll admit that I may need help figure out how to find it. Thanks for any help you can provide.


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## Wand3r3r (Sep 17, 2010)

Welcome to TSF!

If the server is running dhcp then yes you would turn the dhcp server off on the router.
Workstations should have the server listed for dns not the gateway or loopback ip.

You mention only a issue with wireless. Does this mean you have no issues with a wired connection gaining access to the server?


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## ghettofunk (Oct 25, 2012)

Thanks for the welcome and I apologize for the delayed reply - I ended up being in meetings all day yesterday. 

There are 2 areas where I can set (and turn off) DHCP in the wireless router. One is under the WAN/Internet Setup tab (my other options are Static IP, PPPoE, PPTP, and L2TP - if I choose Static IP, I need to input the values and I'm not sure what those would be - so I haven't changed that setting). 

The other place to turn off DHCP is in a LAN/DHCP Server Settings tab - this is the one that I have turned off - however, I still haven't seen any change in being able to connect to the server through the wireless router.

If it's any help, the manual for the router is here: www.wdc.com/wdproducts/library/UM/ENG/4779-705074.pdf

Workstations that are using the wireless router currently show the router's IP as the DNS server when I do an ipconfig /all. Workstations that use the data ports show the server's IP as the DNS server.

To your question about wireless vs wired connections - I have only tried using this new router for a wireless connection. All of our data ports run through a switch that is fed from the EdgeMarc on a separate line from the wireless router. So I haven't tried wiring straight into the router because I would assume that the result would be the same.

Thanks for any additional thoughts you have.


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## Wand3r3r (Sep 17, 2010)

You would make no changes to the wan interface concerning dhcp. That is not a dhcp server but a dhcp client. The dhcp server is only on the lan side.

Unfortunately by turning the routers dhcp server off a wifi client connecting to that router can't get a ip address.

There are a couple of solutions:

One would be to get another wifi router and turn it into a wifi access point. You would disable the wifi on the internet router. The servers dhcp server ips would flow thru the wifi AP to the wifi clients.

Another solution is to do what is referred to as split scope. Shrink the ip pool in the servers dhcp server and use that available ip range on the wifi router. You would include the correct dns [server] ip and gateway. For example you would have 192.168.1.100-200 on the server and 192.168.1.201-254 on the router.


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## ghettofunk (Oct 25, 2012)

Ok - I was pretty sure the WAN interface had nothing to do with it - at least I got that right.

I like the split-scope idea if I can manage to set it up properly (because then we aren't having to buy anything else). I assume that I would need to turn DHCP on the LAN interface of the router back on to do this.

I've shrunk the ip pool on the server to 10.10.0.10 - 10.10.0.200, but my only option on the router shows ranges that start with 192.168.1.x - wouldn't I need the range on the router to be 10.10.0.201 - 254? (I've tried changing the LAN IP on the router to 10.10.0.201 - but that just prevents me from being able to log into the router remotely - I have to restore to factory settings before I can get back in.)


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## Wand3r3r (Sep 17, 2010)

You have to configure the router in the proper order.

Set it to 10.10.0.254 and reboot the router
Next assign yourself a static ip of 10.10.0.250 with gateway 10.10.0.254
Now you can access the router.

Problem before is after you changed the router ip you still were using the 192x ip. Both devices need to be in the same ip range to communicate.

Once done switch back to a autoassigned ip. Some routers allow you to dhcp just the wifi part. Some don't.


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## ghettofunk (Oct 25, 2012)

Hmm...I think I followed your directions correctly - set the router IP (in the "LAN/Host and LAN Settings" interface) to 10.10.0.254 and rebooted.

Changed my IP on my machine from DHCP to Static using the following:
IPv4: 10.10.0.250
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Router: 10.10.0.254

That wasn't allowing me to log in to the router, so I put mine back to DHCP and renewed the lease and noticed that this is what I was being given:
IPv4: 20.20.0.106
Subnet Mask: 255.0.0.0
Router: 20.1.1.1

So I tried to log in to the router via 20.1.1.1 and I was able to get in. That doesn't make sense to me. I manually set the LAN IP Address on the router to 10.10.0.254 and now it's showing as 20.1.1.1. Does it make a difference that "Enable DNS Relay" is ON on the router? (that shows right underneath where I can set the LAN IP Address and the Subnet Mask for the router).


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## Wand3r3r (Sep 17, 2010)

sounds more like you set the router to bridge mode which just passes thru the wan ip address

Here is your manual
http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/library/UM/ENG/4779-705074.pdf

page 43 should have 
10.10.0.254
255.x.x.x [or whatever subnet mask you are using. I am not seeing it listed in your posts. It needs to match what the server is using]

dns relay means you should be getting the dns ip your isp is using. When you do a ipconfig /all what is listed for dns?

Next review your dhcp settings. The should be in the 10x not 20x range


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## ghettofunk (Oct 25, 2012)

Thanks so much for your help and patience.

Mode is set to 'Router Mode' - only other option is Extender Mode (Wired AP).

The page 43 screen is where I set the LAN IP address to 10.10.0.254 w/ Subnet Mask as 255.255.255.0 and then rebooted. When I finally got back in to the router, I saw that the LAN IP was 20.1.1.1 and the Subnet Mask was 255.0.0.0 - which was not what I set.

ipconfig /all gives me 20.1.1.1 for dns.

DHCP range on the router is 20x because the LAN IP of the router is at that 20.1.1.1 address. DHCP range on the server is correctly showing as 10x.

I'll try to manually re-enter the correct LAN IP again, but I'm at a loss for why it changed to something that I didn't enter. Would it be because on the server my range is 10.10.0.10 - 10.10.0.200 and we're setting the router outside the scope so it's coming back as something completely different? My understanding was that we were intentionally setting it outside the scope of the server and once it was set, we would set up the DHCP range on the router as 201-254.


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## Wand3r3r (Sep 17, 2010)

That router has no way of knowing if there are other routers, servers or dhcp servers on the lan. To be sure disconnect it from the lan and have only your laptop/pc connected to it when you configure it. There maybe a bug in the firmware causing this issue.

What subnet mask are you using on the server?


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## ghettofunk (Oct 25, 2012)

I've tried changing the LAN IP on the router to 10.10.0.254 again without success (it again shows 20.1.1.1).

Then I tried changing the LAN IP on the router to 10.10.0.200 - since that was in the range of the server - again it reverts to 20.1.1.1.

Then I tried changing the LAN IP on the router to 10.10.0.254 and turned off DNS Relay. Again - 20.1.1.1.

So every time I try to manually change the LAN IP on the router it reverts to a 20x address. 

I'm at a loss.


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## ghettofunk (Oct 25, 2012)

Wand3r3r said:


> That router has no way of knowing if there are other routers, servers or dhcp servers on the lan. To be sure disconnect it from the lan and have only your laptop/pc connected to it when you configure it. There maybe a bug in the firmware causing this issue.
> 
> What subnet mask are you using on the server?


Sorry - missed this reply before I replied. Subnet mask on the server is 255.255.255.0.

I'll try plugging my computer directly into the router and reconfiguring while it's not connected to the LAN.


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## Wand3r3r (Sep 17, 2010)

That appears to be a "feature" [bug] in the router.

What is really strange is the 20.x

10x, 172x and 192x are private ips which is what the router should support. Might want to see if there is a firmware update that addresses this issue. I would suggest you email the manufactures tech support on the subject to get their thoughts/suggestions.


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## ghettofunk (Oct 25, 2012)

Oh. My. Goodness. Finally. Turns out the reason it wasn't connecting was because it was in the wrong device mode for our setup - though I agree that the 20.x is still pretty odd.

I switched it to Extender Mode (wired AP) rather than Router Mode (which is the mode that I had been trying everything in) - set all the Static IP info to everything we've talked about previously and now I'm in.

Thank you so much for walking me through all the different options - I actually feel like I've learned quite a bit about this whole setup in the process - I just wish it wasn't a 3 day ordeal! 

Thanks again.


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## Wand3r3r (Sep 17, 2010)

Extender mode should mean you are not doing NAT so I don't see how this can work for you. Understand this puts the device just as a AP not as a router so I don't see how that can help you.


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