Problems with ASUS RT86U - Running Merlin, configuring USB Drive.

[Richy1964]

Hi,
I am new here but have been a reader of your forums for some time now. Hopefully this is the correct place to post this query, if not, please move and let me know.
I have searched and searched online for an answer to this but have only managed to draw a blank or been redirected back to the ASUS site, which to be honest is as much use as a chocolate fireguard.

I am a bit of a newbie to this networking so maybe I am just doing something stupid and you can point it out and make me feel like a complete tit!
Anyway, my problem - I loaded the latest Merlin Firmware onto my RT86 router and then went about trying to configure a Samsung T5 250GB USB disk as a network shared drive.
My first confusion was in selecting the type of share I need - Basically all I want to do is share the drive on my local network, no need to be available over the internet or anything like that - There will be 5 other computers that need access, and we all are running Ein 10 X64 Pro. There is one iPhone 6s that will also be connecting.
What I was hoping to get was a simple icon of the drive popping up when I open file explorer, I would then map it and be able to share files seemlessley between computers.
Well things didn't work out as simple as that - I tried enabling Media Server share and then SAMBA share, none of which give me an icon of the drive on the PC.
Whenever I create a share and I open up file explorer, all I am able to see is the Media Server Icon from Windows, no icon that looks lik0 "my computer" Then, whenever I click on the media server icon, I am taken to a web browser page and the log in screen of the router.
Before I upgraded to Merlin, I had a slightly different outcome, I was using the standard firmware and when I created the share it actually brought up a second icon in file explorer, when this was opened it showed the 3 folders created by Asus on the USB drive, Pictures, Video's and Music - however, I could not copy and paste any files to the folders at all - The paste function was greyed out.
I don't really want those 3 folders anyway, all I want is to be able to create my own folders on the USB drive and drag drop or copy any files I want onto it without hassles of log ins passwords etc. just like a local drive.
I don't think I need to create FTP or NFS, there must be a simple way of doing this surely? I also do not want to have to create the "Home Network" share available in Windows as it is terrible.
If any of you kind people on here could tell me where ia am going wrong I would be most grateful, even if I do end up looking like a turkey.
Many thanks
Richy

 

[PolarBear]

What I found on my RT-AC66U was that it was not possible in Windows 7 to map a drive letter to the root of the USB stick. I am not sure why this, but it happened.

Instead, I had to first put the USB stick in my PC and create a subdirectory on the stick. I called it "winmap", but the name does not really matter.

I also gave the stick the volume name "ASUS", but again the exact name does not really matter.

I then inserted the stick in the router, and from Windows Explorer, clicked on Tools / Map network drive. I chose a suitable drive letter, then entered \\192.168.1.1\winmap and clicked Browse.

(If your router has a non-standard LAN IP address, you should use that instead of 192.168.1.1)

The Windows Explorer dialog box then showed me drop down list of devices on the network. I chose the item corresponding to the router, clicked on the icon to expand and then selected "winmap".

When Windows Explorer asked for the a user name and password, I used the admin user name and password of the router.

Now in Windows, the folder winmap is visible under the drive letter selected, but the root directory of the USB stick is invisible.

The whole mapping process in Windows seems rather flakey and inconsistent, but the above process worked for me.

 

[Richy1964]

Thanks for that! I already have a couple of sub directories on my disk from when I was using it on my PC, but the problem I have is that I cannot even get them to show up in Windows. In the router configuration page they are there and I have given access to them When I go into file explorer there are no directories or any "My Computer" type icons, only that Media Player icon and when you double click or right click to open, it goes straight to the browser and router log in page GUI. Really annoying for what you would think was a simple task, I was doing this successfully 8 years ago on Win 7 and an old Cisco router - This all singing all dancing Asus router seems to have so much bells and whistles that they have forgotten about the basics.

Cheers for your reply.

 

[kfp]

SMBv1 is deprecated by Microsoft, so you have to mount the drive explicitly. This is a change on Windows not Asus.

 

[Richy1964]

SMBv1 is deprecated by Microsoft, so you have to mount the drive explicitly. This is a change on Windows not Asus.

So, if I enable SMB v2 will that still matter, and alsowhere does this SMBv1 & V 2 come into play if I am only using the first type of server - The Media Server rather than the SAMBA?
I also see that this is some sort of temporary fix and that the drive should be restored back to normal ASAP - So this does not explain what I need to do long term.

Thanks.

 

[skeal]

So, if I enable SMB v2 will that still matter, and alsowhere does this SMBv1 & V 2 come into play if I am only using the first type of server - The Media Server rather than the SAMBA?

Thanks.

Further as far as I know Microsoft stopped supporting home network or home group so the icon you are looking for may no longer be possible. The explicit way is the way to go and create a shortcut to it. Explicit = like entering smb://router name/share name/root/

 

[kfp]

So, if I enable SMB v2 will that still matter, and alsowhere does this SMBv1 & V 2 come into play if I am only using the first type of server - The Media Server rather than the SAMBA?

Thanks.

Meant to link to a related thread but wasn't able to find it on mobile, here it is

It includes how to mount explicitly (I like to use Map Network Drive), and discussion on this whole SMBv1 deprecation business. In short, the deprecation of v1 means you can't just browse in Network Places and discover devices and their shares.

I actually don't know what the Media Server (non-Samba) use, probably UPnP/DLNA? But I guarantee you the SMB/SAMBA share would be faster and more stable.

You don't need to manually enable SMBv2, SAMBA can negotiate the protocol to use with your PC.