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Network Discovery Keeps Turning Off in Windows 11/10? Make It Stay On for Good

Published June 10, 2026 · by The FixHub Team

You flip Network discovery on, but it won’t stay — you still can’t see other PCs/NAS on the network, and the toggle keeps reverting to off.

Why the Settings toggle isn’t enough: every guide says “turn on Network discovery in Advanced sharing settings.” But that toggle silently reverts unless the services it depends on are actually running and the firewall’s Network Discovery rule group is allowed. Microsoft names the exact services — and the popular answers usually miss one.

Fix 1: Start (and auto-start) the four required services

Press Win + R → services.msc, and for each of these set Startup type = Automatic and Start it:

  • DNS Client (Dnscache)
  • Function Discovery Resource Publication (FDResPub)
  • SSDP Discovery (SSDPSRV)
  • UPnP Device Host (upnphost)

If any of these is stopped/disabled, Network discovery flips itself back off. Set them to Automatic so it survives reboots.

Fix 2: Allow Network Discovery through the firewall

  1. Control Panel → System and Security → Windows Defender Firewall → Allow an app or feature.
  2. Find Network Discovery, tick it for your active profile (Private), and OK.

Or in admin PowerShell:

netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group="Network Discovery" new enable=Yes

Fix 3: Turn the toggle on for the right profile

  1. Settings → Network & internet → Advanced network settings → Advanced sharing settings.
  2. Expand Private networks, turn on Network discovery (and File and printer sharing if you share folders).
  3. Make sure your connection is set to Private, not Public (discovery is off by Public networks by design).

Fix 4: Confirm the network profile and SMB

  • A connection set to Public disables discovery — switch it to Private (Settings → Wi-Fi/Ethernet → your network → Network profile type → Private).
  • If you can see some devices but not a NAS/old PC, that’s usually an SMB issue, not discovery — see can’t access shared folder / SMB.

FAQ

Which service is most often the culprit? Function Discovery Resource Publication (FDResPub) — if it’s not running, your PC won’t advertise itself and discovery reverts. Set it to Automatic.

It works until I reboot. The services were started but not set to Automatic — fix the Startup type (Fix 1) so they launch at boot.

Sources: Microsoft Learn — You cannot turn on network discovery in Control Panel