StuartT

1 minute ago, scotty38 said:

ok I'm back... Have you shared a directory on the mele yet as you should see it in that view you have?

I don't think so. Do I have to explicitly share the mele C drive then? (It's just that I didn't have to do that on the laptop for the Mele to be able to see it)

2 minutes ago, scotty38 said:

Just map a network drive to the remote machine in the same way you've already done. If you've done it one way it should be the same the other. I have my machines going to a NAS but I also created a share on the mele and mapped a drive to it too from my laptop.

It's not letting me see any drives on the Mele to map to

sorry one more thing... how do I see my remote (mini PC) drives from my laptop?

There are lots of web guides to how to do the reverse (how to see my local drives from my remote PC) and I have that working fine. But seemingly no guides to how to do the reverse. Thanks

it's now saying that the fixed IP I set the Mele to is a dynamic one. Is this expected?

ok. It looked like that worked! Thanks so much for your patience 🙂

is the gateway IP the same as the router IP?

Also, I need to enter two DNS servers. So  I use 194.168.4.100 and 194.198.8.100 ?

Wireless LAN adapter Wi-Fi:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Killer Wi-Fi 6 AX500-DBS Wireless Network Adapter
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 9C-B6-D0-3F-49-8D
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::b75f:ced0:3aca:2fd2%4(Preferred)
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.13(Preferred)
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 27 December 2022 17:04:37
   Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 29 December 2022 11:15:50
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
   DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
   DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 261928656
   DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-28-27-1A-8E-9C-EB-E8-D9-1D-E5
   DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 194.168.4.100
                                       194.168.8.100

Just now, scotty38 said:

Different addresses for eth and wireless.

Ok, so I'll need to save two RDP connection settings shortctuts on my laptop depending on how the Mele is connected to the network (one with each IP address in)

sorry for all the questions. two more

1. should I set the static IP address to be the same for the ethernet and the wifi connection?

2. it's asking for other addresses like gateway and subnet mask. Do I find those out from ipconfig /all and just keep them the same?

So the Mele seems to now be 198.168.0.34

Interface: 192.168.0.13 --- 0x4
  Internet Address      Physical Address      Type
  192.168.0.1           40-0d-10-9e-e4-08     dynamic
  192.168.0.34          00-ce-39-d1-7a-e3     dynamic
  192.168.0.255         ff-ff-ff-ff-ff-ff     static
  224.0.0.22            01-00-5e-00-00-16     static
  224.0.0.251           01-00-5e-00-00-fb     static
  224.0.0.252           01-00-5e-00-00-fc     static
  239.255.67.250        01-00-5e-7f-43-fa     static
  239.255.255.250       01-00-5e-7f-ff-fa     static
  255.255.255.255       ff-ff-ff-ff-ff-ff     static

So if all the 192 addreses are actual devices, there does seem to be one connected that already has a static IP (192.168.0.255). I wonder what that one is?

10 minutes ago, StevieDvd said:

It will show you the ip address assigned to your devices (once you know their mac address).

so is a MAC address something that doesn't change then, for a given device?

11 minutes ago, StevieDvd said:

Do you have a direct connection to the Mele or only a remote one?

I am connecting to the Mele via windows remote desktop. The Mele is currently plugged into the router via a cable (so is on the same network)

4 minutes ago, scotty38 said:

Yes adapter is referring to your network "card" in the mele

ok, so are you saying I can set something in the windows control panel of the Mele which makes it always take the same IP address? (whereas normally it is the router than assigns those)?

1 minute ago, StevieDvd said:

Any mobile devices or smart hub (hue, hive etc) connected to your system can get an ip address. If for example a relative connects to your wifi at times and had just walked in you'd see it listed.

I agree with the others about static addresses being a good solution but as I understood your reluctance to fiddle with a working system (with little netwrking skills) I suggested arp -a as that does not change any setting.

Thanks. But if apr -a can't change any setting, how does it help me?

1 minute ago, scotty38 said:

Go into the network settings for your adapter (I'm assuming wireless) and you'll see the options in there. It's nothing to do with Virgin so they may not be able to help you unless you get someone keen on the end of the phone as it were. Even if they configure a static on the router you'll still need to do the pc side anyway

Is the adapter the router? Or do you mean something in the laptop?

2 minutes ago, scotty38 said:

And set up DNS somethign similar to below, check yours now with ipconfig/all

I don't know what you mean by this.

Probably just better to phone Virgin. I literally have no idea what any of this means, so I will probably break something.

Thanks anyway

and this is what the router shows. None of those addresses match the list above). So I have literally no idea what is going on

14 minutes ago, StevieDvd said:

Use arp- a

In a command window run arp -a and you'll see the devices on the network showing ip address & macaddress.  If you keep a note of the mac addresses of your devices you can see what ip address has been assigned to your mini-pc

If you get into the router to assign an ip number by mac address the above command will help too.

 

Here's what that command listed before connecting the Mini PC (I am pretty sure I only have two devices connected, so I don't know why the list is so long)

Interface: 192.168.0.13 --- 0x4
  Internet Address      Physical Address      Type
  192.168.0.1           40-0d-10-9e-e4-08     dynamic
  192.168.0.255         ff-ff-ff-ff-ff-ff     static
  224.0.0.22            01-00-5e-00-00-16     static
  224.0.0.251           01-00-5e-00-00-fb     static
  224.0.0.252           01-00-5e-00-00-fc     static
  239.255.67.250        01-00-5e-7f-43-fa     static
  239.255.255.250       01-00-5e-7f-ff-fa     static
  255.255.255.255       ff-ff-ff-ff-ff-ff     static

1 minute ago, Stuart1971 said:

The static IP address is the way to go, in your router settings there should be an option to make an ip address static, what service provider do you have and what model router…?

Virgin. Hub 3.0

I'll see if I can find something understandable online. 

On 24/12/2022 at 13:59, scotty38 said:

I still maintain you're making this too complcated and on a basic home network there's no need to worry about a hosts file or DNS name resolution.

don't worry. I didn't understand any of it anyway, so I've not done anything. I'll just have to cross my fingers and hope my mini-PC connects each time (thus preventing me from having to enroll in a degree in computer engineering! 🤣)

1 hour ago, josefk said:

Thanks. “Utter hedonist” absolutely! while I can lift it! I reckon it’s got 15 years (max 20) to pay me back till that is no longer possible. 😬

I am 60 and have a very heavy frac. I do wonder how much longer that will be practical! 😬

Enjoy!

oh wow! *drools*

And "only" a visual observer too! You utter hedonist, you!

😍

it really is Christmas here. A Mele Quieter 3Q and an Askar 6nm Sii and Oiii filter (the snow promised by FLO didn't arrive...)

14 minutes ago, Dr_Ju_ju said:

Your router/dhcp server is also your primary DNS server, so it will hopefully be updated when the IP address changes, but there can often be a lag for this to happen.

It's one of the reasons I run my own DHCP/DNS system etc... 

I don't understand this. Not sure what DHCP means

10 minutes ago, Ratlet said:

What usually gets me with remote desktop is if the mini pc connects to a different WiFi.  We've got a couple different WiFi networks in the house and the mini pc sometimes connects to the wrong one.

I picked up a cheap WiFi extender that's setup to make its own WiFi network and plug the mini pc into that.  I can then remote into that if I connect to the network via WiFi.

Ok, I only have the mini-PC connecting to the wifi extended network (I've not given it the password to the other one - so that solves that problem!)

ok, thanks all. Not sure how to set up a static IP, but I guess I will google that.

But why can it not connect with the name of the mini-PC? That won't change!

I am finding RDP often won't connect to my mini-PC. Initially I set it up using the mini-PC's name, but sometimes it seems to want the IP address instead, so I have to connect to my router and find out what IP address it's been assigned in order to do that. 

This is a bit of a pain. Is there a solution?

9 minutes ago, scotty38 said:

I must admit I thought you had an issue connecting to the scope not opening a script file 🙂 🙂

you would think windows would know how to open a file when you double click on it, right? Without me having to select a particular app!