DL4100 as Master Browser

My Cloud OS 3 Personal & Network Attached Storage My Cloud DL Series
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I am unable to have the DL4100 successfully act as the Master Browser on my network.

Here’s how I tested:

I used LanScan 1.63 (great program!) to find out that my Windows 7 desktop was acting as the Master Browser. From the Windows 7 desktop computer I used the Web GUI to log into the DL4100 and, under Settings==>Network, I enabled the Master Browser option (and used the default SMB2 setting). I then shut everything down on my network (all desktops and laptops, the DL4100, my switches,router and cable modem).

I then powered everything up one at a time (with adequate waits between startups) in this order:

  1. cable modem
  2. router
  3. switches
  4. DL4100
  5. Windows 7 desktop

That did not work. My desktop couldn’t see the DL4100 in Windows File Explorer but I could still reach it via the web GUI.

So, I turned the Master Browser setting to OFF on the DL4100 and went through the entire power down/power up scenario above except this time I powered up the Windows 7 desktop before the DL4100.

Running LanScan again, my Windows 7 desktop acted as the Master Browser and I could once again see the DL4100 in File Explorer.

In fact, I could (by deciding in which order to power up) set just about any of my Windows 7 and Windows 10 PCs as the Master Browser. The only thing I could not do this to was the DL4100.

I wish there was a fix for this because, in my home network, ideally the NAS (DL4100) would be the only thing that is always on. To save energy (and for the WAF), I power off all of my computers each night. Once powered off, you never know which one will be the Master Browser unless you purposely power them on in a specific sequence. That’s a pain but in reality, it doesn’t matter which one acts as the Master Browser because no matter which PC does, the system seems to work. The only time it doesn’t work is when i try to use the DL4100 as the master Browser.

So, I have resorted to leaving one of my laptops running 24/7 so it is always the Master Browser.

Any ideas on how to get the Master Browser option working correctly on the DL4100?

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Hopefully an experienced User will be able to assist.

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Hi, I have a DL2100 and have had quite a bit of experience with the MB problems. In fact, I was the first to post the link of LanScan here when many of us WDTV users were experiencing MB issues with the device. It does not make me an expert; it just means I have been tortured with MB issues and lived to tell about it, Today, my MB problems are way in the past.

How did I fix it? Purely accidental, as my Asus router came to the rescue. How? It was when I attached a 1TB portable drive to it, packed with media files for streaming to the tablets and phones, and other home network devices as well as remote access of the home network. Kind of an early day NAS with an app like My Cloud for accessing it all.

Anyway, I had to turn on a router feature called Smart Access, and this is what the router says about this:

Enables Network Place (Samba) networked PCs and devices to be accessed remotely. Smart Access can also wake up a sleeping PC.

So, this is when my router became my permanent Master Browser. No mention in the user manual this would happen, but it did, and I am eternally grateful for this. Lanscan has shown it as my MB ever since.

And, all this is to point out why I never turned on/used the Master Browser function of the DL2100 – don’t need it. Also, just in case you have an Asus router you can get a MB the same way

OK, on to your dilemma. It seems you are doing all the right things to get it all working, so I have no idea how to fix it, but do have some other ideas for you. Going through the turn-on sequence; I suggest you stop a while after turning on the DL4100 and just let things sit for a half hour or so that the NAS has plenty of time to explore your network so it can “decide” to become the MB. If you turn on the first PC too soon, it could jump to the start of the line and bump out the NAS before it settles in to its MB task. So wait a half hour before turning on the first PC. Also, does everything in your network belong to the same workgroup called WORKGROUP, including the NAS?

Right below the control to turn on the MB there is a control called “Share Aggregation”. Nothing in the user manual about this, but the balloon description for it says something about shares and Samba, so I would turn it on, along with the MB and SMB protocol switches above it. and see what happens.

These are my best ideas on this, and if you still cannot get the MB to work, you really ought to give a call to WD Support. And, after a brief chat with Level 1 support, the person doesn’t get it that you need advanced help, then insist on being transferred to Level 2. If Level 2 can’t help, ask who else at WD can help you with this? Based on all you have tried and tools you have used, the MB ought to work!

1 Like
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Interesting… I have an Asus N66RT router and it does have the USB ports to which I could attach a small Western Digital Elements hard drive I have laying around. I remember seeing that option to have such a share in the stock Asus firmware. Unfortunately, I wrote over that firmware long ago with dd-wrt. This feature in the version of dd-wrt I am running doesn’t have a lot of options but I will try this out anyway. If that doesn’t work, I ‘ll try my original power-up sequence again and this time I’ll wait at least 30-45 minutes before powering on any other Windows-based computer.(I do have all my computers on the same-named workgroup but I can’t remember if I had enabled the NAS’ Share Agrregation option.) Maybe one of these two easy fixes will work for me. I’ll try it out tonight and report back.

By the way, I received an unsolicited call from a Western Digital Level 2 support person on my home phone number. They had read this post on the forum and decided to reach out to me. Unfortunately, I was already running late for bible study and couldn’t sit down to work on the NAS at that moment. If your suggestions work (and I hope they do!), then I won’t need the support. If I still have problems, then Level 2 support has already agreed to help me this Saturday.

I only mention this because I think that their unsolicited reaching out to me is reflective of great customer service. I wish more companies would take the time to visit their customers’ or enthusiasts’ forums about their products or services. I think problems would be solved more quickly and the companies would keep/gain customers for life.

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Test 1 Results
I tried to set the DL4100 as Master Browser again tonight by waiting the 30 minutes after it had fully booted up before turning on even one of my Windows computers. Unfortunately, no luck. I even switched the Max SMB Protocol to SMB 3 and retried it. Still no luck.

Oh well…I will attempt Test 2 now (inserting a 500GB WD Elements portable hard drive in the Asus router’s USB port to see if this will make the router the Master Browser). Will report back in a few minutes.

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Test 2 Results

On my router [Asus RT-N66U running DD-WRT v24-sp2 (5/27/13) mega (SVN revision 21676) firmware], I plugged in a Wetsten Digital Elements 500GB portable hard drive formatted as NTFS.

I also enabled Core USB support and USB Storage support under Services in DD-WRT.

Unfortunately, after going through the appropriate power up sequence, the router failed to act as the Master Browser as well.

I guess that I’ll just leave on of my Windows 10 laptops running 24/7 so it can be the continual Master Browser (at least until I get to talk to WD Level 2 support on Saturday).

I thank mike27oct for reading my post and at least giving me some suggestions to try. I’m still not sure what the problem is that I am unable to get the NAS working as the Master Browser.

I know that having my Asus RT-N66U with the stock firmware might have helped me to at least get a better idea if mike27oct’s “plug-in-USB-drive” suggestion would have allowed me to use the router as the Master Browser. If Level 2 support can’t fix it, I might go back to a stock Asus firmware and try again.

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Darn, too bad the suggestions did not work for you. Suggest you go back to defaults of SMB setting and share aggregation as what you mentioned as original settings are what mine are set for…

We have the same Asus RT-N66U routers. I considered alternate firmware at first, including DD-WRT and a custom tweak of the Asus firmware by some guy in Canada calling himself the Wizard or some such name. His firmware got high acclaim, and even Asus has acknowledged some of his tweaks and incorporated them in their firmware. But, in the end I have stayed with Asus firmware, because I bought the Asus router for its very high ratings and quality product, I felt that also included the FW, and I still believe it is so. They have been improving the FW every month or so with new releases since I got the router.

I really like that the FW is so full featured and have been using the AiCloud app with a drive attached to router for quite a few years. I especially like the remote feature of streaming music and videos when away from home. I also found the WD Cloud app to have too many problems at first, but WD has been pretty good about fixing errors; even if it took them well over a year after I first reported the problems with music. It is all well now, and from the start the video-playing feature has worked well. It is nice to have different apps to access the NAS, since some have some special features I like over the My Cloud app.

Anyway, let’s see if WD can fix up the MB of the NAS for you, and even if they can, I still suggest using the router (with Asus FW, and the drive attached as being a better way to go than with alternate firmware; and especially to activate the MB feature… You likely would not have an issue installing the Asus FW over the DD-WRT, I once had an issue with one version of the Asus FW, and had no problem just re-installing the previous version over the newer one.

Feel free to contact me if you need assist with any of the stuff I mentioned about the Asus router. I also will be curious what WD comes up with to get the MB working. BTW, I have not yet put the latest version of FW on my DL2100, and just last night someone mentioned having issues after installing the “140” version. I wonder if this is affecting your NAS?

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I will update this thread after talking to Level 2 support Saturday. I do have the “140” firmware on my DL4100. Maybe we will see if that turns out to be the culprit.

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Here is the link of post regarding the firmware issue. See if you can gain any insight to your issues.

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Level 2 support called me back today. Alas…no luck in getting the DL4100 to act as the Master Browser on my LAN (although I did manage to screw up Windows 10 on one of my laptops in the process, it was my fault though). After a very long phone call (due to many reboots during troubleshooting of the DL4100, laptop and router) I ended up just sending WD Support a “System Report” from the DL4100 so they could do further analysis next week.

OK, it looks like the best solution then is to get the router to act as the Master Browser.

DD-WRT says

(Asus RT-N66U - DD-WRT Wiki)

to revert to Asus firmware, I must:

  1. Download the latest ASUS firmware, then
  2. Reset to Factory Default settings (I have the option to do this through the DD-WRT web page GUI), then
  3. Use the DD-WRT web page GUI to upload the new ASUS firmware, then
  4. Reset to Factory Default settings or clear NVRAM

It’s step 4, above that I am uncertain as to how to do. Once the firmware has been flashed and the router rebooted, do I just press in on the ASUS RT-N66U’s reset button for 5 seconds (or until the power light starts flashing)?

Or, is it something more complicated to do with the WPS button whilst simultaneously powering up?

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hey, this is just a guess, but select reset in the drop down

709×331 27.5 KB

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Thanks Gramps but that is exactly what I was planning on doing in my Step 2 when I wrote that I “had the option to do this through the DD-WRT web page GUI” - in other words, the screen shot you are showing above.

Step 4 is what I am concerned about. At that step, I will have already flashed the ASUS firmware back on the router and the DD-WRT web GUI will no longer be present.

So how do I reset to factory default settings/clear NVRAM after I flash the ASUS firmware?:

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OK, so the DL4100 turns out to be worthless as a MB; that sucxs! Any explanation fro WD Support?

OK, refer to your Asus manual (you can download from Asus) on how to reset the route to defaultsr after FW update. One of the FWs I installed required that to be done, After installing any FW on any device today often requires a back to defaults reset afterwards. Even if it doesn’t, I often do it anyway.

I know nothing about the WPS button as I never use it – I know my passwords so I just type it in and be done. WPS button is a bit of a joke to me.

OK, once you get it done, set up the Samba as I descried it to you, and keep me posted on this.

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No, the way I read it is
one do the download to your computer
reset to factory (not the screenshot above, but can be done in GUI)
3 and 4 is a one click. Select the firmware to upgrade and select reset in the dropdown

again, I have no clue. That is just the way I read the instructions you found.

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The only thing WD Support had me do that I had not already done was:
When all other computers were off except the one I was using to log into the DL4100 *which was, at the time, the Master Browser);

  1. I turned off the Computer Browser service (Control Panel ==> Administrative Tools==>Services==>Computer Browser) and disabled it
  2. I then switched the DL4100 to Master Browser and rebooted the DL4100 whilst shutting down my PC.
  3. Once the DL4100 fully rebooted, I booted up the PC and ran LanScan. No joy. The DL4100 was not acting as the MB,

All the above seems simple but it took over 2.5 hours on the phone with all the router/PC/DL4100 turning on and off we had to do. Of course, while doing this, I thought my Windows 10 laptop had hung and I crewed up somehow by pressing the power button too long or too many times and now the Start button in Windows 10 does absolutely nothing. I made the laptop totally not useable. :frowning:

So, WD Support had me go to the DL4100 web GUI and click on the circle with the question ark inside on the top bar. From there, I selected “Support” and then “Create and Save system report” (which I then emailed to them).

They said it would be next week before they could analyze what is wrong with my DL4100’s MB feature.

The manual says that, for a running and properly functioning router, pressing the reset button while the router is ON, resets the router to factory default settings. HOWEVER, does that also clear the NVRAM?

The question about using the WPS button doesn’t have anything to do with my security/passwords. In the DD-WRT and SNB (Small Net Builder) forums, some users say they have to (whilst the router’s power is off) hold in the WPS button while powering back on to clear NVRAM and or reset. A bunch of conflicting information here.

I am asking this question on the SNB forum as well and so far, you guessed it, more conflicting information regarding whether or not to use the WPS button. Oh well…it looks like it’s time for some good old trial and error testing. After I get the ASUS firmware reloaded, I am done with DD-WRT. It is way too difficult to install (aka the 30-30-30 method) and one has to read a full day’s worth of forum postings just to figure out which build will actually work with your router.

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OK, this is what a description for an older version of the Asus FW says about reset:

ASUS RT-N66U Firmware version 3.0.0.4.376.3657
All region can use this version.
[Important] Please press the reset button more than five seconds to reset the router after firmware updated

I believe it refers to the reset button on the chassis and not in the Dashboard.

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mike27oct thanks for the reply. It looks like the reset button should be used on a router that has its firmware functioning properly. The “WPS-whilst-powering-on” is used when one has a router with corrupted NVRAM (according to users on the SNB forum).

BTW, I decided to attempt using my Synology DS213’s option to act as the Master Browser on the network just for the fun of it and…it works flawlessly. Maybe WD should examine the Synology code to see what Synology is doing correctly?

I’m beginning to wonder if I should have put my money into a 4-bay Synology NAS with 6TB WD Red drives instead of the DL4100. The only thing I don’t like about my Synology DS213 NAS is that it is noisier (under no-load conditions) than my WD DL4100.

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OK, if/when you install the Asus FW, just reset to factory defaults after the install.

Nice that you thought of another device you have to make the MB. Remember, you only need one MB, so if you make your router the MB, turn of MB in other device.

The Asus FW , along with the AiCloud app is really slick and handy. Basically, the drive on the router is a dup of the media on my WD DL2100 for music and mp4 files, so I have remote access with either the drive on router or the WD NAS.

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I am going to attempt the Asus firmware upgrade this weekend in case something goes wrong I don’t want a perturbed wife with no internet all day while I am at work!

Once I get that working, I will turn off the Synology NAS’ Master Browser feature. I agree that the router should be the MB since it is always on.

It’s just amazing how easy it was to do on the Synology. I guess WD still has some learning to do. (As of Tuesday, no word back from WD support regarding their analysis of my System report.)

Obviously, I won’t need this feature once I get the router set up as MB but WD shouldn’t have this as a feature if they can’t make it work.

I can’t wait to try the AiCloud app!

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Yes, don’t get the wife upset. Wives really don’t appreciate the baloney we go through just to get these darn devices working the way they are supposed to; they just want results!

For sure wag your finger at WD and let them know the Synology could do it, so why can my DL4100! My experience with WD is often things sort of work, but not completely work, and it is a pity. I could tell you tak=les about my WDTV and My Passport Wireless, but the stories are all documented in the annals of this forum somewhere.

You will like the AiCloud for iOS and Android devices. It is a simple and easy “poor man’s” NAS. It can see your DL4100, the attachéd drive on the router, and everything else on your network that is shared. Too bad the My Cloud app can’t see anything but its own WD gizmos.