I can not access shares on my mycloud ex4100 NAS from some of my computers and my Plex server is not able to access my mapped shares either. I also have Netgear Ready Nas units I have no problem accessing them with the same plex server. My Mapped drives have a red x on any mapped share on the wd mycloud ex4100…I’ve spend many hours on this with WD support they have been great but just cant get the plex server to access any of the WD devices…this only started with one of the last 2 windows 11 home updated.
You have been slimed by Windows Update.
Recent updates from Microsoft changed the ground rules for connecting to NAS units. In the name of “security”. (or is it an insideus advertisement for OneDrive?).
Check out this link: Accessing a third-party NAS with SMB in Windows 11 24H2 may fail | Microsoft Community Hub
Or this link:
Can’t access your NAS drives in Windows 11? Here’s what to do | PCWorld
Thanks for the reply and suggestion along with the links. Where I am confused is it differs from computer to computer and no real reason make or model, all have the different issues.
I currently have my plex server on a new custom built system with and the latest version of Plex Media Server installed. This machine has worked just fine until the latest Windows 11Home update.
I have 3 WDcloud EX4100 4 bay NAS and 3 Netgear RN 204 4 bay Nas each of them I’ve had from 5 to 10 years with multiple shares assigned. I mapped each Share to the server and each share to the appropriate library folders on Plex for years… .No Problems at all it has worked flawlessly and any of my clients Laptops, Desktops and even tablets have performed well. The strange thing is all my shares on the Netgear RN204 still work fine ( had to turn on smb1 on a couple of machines and the NAS)
All of our NETWORK is set Private and no outside access at all. All of the shares mapped from the WD devices first come up green and then turn to red so it’s my guess when Plex tries to access them… and again all my Netgear devices connect just fine via my mapping. I have read other suggestions and even worked with WD to try to get them to work and I still have not been able to get the Mapped shares to connect.
Here is a head scratchier.. .I decided to try and add the shares through my Kodi media player and I was able to gain access and play all my media through Kodi with just my User Name and Password… on the network and everything plays fine so in the mean time I just set all the shares we use from the WD and connect them from my Nvidia shield Pro with Kodi app…witch takes a little pressure off… I am going to look at the links and articles you sent and see if I am missing something. Thanks for your help and suggestions.
As I said above, Windows11 updates have changed your PC configuration behind the scenes. The default WD OS5 (and older OS3) configurations are several years old, and do not align with the new Windows settings.
Refer to the following articles to get things talking again: Enable insecure guest logons in SMB2 and SMB3 for Windows client and Windows Server | Microsoft Learn
WD Support cannot (will not) help you, as the level 1 techs you are talking to do not have this problem in their scripts. And the problem is not really on the WD side. It’s on the PC side. (sort of). I mean, WD could solve it. . .but that would require engineering work on their software that they are not allocating funds to provide.
This may not be the full story; a bit of googling may be of help.
What a Cluster… on the side of Microsoft and I am beginning to really hate them…the issue is inconsistent from PC to PC, we use the “Home” versions of Windows 11 and 10.. we are moving from 10 on our older laptops and transitioning to 11 home.
I did read the link you posted and the issues is so wide that it will take weeks to try to resolve the issue. with all the computers we have and devices hooked up to them… right now I use plex were I can and If it’s not getting to the NAS shares I just use KODI and or VLC media player to circumvent PLex, Not what I want but it works for now. it seems in reading some folks make changes, get it to work and MS does another update (like they did last night) and the issue is there all over again.
All my WD Nas have the L attest (old) firmware and I’'ve made several changes to the settings trying one thing, if it doesn’t work I change it back and try something else but you are correct this is now a WD situation persay… because it is having to do with different computers were trying to do things and it isn’t working and as you see, it’s hard to define how far back to roll back (or restore from my backup software) there is no definitive path to change the systems I am good at backing up and have lots of disc space but it’s impossible to choose a date because some folks have been having the issue over a year.
I"ll just keep plugging and reading.. .I’ve got a lot of other things on my plate right now and MS is going to keep doing what they do in the background which really screws us up.
Finally I’d like to find someone with the same NAS as me and running the same windows version on a pc… dealing with other manufactures and pc types just sends you down the rabbit hole for days at a time…
Thanks again for your post and suggestions… I appreciate it.
It’s the curse of the modern software industry.
WD could fix this, with an update to the way they handle certificates and what not - - but honestly WD software development is effectively dead and the entire WD line is effectively a legacy product. So when an existing PC gets “updated” with “current” software. . . sometimes this introduces incompatibilities.
My current industry gripe is server activation. I have had several legacy products (hardware and software) that require an internet connection for initial activation.. And lo and behold. . . .after 1 or two years, the “activation servers” mysteriously vanish from the internet. This is fine if you never update your OS or get a new machine. . . . .not fine if you buy something new or upgrade. I am now developing a black list of companies that I will no longer do business with.
WD is not yet on the black list. . .but note that the “home” line of products require internet activation. I had issues with the current generation of OS/5 WD products. . . so all of my WD hardware is still running OS/3 (and not connected to an internet capable router)
This is more to an SMB authentication/compatibility change on the Windows 11 machines than a bad WD NAS or mapped-drive problem. The strongest clue is that Kodi can still reach the EX4100 using the NAS username/password, while Windows and Plex cannot, and your Netgear shares continue working.
I’d specifically check whether the affected PCs are now refusing the EX4100’s SMB authentication method or guest-style access after the Windows 11 update; the red X on the mapped drives is usually just Windows reporting that the SMB session can’t be re-established, not that the mapping itself disappeared.
Plex is a separate wrinkle because a mapped drive belongs to the logged-in Windows user and Plex runs as a service under a different account, so even a working Z: drive may be invisible to Plex. Before changing SMB1 or randomly enabling insecure guest access, I’d test the EX4100 directly with \\NAS-IP\share using the NAS credentials and check the Windows Event Viewer SMBClient logs on one affected PC. If that works but the mapped drive/Plex doesn’t, you’re dealing with Windows credential/session or service-account behavior rather than RAID/NAS storage failure.
Thanks for the reply… well, What i had to do is delete all the Map to addresses from the NAS Shares, set the WD’s to see SMB 1 and remap all the shares to the server, then I had to go in to plex and changed each (like Movies NAS) library files to the new mapped locations via and Ip address on the server and reboot,rescan and seems to be working… What a pain in the…yep…
