Do your Windows:Android ad hoc Wi-Fi connections eventually time out?

[Arlen Holder]

Do your Windows:Android ad hoc Wi-Fi connections eventually time out?

1. I post to Usenet scores of annotated screenshots per day
2. Connecting Android to Windows via USB to transfer them is a PITA
3. Seamlessly transferring over Wi-Fi is vastly easier in every way possible

However...historically... over Wi-Fi... for ad-hoc connections...
a. I've had perfectly good Windows SMB shares inexplicably timing out...
b. I've had perfectly good Windows FTP shares inexplicably timing out...
c. I've had perfectly good Windows KDEConnect's inexplicably timing out...
d. Now I have perfectly good NitroShare's inexplicably timing out...
<https://i.postimg.cc/qBsN34fN/nitroshare04.jpg>

*It's always the _Windows_ side that times out (it seems); not Android.*
o And note it's only for the Wi-Fi ad hoc connections (not normal Wi-Fi)

Is it me or is it Windows or Android ad hoc networking which is timing out?
o <https://i.postimg.cc/90HqTpw2/nitroshare01.jpg>

It seems that the connection consistently goes down "after a while", which
I'll guess is "hours", and maybe even "days", but no longer than that.

In all cases, killing & restarting the (FTP, KDEConnect, Nitroshare, etc.)
_Windows_ server instantly re-establishes the otherwise perfectly working
connection... (i.e., note I do not need to mess with the Android side).

Only Windows' servers need to be "refreshed" by killing & restarting them.

But why?
o Do your Windows:Android ad hoc Wi-Fi connections also eventually time out?
--
See also:
o Tutorial NitroShare FOSS cross-platform file & folder transfer over Wi-Fi between any desktop & Android
<https://groups.google.com/g/comp.mobile.android/c/mbOyLNcrCK4>

o Quick tutorial for installing KDEConnect freeware on Windows & Android for seamless WiFi LAN bidirectional file encrypted copy
<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.comp.freeware/9S3j2XN1zDg>

o Why would SMB seem to be more reliable than WebDav or FTP or KDEConnect, etc., for Wi-Fi "network connections" between Android & Windows?
<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.mobile.android/KAr3I1KY8Gg>

While my desktop does not have a Wi-Fi NIC, it is connected via Wi-Fi to
the LAN (which is far, far, away); but via a short Ethernet connection to a
Mikrotik RB411 router running RouterOS 6.28 with an attached Mikrotik Wi-Fi
daughterboard R52-n-M and a 20dBi antenna which then connects to the SOHO
router on the LAN via its 2.4GHz or 5GHz access point (the R52-n-M can do
either but the adjustable wire-mesh dish antenna is currently "tuned" for
2.4GHz) as described in gory yet exquisite detail in this canonical thread:
o Curious how far your Wi-Fi access point is from your desktop computer
<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/microsoft.public.windowsxp.general/PkD0jfa9GqM>

[Arlen Holder]

On Fri, 4 Dec 2020 19:00:10 -0000 (UTC), Arlen Holder wrote:

> o Do your Windows:Android ad hoc Wi-Fi connections also eventually time out?

Could it be the router?
o Or the Windows Defender Firewall?

Bear in mind, it's a "time out" situation more so than a setup situation.
o Both work fine, for a while, and then need to be "reset" for some reason.

Weird. It makes no intuitive sense
o Sort of like Quantum Field Theory doesn't make any intuitive sense.

Yet it's eventually reproducible in all its Heisenberg-like improbability...

I have two oddities, and have had one for quite a while, unrelated perhaps?
o Have you ever seen what I'm about to describe, however pensively?

1. The Netgear N router, for whatever reason, often (almost always) goes
into a state of "unresponsiveness to the web browser login" such that
I have to physically reboot it to regain the ability to log in using:
o <http://192.168.0.1>

At all times, the network works, but shares seem to 'time out'.
This time out can't be correlated to the router blitzing out as I
don't know when that happens, but it seems that the network shares
being useful again can be timed to the router being rebooted.

Once I physically reboot the router, the login ability returns:
o <http://192.168.0.1>

At all times, the router can be pinged, and appears otherwise working.

2. I only recently had the NitroShares timing out, which I thought
perhaps, might be due to me installing ZenMap/NMap or SolarWinds.

For a day, NitroShare clearly saw the desktop via the LAN.
But NitroShare would complain "No route to host".
o <https://i.postimg.cc/s24LWMJn/nitroshare05.jpg>

On a lark, I turned off the Windows Defender Firewall:
o Win+R > firewall.cpl

Bingo. Instantly NitroShare worked again.
But why did the ad hoc sharing time out when I hadn't changed the
Firewall?

In summary, I'll solve this dilemma, somehow, but I'm first asking if
you've seen two things which I don't have enough information yet on.
o Both seem to work for a while, and then, suddenly, "time out".

1. Have you seen a router work fine but stop accepting web logins?
2. Do you understand the Windows Firewall well enough to set it up right?
(I never needed to delve much into the default firewall before;
so I haven't - but clearly - I need a good Windows-specific
tutorial on how to set up shares so the firewall stops timing out,
if the culprit on these timeouts is the firewall).
--
Bear in mind, it's a "time out" situation more so than a setup situation.

[Arlen Holder]

On Mon, 7 Dec 2020 15:53:51 -0000 (UTC), Arlen Holder wrote:

> Could it be the router?
> o Or the Windows Defender Firewall?

Update:

I almost never mess with the Windows firewall so I'm not all that sure how...
o But I set it up manually just now to see if that's the problem moving forward

So far I've brought over gigabytes of data with that firewall fix
o Where NitroShare can copy directory trees between devices over ad hoc Wi-Fi

For others to benefit, here's how I opened the firewall:
o Win+I > Update & security > Windows Security > Firewall & network protection
[Control Panel\System and Security\Windows Defender Firewall\Allowed apps]
[Allow an app through firewall]
[Change settings][Allow another app][C:\app\network\sharing\Nitroshare.exe]
Network File Transfer Application [x]Private [_]Public
NitroShare [x]Private [_]Public
[OK]

Note: I can't yet get there in one command, where these do different things:
o Win+R > wf.msc
o Win+R > firewall.cpl
o Win+R > control firewall.cpl
o Win+R > control /name Microsoft.WindowsFirewall

Note also that NitroShare works between _any_ desktop to desktop also.
o PC to PC, PC to Linux, PC to Mac, PC to Android
o Linux to PC, Linux to Linux, Linux to Mac, Linux to Android
o Mac to PC, Mac to Linux, Mac to Mac, Mac to Android
--
I think the problem is either the router, or, more likely, the firewall.