Q: PC can read time capsule but can't write

Hello,

I am having the same issues as Brian. I bought a new Dell and upgraded to Windows 10.

I have tried everything excep to format the TC's hard drive to exFat.  Since I am at work and can't check my PC's drive, I am assuming it is NTFS.  I know that NTFS and Mac OS drives won't talk to each other.  So I figure what I will try is to format the TC's drive to exFat and see if I can copy back and forth.  Of course I am at work so I can't check that out until later but will keep you all posted.

Another problem I have is with my external drive and TC.  It is a WD drive and is formatted to exFat.  I did this again because NTFS and Mac OS file systems don't play well together.   But when I connect to the router via the USB port I get an error on the Air Port Utility on my mac that there is something wrong with my drive and the router cannot connect to it.

I am at a loss as to what has happened.  I am using the WD drive to hold misc files the family can pass back and forth on the network and the TC's drive for backups.  My wife and I use PC's (for me it is work related) and I, and daughters have macs.  So I thought that would be a great solution to have our backups on the TC's drive and our misc files on the WD drive.

I would hate to lose all my data on the WD drive just to reformat it again. UGH.

Brian, here is some more food for thought.

First, my network as displayed by Airport Utility

Then some of the high level Time Capsule settings I am using.

First the Internet Tab:

Then Wireless:

  I have Wireless turned Off because I do not need another WiFi signal.  My Express covers that.  I use Time Capsule ONLY for Time Machine backups.

Then Internet Options:

Edit Note:  Out of order, this next one should come before Wireless above as is it a subset of Internet.

Then Network, in Bridge Mode:

Hope this helps.  I'm here to help if I can. 

Noval1956:

My Time Capsule (TC) drive is formated Mac OS X Extended (Journaled). Time Machine demands that, which is all I use TC for.  Windows 10 has no problem with Mac OS X Extended (Journaled).

Example, for purposes of this post I created a WORD document in Win 10 and Saved it to TC.  Titled "Testing Time Capsule Read.doc."

Then double-clicked it to Open:

I can't claim any special tips or tricks I've used.  Again, it just works.

Brian:

Back to my Network display above, you will notice a Time Capsule Gen3 (the working one).  Then additionally, a Time Capsule Gen4, yellow flaged.  That's nothing more than a ghost.  I set the Gen4 up several months ago and then removed it for the time being.  AirPort Utility remembers that, displaying a yellow flag to let me know its not plugged in. 

Brian:

Those screenshots were taken from a MacBook using AirPort Utility 6.3.5.  On my PC it's 5.6.1 but I seldom/if ever use it there.  You have a Mac, right?  And AirPort Utility works fine for you there?

My primary router is a Netgear DSL gateway, a combo modem/router, from Frontier Communications. Here is another network screenshot embellished using PhotoShop providing more detail.

MY PC connects wirelessly to this Network, not through a direct LAN connection to the Netgear router.  I'm using a little Edimax USB WiFi Adapter for that...works great.  When I installed that WiFi adapter long ago I consciously disconnected the LAN connection to the router, to force the PC into using WiFi to hop onto my Network.  I also discovered during that process Windows 7 had this Virtual WiFi Adapter thing, well hidden within Network settings, and it was active.  I disconnected that too.  I don't know if Windows 10 even has it, haven't looked.

All connections to these Network devices are wired, Ethernet.  Both AirPort Express routers extend the network provided by the Netgear and are set up in Bridge mode.  A.K.A, a Roaming Network.

I had this network set up and working under Windows 7, long before I initiated the Windows 10 Upgrade.  After the Upgrage, just last week, I've made no networking changes whatsoever.  How about you?  What did you upgrade from?  And was it working correctly on that legacy Windows system?

What could be getting in your way?  It's a guessing game, really.  Again, was yours working before the Upgrade?  It could be that my use of the AirPort Base Station makes a difference, although I don't see how.  Could it be my that PC uses a WiFi connection to the network?  Beats me.

Don't give up, Brian, I'm confident a solution will be found. 

PS:  An open invite for some of the AirPort Network gurus on this board to chime in on this. 

My thoughts on AirPort Utility runing on Windows 10:  Very ephemeral.   Sometimes Network Discovery works, sometimes it doesn't.  I have observed, however, a possible correlation between successful Win 10  AU discovery AND high tides at Venice Beach with 7 or more redheads on the boardwalk.  That's my best tip for the day.

Inasmuch as I find high tides and redheads unreliable, I seldom use AU on Win10 anymore. AU on my MacBooks is my go-to network manager - rock solid there.

I'm now thinking you may have Permissions problem, OR, some device/app has a file/TC Open active, not allowing a Write.  Do you have another PC or Mac with Time Machine?  If so try shutting them down to release the TC.  Alternatively, is there another app on the PC that could have an active Open to the file(s) you attempt to Write to?

Permissions, not my strong suit.  I'd have to poke around a lot to see what if anything is amiss there.

Another random thought:

Just for giggles, power down all network devices.  Then after a few minutes of downtime, power them back up sequentially, starting with your modem, pausing a few minutes after each device comes back up.  This is a tip often suggested by Bob Timmon's on this forum and for me it has resolved other demon like problems.  

I will give that a try tomorrow, but will have wait till the afternoon.  I'll Enable the PC LAN connection to the router, Disable the PC WiFi connection,  then hardwire the TC to the router.  Will that pretty much mimic your setup?

Gor it.

My plan is to leave the existing network intact but to kill it temporarily by disconnecting it from the router.  Then set up a Gen4 TC which will be wired directly to the router.  Lastly, Enable the LAN connection to my PC, Save a few files to the TC (hopefully), Open them back up, take a few screen shots and report back.....which will be this afternoon, PDST.

Can you think of anything else that might be helpful?

Brian:

I don't know if this is Good news, or Bad news for you...but it works given my Plan above.

1. I disconnected my existing network and setup Time Capsule Gen4.  Here is the AirPort Utility display from my Mac.

2. The Time-Capsule-GE (Gen4) as seen on my Win 10 Network

3.  Double click on that and the 2Tb internal drive is displayed

I'm going to split this up into two posts....more to follow below.