WeeApp 2.0.2 not showing any devices and cannot do anything on Windows 11

[just4747]

Downloaded and tried the latest version of this app 2.0.2 for the first time. Using Windows 11. I have several Belkin/Wemo smart outlets at home. Upon launching, nothing shows up in the device box after letting the yellow "Searching" animation finish at the bottom. Clicking refresh also does nothing. I don't see any other settings or controls. Is this supposed to work as-is? Am I missing something? Seems to not work at all.

[Hyperchaotic]

It normally works. Factors that could prevent it from finding switches:

• Windows Firewall.
• Switches on a different WiFi channel than the PC usually works but some older routers have a bug where they separate them so the switches don't get the Discovey broadcast from the PC.
• New WeMo technology? This was made for WeMo switches years ago, it may be a new generation doesn't use the same protocol anymore? A lot of new devices are changing to the Matter standard, etc.

[just4747]

It normally works. Factors that could prevent it from finding switches:

• Windows Firewall.
• Switches on a different WiFi channel than the PC usually works but some older routers have a bug where they separate them so the switches don't get the Discovey broadcast from the PC.
• New WeMo technology? This was made for WeMo switches years ago, it may be a new generation doesn't use the same protocol anymore? A lot of new devices are changing to the Matter standard, etc.

Hi, thanks. All of my Wemo switches are a few to several years old, so no super new ones. A mix of the classic larger size smart plugs and the mini ones they came out with later.

I do have band steering 2.4/5ghz turned on and only a single SSID is broadcast. Could that be why? I think the Wemos always utilized 2.4ghz only if I remember correctly. My PC is on wired ethernet though if it matters.

Will check firewall settings and I'm assuming I should allow this app to go through it?

EDIT: Checked and it is already allowed through firewall (private side). Also allowing it public didn't make a difference.

Just to confirm, should this be finding smart plugs? These are the two types I have:

[Hyperchaotic]

I got a F7C027 model that looks like your second picture, tried it on Windows 11 and it showed up within a few seconds after WeeApp loaded. The switch is connected to 2.4GHz and the laptop to 5GHz, same LAN/IP subnet.

The way it works is that the PC will broadcast a "hey everyone, any WeMos here?" message on the LAN that all devices will see, and the individual switches will respond directly to that PC so 1-1 communication can start. In your case I'd guess that first broadcast message doesn't make it across to the switches.

If possible you could try to temporarily connect a PC through wifi, just to see if that changes anything, it would help discover whether the router does any isolation for the broadcast messages between ethernet and wifi.

Try to look for settings like AP/Client Isolation on the router, or if it has "IGMP snooping" try to disable it. Make sure it uses same IP subnet for both Wifi and local Ethernet (they ususally do, except for guest networks) and check that there's not some setting disabling multicast.

[just4747]

-> I got a F7C027 model that looks like your second picture, tried it on Windows 11 and it showed up within a few seconds after WeeApp loaded. The switch is connected to 2.4GHz and the laptop to 5GHz, same LAN/IP subnet.

The way it works is that the PC will broadcast a "hey everyone, any WeMos here?" message on the LAN that all devices will see, and the individual switches will respond directly to that PC so 1-1 communication can start. In your case I'd guess that first broadcast message doesn't make it across to the switches.

If possible you could try to temporarily connect a PC through wifi, just to see if that changes anything, it would help discover whether the router does any isolation for the broadcast messages between ethernet and wifi.

Try to look for settings like AP/Client Isolation on the router, or if it has "IGMP snooping" try to disable it. Make sure it uses same IP subnet for both Wifi and local Ethernet (they ususally do, except for guest networks) and check that there's not some setting disabling multicast.

That did it - I disconnected ethernet on my PC and connected to Wifi and the tool works right away - sees all of the switches.
I checked router settings (Linksys EA8300) and don't see most of those settings anywhere.

I do see that 'filter anonymous internet requests' and 'filter ident' are on but 'filter multicast' and 'filter internet NAT redirection' are off. I don't see IGMP settings anywhere or anything about isolation.

How would I check the IP subnet for both exactly?

Thanks!

[Hyperchaotic]

I'm pretty sure it would use same subnet, if you're not using a guest network. All devices get IP addresses from the same DHCP pool. If you can see a list of connected devices switches+pc check that their IP addresses all have the same 3 first numbers, e.g. 192.168.1.x so only the x differs for each, that means they're all on subnet "192.168.1" as we want.

Unfortunately if they're on the same subnet I don't know how to fix this. Checking if there's a firmware upgrade as a long shot.

[just4747]

I'm pretty sure it would use same subnet, if you're not using a guest network. All devices get IP addresses from the same DHCP pool. If you can see a list of connected devices switches+pc check that their IP addresses all have the same 3 first numbers, e.g. 192.168.1.x so only the x differs for each, that means they're all on subnet "192.168.1" as we want.

Unfortunately if they're on the same subnet I don't know how to fix this. Checking if there's a firmware upgrade as a long shot.

Yeah all devices and PC have 192.168.1.x addresses so I'm sure that's not the issue.

I have several Foscam cameras also connected to my network via Wifi, and the simple Foscam device search tool does this exact same thing - searching/finding the cameras on the network, and it functions just fine and quickly even when the PC is on ethernet. To me, this seems like the exact same situation, aside from any device differences. There must be a workaround, no?

Foscam tool link here: https://www.foscam.com/downloads/appsoftware.html?id=3
-or, uploaded below:

SearchTool_windows.zip

Thanks.

[Hyperchaotic]

I believe Foscam can use both the ONVIF/WS-Discovery and SSDP protocols for discovery and configuration, so it's possibly using ONVIF instead of SSDP like Wemo.

You could try the "Home Remote" tool from the Microsoft Store, it's free.

[Hyperchaotic]

If you type below query into chatgpt it will give you a way to possibly circumvent the problem. This should keep all traffic on your Ethernet except the switches. Just an idea, I haven't tried it.

"How do I connect a Windows 11 PC to a router via Ethernet and WiFi at the same time, so Ethernet is default route but both will be used for things like SSDP broadcasts on all adapters to circumvent the problem that the router doesn't forward SSDP between WiFi and Ethernet?"

[just4747]

If you type below query into chatgpt it will give you a way to possibly circumvent the problem. This should keep all traffic on your Ethernet except the switches. Just an idea, I haven't tried it.

"How do I connect a Windows 11 PC to a router via Ethernet and WiFi at the same time, so Ethernet is default route but both will be used for things like SSDP broadcasts on all adapters to circumvent the problem that the router doesn't forward SSDP between WiFi and Ethernet?"

Cool, will check it out, thanks.

[just4747]

@Hyperchaotic any clue how today, the devices are randomly all showing up in the WeeApp program, without me changing anything? Wifi disconnected, ethernet only. Very odd....

[Hyperchaotic]

No idea but I'm guessing that, unless your router had a recent firmware update/reboot, Windows Firewall is somehow the culprit and something about it changed behavior.