So something has changed in the code that broke the UNC names. I also use a domain.local path for my entire home network. This has been working for years and only recently (as of last update) stopped working. Is it that hard to roll back? I would rather remove the new features (None of them pertain ...

How about rolling back changes rather than telling us not to use UNC. I would rather not map a drive. Please either fix this or roll back your update.