To Workgroups with Duplicate Computer Names

[RazorFace]

I believe that I'm having trouble understanding the Microsoft Windows Workgroup scheme. I have two computers connecting to a Motorola Wireless Cable Modem Gateway (SBG 900). The first computer (Gimp) is connected to the modem via ethernet cable. The second computer (Family) is connected via a TrendNet Wireless PCI Card. The wireless part is working for me, but I'm having trouble accessing resources on Gimp (other than the printer). Whenever I try to view resources on Gimp via the Network Neighborhood I get an error message stating that I do not have permission. Specifically the error message is:

\\Gimp is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of the server to find out if you have access permissions.

When I change to Folder view in Network Neighborhood I noticed that I have two workgroups (MShome & Workgroup) in the My Network Places->Entire Network->Microsoft Windows Network-> folder with duplicate computer names. Could this be the cause of my troubles? If not, where should I look to correct this problem with access permissions denied?

 

[GrnEyedLdy]

Right click My Computer and choose Properties. Click the Computer Name tab and see what 'Workgroup' you are in. Repeat this on the other machine. If you are not in the same workgroup simply click the Change button and you can correct the problem.

Hope this helps,

Patty

 

[bcastner]

Workgroup names are an organizing convenience, but have no influence on your ability to use network resources.

Certainly a firewall issue can cause this, but the most frequent cause is that Netbios over TCP/IP is not enabled:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/318030

 

[Serbtastic]

Different workgroup names are not the cause of your problem. You need to have identical users/passwords on both machines in order to access resources because each machine does its own authentication.

 

[RazorFace]

Okay, I have made sure that both computers are now in the same workgroup. The problem still persists. Is there anyway to delete workgroups and start from scratch? I know nothing about networking. But two workgroups just doesn't seem correct. Or maybe it does work that way; I just don't know.

What I do know is I have no firewalls running. Which has been suggested in another form as the problem.

I have been struggling with this problem for two weeks now. I am definitely at my wits end. It just can't be this hard.

Waiting hopefully for another suggestion...

 

[RazorFace]

I know that it is not NetBIOS over TCP/IP. This I know for a fact has been enabled, as this was a suggestion on another forum.

If I understand Serbtastic correctly he is saying (or she) that if I am on the Family PC then I need to be logged in with the same username/password as that of the user on Gimp.

IE: if the user on Gimp is Harry/Beast then in order to access resources on Gimp from Family I would need to be logged on as Harry/Beast in the Family computer.

I'll check this out right away. Thanks for the tip!

 

[RazorFace]

Crud! I was so hoping that was the answer, sadly still the resource sharing happiness. :-(

And this denial of resource has nothing to do with the wireless network, WEP, et al. aspect of networking?

 

[bcastner]

Open notepad and copy/paste the below as a new file to be saved as node.reg :

------- start copy/paste below this line
REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NetBT\Parameters]
"NodeType"=dword:00000001
"DhcpNodeType"=-

-------- end copy/paste above this line

Double click the saved file and agree to merge this with your registry. Reboot. Do this on both machines.

 

[bcastner]

If I understand Serbtastic correctly he is saying (or she) that if I am on the Family PC then I need to be logged in with the same username/password as that of the user on Gimp.

IE: if the user on Gimp is Harry/Beast then in order to access resources on Gimp from Family I would need to be logged on as Harry/Beast in the Family computer.

Not exactly. You simply have to have the usernames and passwords of computerA entered as usernames with the same password on computerB; and vice-versa.

Another suggestion, to be done at both workstations, and then reboot:

. Donwload NTRIGHTS.EXE, a Microsoft utility:

http://www.dynawell.com/reskit/microsoft/win2000/ntrights.zip

Placed the unzipped copy into your %windir%\system32 folder, usually C:\Windows\System32

The following might be easier to copy and paste rather than type, as the syntax is very specific. First, Start, Run, CMD

net user guest /active:yes
ntrights +r SeNetworkLogonRight -u Guest
ntrights -r SeDenyNetworkLogonRight -u Guest

Have you tried this troubleshooter?:

http://www.michna.com/kb/wxnet.htm

 

[RazorFace]

Still No Love! It's a good thing I'm bald otherwise I would have pulled all my hair out by now. The last two tips posted by bcastner have been trying with negative results. Is there anything I have missed? Is there anything I can capture and paste here for you guys?

I have yet to try the troubleshooter, but I'll get to it as soon as I have a chance. I noticed in the first step of the troubleshooter in states "The questionnaire expects you to answer as if you were sitting at the computer on which the problem shows up." is a computer I'm having the problem with the Family PC, or is it the Gimp PC?

I know, I know. I could just try both PCs with the troubleshooter and see what results are returned. But right now I'm sitting at the Gimp PC and moving into the room with a Family PC is would require the assistance of another person. That computer is located in a place that is not so wheelchair accessible; but is convenient for everybody else and a wireless router. So if you know the answer, and you read this post within the hour, would be helpful to have the information before I dragged myself to the other computer.

 

[RazorFace]

I just noticed something while running the troubleshooter web page suggested above. In one of the steps it needs to know the status of the NetBIOS node type. When I type in ipconfig/all it shows that NetBIOS over TCP/IP is disabled. However, when I go to Advanced TCP/IP settings under the WINS tab it shows the radio button next to "enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP" is selected. Does this sound right? Here is the data from ipconfig/all:

C:\Documents and Settings\Mykyl>ipconfig/all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : gimp
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcast
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Cox:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8139 Family PCI Fast Ethernet NIC
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-40-05-09-1C-F5
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.2
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : fe80::240:5ff:fe09:1cf5%4
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
fec0:0:0:ffff::1%1
fec0:0:0:ffff::2%1
fec0:0:0:ffff::3%1
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Sunday, June 19, 2005 2:49:42 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Sunday, June 19, 2005 3:49:42 PM

Tunnel adapter Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : FF-FF-FF-FF-FF-FF-FF-FF
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : fe80::5445:5245:444f%5
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

C:\Documents and Settings\Mykyl>

 

[RazorFace]

I have been running through the troubleshooter web page suggested above and I've noticed some things I need to have clarified. One of things I was asked to check in this troubleshooter was to open up a command window and type "net view". Below is a screen capture of what followed:

C:\Documents and Settings\Mykyl>net view
System error 1060 has occurred.

The specified service does not exist as an installed service.


C:\Documents and Settings\Mykyl>net view \\gimp
Shared resources at \\gimp

Mykyl's Room

Share name Type Used as Comment

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mykyl's Printer Print Canon S600
Printer Print SnagIt 7
Printer2 Print ScanSoft PDF Printer
Printer3 Print Microsoft Office Document Image Writer
Printer4 Print Family Tree Maker Printer
Printer6 Print Adobe PDF
SharedDocs Disk
The command completed with one or more errors.


C:\Documents and Settings\Mykyl>net view
System error 1060 has occurred.

The specified service does not exist as an installed service.


C:\Documents and Settings\Mykyl>net view \\family
The Workstation service has not been started.

More help is available by typing NET HELPMSG 2138.


C:\Documents and Settings\Mykyl>net view \\FAMILY
The Workstation service has not been started.

More help is available by typing NET HELPMSG 2138.


C:\Documents and Settings\Mykyl>net helpmsg 2138

The Workstation service has not been started.


EXPLANATION

You have tried to use the network before starting the
Workstation service.

ACTION

Start the Workstation service by typing:

NET START WORKSTATION



C:\Documents and Settings\Mykyl>net start workstation
The service name is invalid.

More help is available by typing NET HELPMSG 2185.


C:\Documents and Settings\Mykyl>net helpmsg 2185

The service name is invalid.


EXPLANATION

You tried to start a service that is not configured on this system.

ACTION

Check the spelling of the service name or check the configuration information for the service using the Services option from Server
Manager.



C:\Documents and Settings\Mykyl>

I'm not sure why "net view" by itself returned an error, but "net view \\gimp" does produce results. Also, as you can see, "net view \\family" produces an error. You'll notice that "net start workstation" produces an error as well. So how I get the "workstation" servers running.

Something else I found while looking through the services application was that I cannot find "Computer Browser". Turning the service on was suggested by the troubleshooter web page as referenced by this hyperlink "

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/318030/".

How do I turn on the "Computer Browser?

 

[bcastner]

Start, Run, severices.msc
You should see an entry for the Computer Browser, Workstation, Server, and Netbios helper sevices. All must be started, and their startup setting set to Automatic.

 

[RazorFace]

I know how to turn on the "services.msc" applet. The problem is "Computer Browser" is not in the list of services on MSHOME/Gimp. But they are listed on MSHOME/Family.

 

[RazorFace]

Having looked again into the services applet I see that workstation is also not in the list. So, I guess at the moment I need to know how to get the "workstation" and "computer browser" services into the list of the services applet.

 

[RazorFace]

okay, I got "workstation" and "computer browser" services back into the list of the services applet. The problem was "client for Microsoft networks" was not installed.

No more for today, I'm too tired.

 

[RazorFace]

Looks as if this thread is a wash. I have done all that you good people suggested, but the results have always been the same; access denied. Probably for the best since windows XP doesn't work the way I imagined. What I was looking for was to have the family PC be able to access two hard drives in my computer which contain only music files. If I have to have identical user accounts on both computers then this type of network was not what I wanted.

I would like to take the opportunity now to thank all of those who helped. Although it did not turn out as I had hoped, I leave this thread knowing a great deal more than I did when I started, and for that I say thank you.

 

[plshlpme]

this should work exactly how you are describing.
especially if your usernames and passwords are the same on both machines.

one thing i remember about xp is that there was a filed that said if you understand about sharing click here to enable the old style where you could select permissions etc...

so ...
when you go through network neighborhood you can see both pcs in the same workgroup...
you say you can connect to the printer.. so that means that you can browse to the machine.. do you see a list of the shared folders on the other pc?

i haven't read all of the above posts.. have you made sure the xp firewall is either disabled.. or will allow your folder share. and you don't have any other firewall software that might be blocking??

 

[RazorFace]

... and then it occurred to me. I wonder if I need to be logged off of Computer A in order to log on from Computer B? I haven't read back through all the posts to see if this was ever mentioned, but it was the solution. I know, this is obvious to most people, but it appears that I'm not most people. My assumed concepts of how a network should work obviously do not gel with that of Microsoft.

In my way of thinking somebody with administrative rights should be able to logon to any account no what matter the username or password. I guess this only works in a server environment, or maybe my thinking is wrong here it is well. Although, as I've mentioned before, I have learned a great deal in this process. But as my simple blunder points out I have a great deal more to learn.

Once again, thanks to all of you for your input.