XP Pro D/T & L/T - Wireless Web Access OK- File Sharing Problems

[thenoo]

This is a long-running problem.

Summary:

1.D/T & L/T both with XP PRO SP2 linked through Linksys Router WRT54GS - accessing web individually and severally OK

2.Both with separate names :- "dtop1" & "ltop1" and both in same workgroup named "WORKGROUP"

3.Both with TCP/IP installed and with " IP Address obtained automatically" and "File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks" installed and ticked.
"NETBios over TCP/IP" is enabled on both machines.

4.When "My Network Places>Entire Network>Microsoft Windows Network>Workgoup is clicked , on the L/T I get "Workgroup not accessible. You may not have permission......etc " and , on the D/T I get "ltop1" and "dtop1" showing and , if "dtop1" is clicked , it shows some shared Folders but when "ltop1" is clicked I get message :- "ltop1 not accessible. You may not have permission to use ....etc "

If I go to "CMD" on D/T and type "ipconfig" I get :-

IP ADDRESS 192.168.1.100
Subnet Mask 255.255.255.0
Default G'Way 192.168.1.1

If I ping above IP , this replies OK but not if I ping "dtop1"

"Ipconfig" at the CMD prompt on ltop1 gives:-

IP ADDRESS 192.168.1.101 and the others as above.

Pinging both "ltop1" and its IP address is OK.

I have submitted this problem before without finding any suggestions as to a resolution but , this time , it has just occurred to me that the D/T is formatted as NTFS while the L/T is FAT 32.
I am , therefore , wondering whether this fact , previously unnoticed and/or not considered , is relevant here.

Can anyone help with enabling File and Printer Sharing in this case and , hopefully , explain why the "ping" is failing as described please ?

P.S.

 

[powerflower]

Have you allowed sharing of folders on the machines? Its one thing to allow sharing in the network but you also have to say what you want to share.

Open windows exploring and right click the folder or drive you want to share on the network. make sure "share this folder" is checked and optionally whether you allow a network user to change files in the folder.

M

http://www.telemarv.ca

 

[allteltec]

With only 2 computer on the network I would load NetBEUI Protocol. That should help.

 

[linney]

NTFS or FAT32 are not going to be the problem, that is quite irrelevant.

Often a firewall problem, see if these sites are useful?

Simple File Sharing- enabled

http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/xp/filesharing.htm

Simple File Sharing - disabled

http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/xp_filesharing/index.htm

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

How to troubleshoot wireless network connections in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/313242/EN-US/?FR=1

WinXP Connectivity Issues
faq779-4625

Adhoc network from hell
thread779-1075549

Windows XP Wireless User Guide

http://support.gateway.com/support/manlib/Desktops/8508344/8508344.htm

 

[thenoo]

Answering powerflower:-

Yes I have allowed sharing on Folder C:\Docs & Settings\my name\Desktop on both machines. No change in results.

 

[thenoo]

Answering allteltec:-

How do I instal NetBEUI - is this included on the XP CD?

 

[thenoo]

Answering linney:-

I'll read over your links and post back any comments although I think I've already tried some of the suggestions there before - however I'll re-read them this time.

Is it not the case that the first thing that needs to be done here is establish why the machines can't ping each other - is this not fundemental to this endeavour ? Each machine can ping the Linksys Router but not each other.

Is this a correct assumption that this is basic ?

Related to this , surely , is that fact that the Workgroup , when accessed on the Desktop shows both machines ,( although "ltop1" cannot be accessed ), and the Workgroup shows neither ( with a message saying that I don't have permission to access the Workgroup ) on the laptop.

 

[linney]

Ping problems.

"There is something blocking ICMP traffic (ping responses) and Netbios traffic. It is either in the router settings or the remnents of firewall software on that PC."

Cannot ping XP workstation
thread779-920007

"A ping failure is a cable plant or network adapter issue; or, a firewall issue."

RTO when pinging a specific macine
thread779-951678

"if you're using a router, check the ICMP request settings for that particular machine address at the router, it could be blocking ICMP requests, if it is, you will need to program the router to allow ICMP incoming/outgoing on the LAN address for the computer that's not recieving ICMP requests."

No ICMP response from Windows XP client - firewall disabled
thread779-1104435


I Simply Can't Ping A Computer On My Network
thread779-1096319

How to troubleshoot TCP/IP connectivity with Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314067&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

 

[thenoo]

Another reply to linney's suggestions:-

I haven't yet got around to digesting all the ideas in the links you provided but , since first reading your reply and some of the others , I have "re-tweaked" my Firewall ( Zone Alarm Free Version ) and put the IP addresses of both PC's and that of the Linksys Router into the Trusted Zones and this has got some improvement in that I can now get "ltop1" to see and access folders set as "shared " on the DTOP but not in the reverse direction.

DTOP has IP 192.168.1.100
ltop1 has IP 192.168.1.101
router has IP 192.168.1.1

Pinging ltop1 from DTOP both with IP address and name is OK

Pinging DTOP from ltop1 is OK with IP address and name but when "DTOP" is entered this appears with the IP address of the ltop1 in brackets [192.168.1.101] which then times OUT.

This puzzles me for two reasons :- firstly , why is the wrong IP address being associated with DTOP here and secondly why does 192.168.1.101 Ping OK when entered from the ltop1 but this same IP address , although erroneously associated with DTOP , time out .?

Pinging the router from either direction is OK.

One futher observation :-

If I click Start>My Network Places>Entire Network>Microsoft Windows Network>Workgroup , this shows DTOP and ltop1 on both machines but with the difference that clicking "ltop1" from DTOP it comes up with the initialisation page of the router , i.e it seems to have sent the router's address 192.168.1.1 instead of 192.168.1.101 ?

 

[linney]

Are these Router links helpful?

Router won't let me connect to internet
thread779-1057496

assigning an ip address
thread779-1114812

 

[allteltec]

Yes NETBeui is on the XP CD, you need two file first is at
\VALUEADD\MSFT\NET\NETBEUI\nbf.sys copy to Windows\system32\drivers\
file 2 is at VALUEADD\MSFT\NET\NETBEUI\netnbf.inf copy to Windows\inf\ After copying the files just right click MyNetwork Places click Properties then Right click the network connection you are using. click Properties click Install click Protocol and Add, NETBeui should now appear since you copied the to files over. I have bat files to do the joy make it much easer.

 

[smah]

It doesn't surprise me that name resolution doesn't work, you have no local DNS server. That's not really a problem for your setup. Linney was on the right track, with the firewall problems. Be sure to read the 'practically networked' links that he provided.

Don't try to share your desktop... sharing folders under your username could have problems depending on the NTFS permissions. Instead, create a new folder in the root of C: - maybe something named 'shared' and work with that.

 

[thenoo]

To all who have replied to this post :-

I seem to have solved this problem by upgrading the NIC drivers to the latest versions for XP Pro.

I feel a bit of a fool not to have thought of such an obvious step before posting here - I couldn't see the wood for the trees I reckon.

Having done this , I can now see shared files on both machines.

Haven't yet got the printer to share yet - am working on this at the moment.

Thanks to all who have replied.