XP Pro to XP Home P2P Network

[a2ross]

I have XP Pro on my main machine and want to set up a network to a machine I have just built running XP Home. I have used the Network Wizard (from reading other posts I get the feeling that may not be a good thing) and the outcome is as follows.

I have internet connection sharing no problems. I can see the name of the XPHome computer in the HOME workgroup from the Pro computer but cannot access contents.
"computername is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact admin....."

Having just re-run the wizard I now can't even see the computer. Can't ping the Home machine from the Pro machine. Can ping Pro machine from Home. Home machine can't even see itself in the HOME workgroup. It is not allowed permission to view the workgroup.

Any suggestions?

 

[bcastner]

Disable the XP native firewall on both machines.

 

[a2ross]

Already done that.

Still no joy.

 

[bcastner]

A little checklist:

1. Firewalls disabled both machines
2. Logon to network with a password, Enter key, Okay. Never the Escape key or Cancel.
3. Same workgroup name on both machines. Unique Computer name for both machines.
4. Something shared on both machines: a folder, a printer, something on each machine shared.
5. Netbios over TCP/IP enabled. Properties for Network Adapter, TCP/IP Properties, Advanced, WINS tab, uncheck use LMHOSTS, check Enable Netbios over TCP/IP.
6. Add the user of each machine to the userlist of the other.
7. To make life easier, enable the Guest account on both machines.

 

[smah]

Which machine is providing ICS? Pro, I assume.

From a command prompt type ipconfig /all on the home machine and post back with the results. Then do ipconfig /release. Then ipconfig /renew. Any error? Is ipconfig /all the same as it was before.

Lastly, make sure something is shared on the XP home machine, preferrably the Shared documents folder.

 

[a2ross]

Thanks bcastner.

Had all that in place already. Just set up a new account on the XP Home machine with exactly the same name, password and priviledges as the account on the Pro machine (both administrator priv) to be sure that was OK.

Still no change.

The Home machine won't even show the HOME workgroup. It says
"Home is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of this server to find out if you have access permissions. The list of servers for this workgroup is currently not available."

Thanks again for the suggestions so far. Any other ideas?

 

[a2ross]

smah,

Here is the full listing from your suggestion

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

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : XPHOME
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Mixed
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : mshome.net
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8139 Family PCI Fast Ethe
rnet NIC
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-01-2E-04-13-34
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.98
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, 21 May 2003 10:39:42 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, 28 May 2003 10:39:42 PM

C:\Documents and Settings\Admin>ipconfig /release

Windows IP Configuration


Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

C:\Documents and Settings\Admin>ipconfig /renew

Windows IP Configuration


Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : mshome.net
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.98
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1

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

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : XPHOME
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Mixed
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : mshome.net
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8139 Family PCI Fast Ethe
rnet NIC
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-01-2E-04-13-34
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.98
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, 21 May 2003 10:50:23 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, 28 May 2003 10:50:23 PM

C:\Documents and Settings\Admin>

Does that shed any light?

Thanks.

 

[bcastner]

Change the workgroup name, and do not use a .net extension. I think it is trying to resolve the workgroup on the internet.

 

[a2ross]

I've been using My Computer > Properties > Computer Name to check and/or change the computer or workgroup name. In there the workgroup name is listed as HOME. How do I change it otherwise?

 

[edemiere]

Also make sure you remove the default Admin shares and either create a user account on both machines for the respective logins or enable the guest account. That should probably get you going if the above suggestions do not help.

Good luck!

 

[a2ross]

Guest is enabled on both, I have identically named, priviledged and passworded accounts on both.

I have just run ipconfig /all on the Pro machine and noticed that the host name shown there is the original host name I supplied. The host name that comes up in Windows Explorer when I browse the Home workgroup is not the same. It says Desktop (Athomeuser). My internet service is marketted as AtHome. Am I being pointed at the wrong network?

I'll try renaming the workgroup and see if that has any effect.

 

[edemiere]

Make sure you remove the admin shares, I have found them to cause more trouble than anything else. (i.e. the C$ share on the C drive, etc).

Cheers!

 

[a2ross]

More info.

If I use the run command on the Pro machine and type
\\Athomeuser\foldername
I can access that folder.

I cannot find a reference to this computer name in anything that I have set. My internet is via a cable modem connected through a USB port. It appears that the name of the computer being used above has something to do with the setup of this connection.

I'm getting a sore head and am off line for a while.

Any ideas for me to try when I get back would be great.

Thanks again.

 

[tlcscousin]

Make sure enable NETBios over TCP is enabled on both.

 

[bcastner]

Run SpyBot.

http://www.spybot.com

 

[bcastner]

a2ross,

Please keep us informed. It seems as if you have all the basics covered.

You might turn off in TCP/IP Properties any suffix addition on Advanced, DNS, and check WINS tab to make certain LMHOSTS is disabled. But check back when you can.

 

[joelpps]

Did you make the directories you want to use as shares (or make the C: drive a share ) which must be done on both computers to allow each to use the others resources ?

If not, you can see the computers on the network but not have permisions to use them.

 

[VMPhilosophy]

make sure your hard drive is set as shared and that you have access rights to it. sometimes you may have to set up a user access rights for the machine your are trying to access from but this is an issue usually prevalant on windows 2000 or xp pro.

"Did you ever wish a circle was a square, so when land sharks start circling the boarders you can just cut them off at the corners?" - Aesop Rock

 

[smah]

The only thing that I noticed about your ipconfig results is that I would have expected your XPHOME ip address to be 192.168.0.2, but it should work as it is. I also would expect the DNS server to be your ISP's DNS (I could be wrong on this - I don't have an ICS setup at the moment). It looks like everything is basically set correctly. Can you ping from one machine to the other by IP address? What about by name?

 

[a2ross]

I'm back (briefly)

I'm starting to get really confused now.

The XP Pro machine shows me my workgroup (which I have renamed testing) but will not allow me access to the XP Home machine. The name shown in Windows Explorer for the XP Pro machine on the "Testing" network is not the same as the name shown under "My computer" in the computer name section. I cannot find any reference within the Pro machine of the name that is showing up on the network. Let's say I've called this computer MainMachine the network shows it as DifferentMachine. When I type \\DifferentMachine\foldername I get a listing. When I type \\MainMachine\fodername I get an error.

When I try to ping by name from the XP Home machine I can ping MainMachine but DifferentMachine doesn't exist. I can also ping the Pro machine from the Home machine by IP address. I can't ping the Home machine from the Pro machine by either name or IP address.

Is there anywhere that I can look to find this mysterious name that is used to identify my computer on my network?