Fun with networking!

[Moofaa]

Ok, im writing this while in class, so pardon me if this is a bit brief.

At home I have a wireless network, a desktop, and two laptops. All are on xp pro. Desktop and laptop 1 can see each other on the network, and share files.

Laptop 2 gives me an error telling me to see the network admin when I click on the mshome workgroup. Laptop 2 can ping the desktop.

The desktop cannot ping laptop 2. Laptop 2 is listed in the mshome workgroup, but when I click on it, it tells me 'network path not found'.

I've shut off both windows and nortons firewalls on all PCs, and even disabled the firewall on the router.

Any suggestions?

[nil8]

Turn off simple file sharing.
Go into any normal folder -> Tools ->Folder Options -> At the very bottom will be simple file sharing. Make sure it's turned off on all 3 machines.

Whenever you try to connect for the first time to a machine, it will bring up a login prompt. Log into the remote machine using an account on the remote machine.

[Moofaa]

That option isnt there. Just saw a tutorial saying the same thing.

My understanding XP-Pro has that feature, and XP Home doesnt. And I just now looked and realized HP gave me home instead of pro on my laptop. Looks like they get a nasty e-mail from me. Now I need to dig up my receipt and see if somehow Home got selected instead of pro.

Unless theres any other suggestions, I'll just have to 'aquire' a version of XP pro from somewhere, and install it myself I guess, since I dont see anything else that could be the problem.

[Luke122]

Dont disable the firewall on the router! That one is between your network and the internet, not between your PC/laptops.

[Moofaa]

I wasnt connected to the net at the time. I have a WRT54G3G-ST and i'm using Sprints EVDO service for internet (no cable or DSL in the woods of southern ohio) I had the evdo card inside the router disabled when I shut off the firewall.

[Outlaw]

Did you try rejoining everything to your workgroup? I have had similar issues and just rejoined the pc to the workgroup and that worked for me. Just a thought.

[Moofaa]

Recreated the network several times actually. I think its more of an issue with XP home on the laptop then anythign else.

[Drum Thumper]

Networks are named the same? Obvious question, but it needs to be asked.

[Moofaa]

yeah, same name.

I just gave up and burned 11 CDs of stuff from my desktop to transfer the files I needed.

[Crazy Buddhist]

you do have "allow file and printer sharing" enabled in networking properties on all machines?

[Crazy Buddhist]

Useful resources for this problem:

http://www.velocityreviews.com/forums/t364173-cannot-see-one-of-my-laptop-in-workgroup-computers.html

http://winhlp.com/wxnet.htm

[Xpirate]

I had a problem just like this one with an XP PC. The problem was solved when I uninstalled Norton Anti-Virus.

Norton jacked up the system so bad that I could not install a newer edition on it with out screwing it up. I tried to fix it with a repair install from Norton's website and couldn't do it.

I'm not a big fan of Norton anymore.

[Crazy Buddhist]

also worth making sure one machine has "computer browser" turned on by default (the desktop) and the others have it disabled. "Computer browser" maintains the list of network resources on a workgroup. I think you get to the setting through File and Printer Sharing but I have SO disabled this feature in my setup that I can't even look to check. - google it.