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Windows Forum / Windows XP / Networking and Web / April 2005My computers can't see each other on the net
I'm running XP pro on my desktop wired to a Belkin Modem/Router, and XP home on the laptop which is wireless to the Router. Both machines have perfect access to the internet, but I can't see either machine from the other, or share any files, although I could a few weeks ago before my daughter used the laptop!!. I can ping both machines from each other using the ip address, but not using computer names. Workgroups are named the same on both machines, and computer names are different. I have the same password protected accounts on both machines. If I try to view workgroup computers in My Network Places, the desktop shows itself, but the laptop comes up with an error message suggesting "Workgroup is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the adninistrator of this server to find out if you have access permissions The list of network servers for this workgroup is not currently available" I'm logged on as an administrator so I assume that isn't the problem. Anyone got any ideas? I just came out of fixing the same problem. Make sure you have Simple File Sharing enabled on both computers. And if you have firewalls in use (such as Zone Alarm) make sure all firewalls have an opening to the network IP of each other (or set up a range of IPs). That fixed that little issue for me. > I'm running XP pro on my desktop wired to a Belkin Modem/Router, and XP home > on the laptop which is wireless to the Router. Both machines have perfect [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > I'm logged on as an administrator so I assume that isn't the problem. > Anyone got any ideas? The most likely cause of the problem is Windows Firewall or ICF or a third party firewall that's blocking access. Try disabling that (especially on the PC that isn't directly connected to the internet because the firewall shouldn't be necessary on that machine and it's a known problem with some network file sharing). The fact that you're getting a message on the laptop saying that the workgroup is not accessible means that you're making contact with it and that it's not a matter of network connectivity (but perhaps one of permissions). Make sure the computer that's rejecting the sharing is set up to share the files/folders you're trying to access. Although enable Simple File Sharing might solve your problem, that shouldn't be necessary if you've set up proper sharing in a more normal way (and simple file sharing prevents you from using NTFS permissions and other security measures you might prefer to have). > I'm running XP pro on my desktop wired to a Belkin Modem/Router, and XP > home [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > I'm logged on as an administrator so I assume that isn't the problem. > Anyone got any ideas? Thanks for the advice, I had the Windows firewall and NIS personal firewall enabled on both machines, plus the firewall within the Belkin Router. I've disabled Windows Firewall on both machines, and ensured that NIS is configured to allow ip adresses of the 2 machines to work. This has improved things somewhat - on the laptop now it sees itself when I look for other workgroup computers, but still neither machine can see the other. I'm reluctant to disable firewalls completely on either machine, as I assume because both connect directly through the modem/router to the internet, both machines need their own firewall protection enabled. Can you think of anything further? > The most likely cause of the problem is Windows Firewall or ICF or a third > party firewall that's blocking access. Try disabling that (especially on [quoted text clipped - 36 lines] > > I'm logged on as an administrator so I assume that isn't the problem. > > Anyone got any ideas? >Thanks for the advice, I had the Windows firewall and NIS personal firewall >enabled on both machines, plus the firewall within the Belkin Router. I've [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] >machines need their own firewall protection enabled. >Can you think of anything further? Pegasus, Can you ping each computer by name now? Start by looking for a browser conflict. The Microsoft Browstat program will show us what browsers (I'm not talking about Internet Explorer here) you have in your domain / workgroup, at any time. http://support.microsoft.com/?id=188305 You can download Browstat from either: <http://www.dynawell.com/reskit/microsoft/win2000/browstat.zip> <http://rescomp.stanford.edu/staff/manual/rcc/tools/browstat.zip> Browstat is very small (40K), and needs no install. Just unzip the downloaded file, copy browstat.exe to any folder in the Path, and run it from a command window, by "browstat status". Make sure all computers list the same master browser. For more information about the browser subsystem (very intricate), see: http://support.microsoft.com/?id=188001 http://support.microsoft.com/?id=188305 http://support.microsoft.com/?id=231312 <http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winntas/deploy/prodspecs/ntbrowse.mspx> <http://www.microsoft.com/technet/archive/win95/w95brows.mspx> The browser requires anonymous access, so look at registry key [HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa], value restrictanonymous. <http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/techinfo/reskit/en-us/default.asp?url=/wind ows2000/techinfo/reskit/en-us/regentry/46688.asp> <http://www.jsifaq.com/subf/tip2600/rh2625.htm> http://support.microsoft.com/?id=246261 http://support.microsoft.com/?id=296403 For browsing to work (for each computer to be listed by a browser), each computer must have a restrictanonymous value of "0". The above articles refer to Windows 2000. Remember Win2K is NT V5.0, and WinXP is NT V5.1. Have you used the Registry Editor before? If not, it's a scary tool, but it's pretty simple once you get used to it. Here are a couple articles that might help: <http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/using/productdoc/en/default.asp?url=/win dowsxp/home/using/productdoc/en/tools_regeditors.asp> <http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/registry> Just remember to backup the key (create a registry patch) for [HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa] before making any changes, if appropriate.  SignatureCheers, Chuck Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing. My email is AT DOT actual address pchuck sonic net. Chuck, No success pinging by name, but i'm not certain i'm doing it right - ping **** where **** is the name of the other computer, and with a space between ping and the name - ie replacing the ip address with the name, or should there be \\ in there somewhere? > >Thanks for the advice, I had the Windows firewall and NIS personal firewall > >enabled on both machines, plus the firewall within the Belkin Router. I've [quoted text clipped - 53 lines] > [HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa] before making any changes, if > appropriate. >Chuck, >No success pinging by name, but i'm not certain i'm doing it right - >ping **** >where **** is the name of the other computer, and with a space between ping >and the name - ie replacing the ip address with the name, or should there be >\\ in there somewhere? Just "ping nameofcomputer" or "ping ipaddressofcomputer" - no "\\". What exact error do you get when pinging by name? SignatureCheers, Chuck Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing. My email is AT DOT actual address pchuck sonic net. Chuck, I've run cmd to keep the window open, and pinged from that. If I ping the name straight from the run window, nothing happens (or I'm too slow to read it!!). When I ping the laptop (acer) from desktop (StudyDesktop) I get "Ping request could not find host acer. Please check the name and try again." The same happens trying it from the desktop. If I try to ping the acer from itself using the name, I get "Pinging acer(192.168.2.2) with 32 bytes of date" and then the request times out. Same if I try that on the desktop > >Chuck, > >No success pinging by name, but i'm not certain i'm doing it right - [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > What exact error do you get when pinging by name? >Chuck, >I've run cmd to keep the window open, and pinged from that. If I ping the [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] >"Pinging acer(192.168.2.2) with 32 bytes of date" and then the request times >out. Same if I try that on the desktop Name resolution problems are frequently caused by corruption of the LSP / Winsock subsystem. http://support.microsoft.com/?id=318584 http://support.microsoft.com/?id=811259 If XP RTM or Service Pack 1: 1. Backup and delete the following registry keys: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Winsock HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Winsock2 2. Reboot. 3. Open the network connections folder, right click your network connection, and click Properties. 4. Click Install | Protocol | Add. 5. Click "Have Disk...", type "\windows\inf" in the box, and click OK. 6. Click "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)", then click OK. 7. Reboot. If XP SP2: 1. Start - Run - "cmd". 2. Type "netsh winsock reset catalog" into the command window. Give LSP-Fix <http://www.cexx.org/lspfix.htm>, WinsockFix <http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=257>, or WinsockXPFix <http://www.spychecker.com/program/winsockxpfix.html> a shot. If no help yet, reset TCP/IP. http://support.microsoft.com/?id=299357 Start - Run - "cmd". Type "netsh int ip reset c:\netsh.txt" into the command window. SignatureCheers, Chuck Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing. My email is AT DOT actual address pchuck sonic net. Chuck, I developed another problem and the laptop lost all internet connection, so I removed NIS from it, and eventually got it back and working as normal. I typed "netsh winsock reset catalog" into the command window on both machines & rebooted both, but no success. Then I tried LSP-fix on both and rebooted, but still no better. Then came success, I ran WinsockFix on the desktop and having rebooted it, now both machines can see each other and file/printer sharing is working. Is it worth running WinsockFix and WinsockXPFix on both machines as well now that they seem to be running? or should I quit while I'm ahead? > >Chuck, > >I've run cmd to keep the window open, and pinged from that. If I ping the [quoted text clipped - 37 lines] > Start - Run - "cmd". Type "netsh int ip reset c:\netsh.txt" into the command > window. >Chuck, >I developed another problem and the laptop lost all internet connection, so [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] >Is it worth running WinsockFix and WinsockXPFix on both machines as well now >that they seem to be running? or should I quit while I'm ahead? LSP-Fix, WinsockFix, and WinsockXPFIx are simply 3 different LSP / Winsock repair tools. They only repair the problems that they can find. Each program, along with the XP SP2 "netsh winsock reset catalog", appears to work at times when one or more of the other 3 won't. LSP / Winsock corruption seems to be such an amorphous condition that we haven't really gotten a handle on it, but experiences like yours help us get a handle on identifying when it's necessary. If you have no problem now, then just enjoy the fact that you resolved the problem that you did have. And be thankful for the creators of WinsockFix. SignatureCheers, Chuck Paranoia is not necessarily a bad thing - it comes from experience. My email is AT DOT actual address pchuck sonic net. Perhaps you might consider connecting to the internet through one of the PCs and using ICS to connect the other one. Then both won't be directly connected and you can disable the firewall on the PC that isn't connected directly. I feel certain that your problem is related to the firewalls (especially if you're using Windows AND NIS AND the one on the Belkin Router all together) - especially since you showed some improvement when you performed a partial disabling. > Thanks for the advice, I had the Windows firewall and NIS personal > firewall [quoted text clipped - 60 lines] >> > I'm logged on as an administrator so I assume that isn't the problem. >> > Anyone got any ideas? Lorien, Thanks for your advice as well, having spoken to Belkin, they advise keeping some form of software firewall running on both machines in addition to the built in one on the router. I've configured NIS on both to allow network communication, and disabled the windows firewall, and it seems Ok at the moment. > Perhaps you might consider connecting to the internet through one of the PCs > and using ICS to connect the other one. Then both won't be directly [quoted text clipped - 68 lines] > >> > I'm logged on as an administrator so I assume that isn't the problem. > >> > Anyone got any ideas? |
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