I have a weird problem I just spent several hours trying to fix.

We have a brand new Dell PC with Windows XP SP2. We are using simple file
sharing in a peer-peer network. We have 1 folder shared for the networked
application access from 2 other PC's on the network. Everything works and
PC's can browse other PC's and can surf the internet through a broadband
router. We have a networked printer which works fine. All PC's can ping each
other. File and Printer sharing is NOT blocked in the SP2 firewall. There is
no other firewall installed anywhere. (other than the firewall in the NAT
router)

When Antivirus software is installed on the PC which has the single folder
shared for the business app the file share stops working. We can still see
the folder shared but I cannot browse any files or folders within it.
Sometimes we can browse into the share from the local PC's network
neighborhood and sometimes not. The only thing which works is uninstalling
the antivirus software. I thought that the AVG free version might have a
firewall (They claim it doesn't) so I tried Avast Free AV. The file sharing
stops working again.

This only happens on the one PC. The others have AV installed (AVG free) and
the file sharing works fine. I cannot substitute one of the others for the
database server because it has Raid1 hard disk system.

Has anyone else ever run into this problem?

Any help would be appreciated.

Edwin

What is/are the error message(s) when you attempt to access the
folder? Is it simply that the location does not exist, or something
more? Have you set permissions on this shared folder(xp pro)? In this
you can allow more users from different locations (other computers).
That might be worth a try. Good luck

The times I have run into it the answer has always been the software
firewall, sometimes disguised by the term "profile" (direct to internet,
office network, etc).

If that's not it I'm sorry I can't help further.

www.FreeComputerConsultant.com

Edwin Smith wrote:
> I have a weird problem I just spent several hours trying to fix.
>
> We have a brand new Dell PC with Windows XP SP2. We are using simple file
> sharing in a peer-peer network. We have 1 folder shared for the networked
> application access from 2 other PC's on the network. Everything works and
> PC's can browse other PC's and can surf the internet through a broadband
> router. We have a networked printer which works fine. All PC's can ping each
> other. File and Printer sharing is NOT blocked in the SP2 firewall. There is
> no other firewall installed anywhere. (other than the firewall in the NAT
> router)
>
> When Antivirus software is installed on the PC which has the single folder
> shared for the business app the file share stops working. We can still see
> the folder shared but I cannot browse any files or folders within it.
> Sometimes we can browse into the share from the local PC's network
> neighborhood and sometimes not. The only thing which works is uninstalling
> the antivirus software. I thought that the AVG free version might have a
> firewall (They claim it doesn't) so I tried Avast Free AV. The file sharing
> stops working again.
>
> This only happens on the one PC. The others have AV installed (AVG free) and
> the file sharing works fine. I cannot substitute one of the others for the
> database server because it has Raid1 hard disk system.
>
> Has anyone else ever run into this problem?
>
> Any help would be appreciated.
>
> Edwin
>
>