Home Networking Difficulties

[Ryan]

I've got 2 computers in my house, one running XP Home,
and the other running XP Pro. I can share the internet
connection fine, but I can't share files or printers.

The XP Home machine can successfully ping itself by IP
address and name, and can ping the XP Pro machine by IP
address, but not by name (Cannot find host).

The XP Pro machine can ping itself by IP address and
name, but cannot ping the XP Home machine at all (IP
address times out, and cannot find host name). Neither
computer can see the other in the Network Places window.

Strangely, when I double-click the Network Setup Wizard
on the XP Home machine, absolutely nothing happens. So
I've manually named each machine, and joined them to the
same workgroup, but that doesn't seem to help. Any ideas
what my problem might be? Thanks in advance!

--Ryan

 

[Ron Lowe]

I've got 2 computers in my house, one running XP Home,
and the other running XP Pro. I can share the internet
connection fine, but I can't share files or printers.

The XP Home machine can successfully ping itself by IP
address and name, and can ping the XP Pro machine by IP
address, but not by name (Cannot find host).

The XP Pro machine can ping itself by IP address and
name, but cannot ping the XP Home machine at all (IP
address times out, and cannot find host name). Neither
computer can see the other in the Network Places window.

Strangely, when I double-click the Network Setup Wizard
on the XP Home machine, absolutely nothing happens. So
I've manually named each machine, and joined them to the
same workgroup, but that doesn't seem to help. Any ideas
what my problem might be? Thanks in advance!

--Ryan

It sounds like there is a firewall enabled on the
XP Home machine making it unpingable.

We can't say what the correct fix is untill we know how Internet access is
set up.
I don't want to tell you to take down the firewall unless the configuration
is safe to do so.

How is the Internet sharing configured?
A router?
One of the XP machines running ICS?
A hub and cable modem feeding both machines?

If the machines are connected to a regular domestic broadband router, or use
XPs Internet Connection Sharing, then it's safe, and you need to disable all
firewalls on the internal LAN connections on both machines.

If you have a hub fed from a broadband modem ( not router ), then do not
disable the firewalls.

As regards the XP Home being able to ping XP Pro by IP address but not name,
it will depend on the answer to the configuration question.

If the machines are connected by router or ICS, then ensure:

NetBIOS-over-TCP/IP is enabled on the internal LAN connections;
There's no firewall on the internal LAN connections;
Check the NodeType on each box from 'ipconfig /all' and report back.

 

[Ryan]

-----Original Message-----



It sounds like there is a firewall enabled on the
XP Home machine making it unpingable.

We can't say what the correct fix is untill we know how Internet access is
set up.
I don't want to tell you to take down the firewall unless the configuration
is safe to do so.

How is the Internet sharing configured?
A router?
One of the XP machines running ICS?
A hub and cable modem feeding both machines?

If the machines are connected to a regular domestic broadband router, or use
XPs Internet Connection Sharing, then it's safe, and you need to disable all
firewalls on the internal LAN connections on both machines.

If you have a hub fed from a broadband modem ( not router ), then do not
disable the firewalls.

As regards the XP Home being able to ping XP Pro by IP address but not name,
it will depend on the answer to the configuration question.

If the machines are connected by router or ICS, then ensure:

NetBIOS-over-TCP/IP is enabled on the internal LAN connections;
There's no firewall on the internal LAN connections;
Check the NodeType on each box from 'ipconfig /all' and report back.

Okay, I've disabled ICF/ICS on both machines, and turned
off Kerio on the XP Home machine. By the way, it's a
LinkSys router I'm using to connect, so it should be safe
to do this, right?

Success! Both machines ping each other by IP and name,
and they can now see each others' shares! Thanks for
your help!

--Ryan