My Network Places Display

[KiwiBrian]

I am setting up my home network of 4 PCs.
1 Laptop with XP Home, and 3 Desktops with XP Pro.
The networking seems to be OK, altho not fully tested yet.
But my query at the mo is:-
On the Laptop when I open My Network Places in Windows Explorer, I see all
of the network shared folders at the same level in the displayed hierarchy
as Entire Network.
If I drill down to Mshome which is where everything is displayed on the
other PCs, I get an error message that it is not accessible, and that I may
not have permission etc., etc.
On one of the Desktops there is just one of the other PCs shared folders
displaying at the same level as Entire Network, in addition to being in the
right place in Mshome folder.
I assume that everything should display on each computer in Mshome and
nowhere else.
If so, how do I achieve this?
I hope this means something to someone who can point me in the right
direction.
TIA
Brian Tozer

 

[Chuck]

I am setting up my home network of 4 PCs.
1 Laptop with XP Home, and 3 Desktops with XP Pro.
The networking seems to be OK, altho not fully tested yet.
But my query at the mo is:-
On the Laptop when I open My Network Places in Windows Explorer, I see all
of the network shared folders at the same level in the displayed hierarchy
as Entire Network.
If I drill down to Mshome which is where everything is displayed on the
other PCs, I get an error message that it is not accessible, and that I may
not have permission etc., etc.
On one of the Desktops there is just one of the other PCs shared folders
displaying at the same level as Entire Network, in addition to being in the
right place in Mshome folder.
I assume that everything should display on each computer in Mshome and
nowhere else.
If so, how do I achieve this?
I hope this means something to someone who can point me in the right
direction.
TIA
Brian Tozer

Brian,

I seem to recall trying to help you here earlier, but I don't see your threads
right now, so my apologies if I repeat myself.

Are all computers set to workgroup MSHome?

Check misconfigured / overlooked firewalls, and registry setting
restrictanonymous, on each computer.
Misconfigured / overlooked firewalls:
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/05/your-personal-firewall-can-either-help.html>
Registry setting restrictanonymous:
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/07/restrictanonymous-and-your-server.html>

If no help yet, go thru my Network Neighborhood troubleshooting guide:
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/05/troubleshooting-network-neighborhood.html>

Or provide "browstat status" and "ipconfig /all" from each computer, and we can
diagnose the problem. Read this article, and linked articles, and follow
instructions precisely:
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/05/troubleshooting-network-neighborhood.html#AskingForHelp>

 

[Steve Winograd [MVP]]

I am setting up my home network of 4 PCs.
1 Laptop with XP Home, and 3 Desktops with XP Pro.
The networking seems to be OK, altho not fully tested yet.
But my query at the mo is:-
On the Laptop when I open My Network Places in Windows Explorer, I see all
of the network shared folders at the same level in the displayed hierarchy
as Entire Network.
If I drill down to Mshome which is where everything is displayed on the
other PCs, I get an error message that it is not accessible, and that I may
not have permission etc., etc.
On one of the Desktops there is just one of the other PCs shared folders
displaying at the same level as Entire Network, in addition to being in the
right place in Mshome folder.
I assume that everything should display on each computer in Mshome and
nowhere else.
If so, how do I achieve this?
I hope this means something to someone who can point me in the right
direction.
TIA
Brian Tozer

All shared folders on all computers should appear in My Network
Places, as they do on the Laptop, if you've told the computer to
automatically search for network folders and printers. To see that
setting, click Tools | Folder Options and look at the first item under
"Advanced settings".

You can manually add a shared folder to My Network Places. Open My
Computer, click "My Network Places", click "Add a network place", and
follow the prompts.

As you can see from this news group, browsing workgroups and computers
through My Network Places in a Windows XP network is unreliable and
hard to get working properly. If it's causing problems, I recommend
abandoning the idea of network browsing.

To access another computer directly, type its name in the Start | Run
box in this format:

\\computer

To access a shared folder directly, type its computer and share name
in the Start | Run box in this format:

\\computer\share

You can also create a desktop shortcut to a computer or to a shared
folder.
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
for everyone to see. I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions
addressed directly to me in E-mail or news groups.

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com

 

[KiwiBrian]

All shared folders on all computers should appear in My Network
Places, as they do on the Laptop, if you've told the computer to
automatically search for network folders and printers. To see that
setting, click Tools | Folder Options and look at the first item under
"Advanced settings".

You can manually add a shared folder to My Network Places. Open My
Computer, click "My Network Places", click "Add a network place", and
follow the prompts.

As you can see from this news group, browsing workgroups and computers
through My Network Places in a Windows XP network is unreliable and
hard to get working properly. If it's causing problems, I recommend
abandoning the idea of network browsing.

To access another computer directly, type its name in the Start | Run
box in this format:

\\computer

To access a shared folder directly, type its computer and share name
in the Start | Run box in this format:

\\computer\share

You can also create a desktop shortcut to a computer or to a shared
folder.
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
for everyone to see. I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions
addressed directly to me in E-mail or news groups.

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com

Thanks Chuck and Steve, that was VERY helpful.
Brian

 

[Chuck]

Thanks Chuck and Steve, that was VERY helpful.
Brian

Brian,

Thanks for the update. Telling us what was helpful would be good too - what you
learned may help others in the future, and that's the purpose of these forums.

 

[KiwiBrian]

Brian,

Thanks for the update. Telling us what was helpful would be good too -
what you
learned may help others in the future, and that's the purpose of these
forums.

This was the first time that I had come across the \\foo info from Steve.
Your Firewall info was relevant, and I found that I could just delete all of
the spurious folder entries that were in the wrong place in the displayed
hierarchy of My Network Paces.
So I am now a happy camper.
Thanks again.
Brian.