Network Connection to Second WinXP Computer Lost at Reboot

[Guest]

I have three WinXP computers on a home network; two are XP Pro and one is XP
Home. All are at the latest patch levels. The two XP Pro computers have
local USB printers attached to them. The XP Home computer uses those
printers on the network.

The problem is that I lose the network authorization to one of the XP Pro
computers each time I reboot the XP Home computer. The only way I can
reconnect to that printer is to manually browse for the XP Pro computer on
Network Neighborhood, enter a password and then I can browse the files there
or connect to the printer.

The XP Home computer can print just fine to the second WinXP Pro computer
without having to browse the network and reenter a password.

How can I get the authentication to stay after rebooting?

I've tried comparing the settings of the two XP Pro computers. Both have
Simple File Sharing enabled. Both will print to each other's printers just
fine. I've run the Network Wizard on the XP Home computer and it didn't
change anything. I have ZoneAlarm Pro installed on all three computers.
There are no alerts I've seen for blocking the access of the XP Home
computer. And since I can connect to the printer just fine...if I manually
find it on the network, it doesn't seem to be a firewall issue.

I'm puzzled and hope you have some ideas?

Thank you,
Chris

 

[Hans-Georg Michna]

I have three WinXP computers on a home network; two are XP Pro and one is XP
Home. All are at the latest patch levels. The two XP Pro computers have
local USB printers attached to them. The XP Home computer uses those
printers on the network.

The problem is that I lose the network authorization to one of the XP Pro
computers each time I reboot the XP Home computer. The only way I can
reconnect to that printer is to manually browse for the XP Pro computer on
Network Neighborhood, enter a password and then I can browse the files there
or connect to the printer.

The XP Home computer can print just fine to the second WinXP Pro computer
without having to browse the network and reenter a password.

How can I get the authentication to stay after rebooting?

I've tried comparing the settings of the two XP Pro computers. Both have
Simple File Sharing enabled. Both will print to each other's printers just
fine. I've run the Network Wizard on the XP Home computer and it didn't
change anything. I have ZoneAlarm Pro installed on all three computers.
There are no alerts I've seen for blocking the access of the XP Home
computer. And since I can connect to the printer just fine...if I manually
find it on the network, it doesn't seem to be a firewall issue.

Chris,

sometimes things like this happen when there is a problem with
NetBIOS names, like duplicate names, too long names, things like
that.

Check all NetBIOS names, not just the ones immediately
afflicted.

The NET command may help. Type NET HELP to find out how to use
it.

Hans-Georg

 

[Chuck]

I have three WinXP computers on a home network; two are XP Pro and one is XP
Home. All are at the latest patch levels. The two XP Pro computers have
local USB printers attached to them. The XP Home computer uses those
printers on the network.

The problem is that I lose the network authorization to one of the XP Pro
computers each time I reboot the XP Home computer. The only way I can
reconnect to that printer is to manually browse for the XP Pro computer on
Network Neighborhood, enter a password and then I can browse the files there
or connect to the printer.

The XP Home computer can print just fine to the second WinXP Pro computer
without having to browse the network and reenter a password.

How can I get the authentication to stay after rebooting?

I've tried comparing the settings of the two XP Pro computers. Both have
Simple File Sharing enabled. Both will print to each other's printers just
fine. I've run the Network Wizard on the XP Home computer and it didn't
change anything. I have ZoneAlarm Pro installed on all three computers.
There are no alerts I've seen for blocking the access of the XP Home
computer. And since I can connect to the printer just fine...if I manually
find it on the network, it doesn't seem to be a firewall issue.

I'm puzzled and hope you have some ideas?

Thank you,
Chris

Chris,

Make sure the browser service is running on 2 of the computers. Control Panel -
Administrative Tools - Services. Verify that the Computer Browser, and the
TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper, services both show with Status = Started. Stop, then
Disable the browser service on the 3rd computer.

After checking / disabling / enabling as above, power all computers off to reset
the browser settings on each. Then power all back on again.

The Microsoft Browstat program will show us what browsers you have in your
domain / workgroup, at any time. For a 3 computer LAN, you should have the
browser running on 2 computers.
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 give the same result.

For more information about the browser subsystem (very intricate), see:
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=188001
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=188305
<http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winntas/deploy/prodspecs/ntbrowse.mspx>

--
Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.
My email is AT DOT
actual address pchuck sonic net.

 

[Guest]

Thank you both for your suggestions. I got it to work last night by making
the log on names exactly the same between the two affected computers and
enabling the Guest account...which I thought was on before. I want to next
disable the Guest account again, and try what you both wrote if I run into
problems.

Thank you again for your time and suggestions!
Chris

 

[Chuck]

Thank you both for your suggestions. I got it to work last night by making
the log on names exactly the same between the two affected computers and
enabling the Guest account...which I thought was on before. I want to next
disable the Guest account again, and try what you both wrote if I run into
problems.

Thank you again for your time and suggestions!
Chris

Glad to help, Chris. Thanks for the feedback.

--
Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.
My email is AT DOT
actual address pchuck sonic net.