Network/ File Sharing Problems

[jeff]

I am trying to get file sharing to work. I have two computers one
Wnidows XP Home SP2 and the other is a Wnidows XP MCE 2005 both on the
same workgroup. Both can acces the internet fine through my router.
However, neither will connect to each other. When I try \\192.168.1.44
(usually the MCE) or \\MCE (the computer's name) on the Home, it says
"No network provider accepted the given network path". When I try
\\192.168.1.46 (usually the Home) on the MCE, it says "Network path not
found". But, both computers will ping each other. I am logged in as
an administrator on both computers. I am afraid I have a problem on
the XP Home because I have had it longer and might have done something
to it when it was my only computer.
Any help would be very gratefully received.
Thanks

 

[Malke]

I am trying to get file sharing to work. I have two computers one
Wnidows XP Home SP2 and the other is a Wnidows XP MCE 2005 both on the
same workgroup. Both can acces the internet fine through my router.
However, neither will connect to each other. When I try \\192.168.1.44
(usually the MCE) or \\MCE (the computer's name) on the Home, it says
"No network provider accepted the given network path". When I try
\\192.168.1.46 (usually the Home) on the MCE, it says "Network path not
found". But, both computers will ping each other. I am logged in as
an administrator on both computers. I am afraid I have a problem on
the XP Home because I have had it longer and might have done something
to it when it was my only computer.
Any help would be very gratefully received.
Thanks

General network problems:

This is most commonly caused by a misconfigured firewall. Run the
Network Setup Wizard on all computers, making sure to enable File &
Printer Sharing, and reboot. The only "gotcha" is that this will turn on
the XPSP2 Windows Firewall. If you aren't running a third-party firewall
or have an antivirus with "Internet Worm Protection" (like Norton
2005/06) which acts as a firewall, then you're fine. If you have
third-party firewall software, configure it to allow the Local Area
Network traffic as trusted. I usually do this with my firewalls with an
IP range. Ex. would be 192.168.1.0-192.168.1.254. Obviously you would
substitute your correct subnet.

If one or more of the computers is XP Pro or Media Center:

a. If you need Pro's ability to set fine-grained permissions, turn off
Simple File Sharing (Folder Options>View tab) and create identical user
accounts/passwords on all computers.

b. If you don't care about using Pro's advanced features, leave the
Simple File Sharing enabled.

Simple File Sharing means that Guest (network) is enabled. This means
that anyone without a user account on the target system can use its
resources. This is a security hole but only you can decide if it matters
in your situation.

Then create shares as desired. XP Home does not permit sharing of users'
home directories (My Documents) or Program Files, but you can share
folders inside those directories. A better choice is to simply use the
Shared Documents folder.

If that doesn't work for you, here is an excellent network
troubleshooter by MVP Hans-Georg Michna. Take the time to go through it
and it will usually pinpoint the problem area(s) -
http://winhlp.com/wxnet.htm


Malke