Network File sharing riddle

[Griff]

Hi,



I have just set up a D-Link DSL-G624T Wireless Router hard wired to my main
PC and using the Wireless side to connect to my second PC. This works fine
and I can access the Internet fine from both machines.



On the File sharing side of things (XP Home), although I can see my Network
name appearing under Network Places/Entire Network/Microsoft Windows
Network, when I double click my Network name I get a message 'not
accessible, you may not have permission to use this Network resource' & I
cannot see any of my Folders which I have Shared.



I am obviously doing something stupid but being new to this, cannot solve
the problem.



Could someone please suggest where I am going wrong.



The Network name is the same on both PC's.



Thankyou.



Mac.

 

[Zadok]

Hi,



I have just set up a D-Link DSL-G624T Wireless Router hard wired to my main
PC and using the Wireless side to connect to my second PC. This works fine
and I can access the Internet fine from both machines.



On the File sharing side of things (XP Home), although I can see my Network
name appearing under Network Places/Entire Network/Microsoft Windows
Network, when I double click my Network name I get a message 'not
accessible, you may not have permission to use this Network resource' & I
cannot see any of my Folders which I have Shared.
I am obviously doing something stupid but being new to this, cannot solve
the problem.
Could someone please suggest where I am going wrong.
The Network name is the same on both PC's.
Thankyou.
Mac.

enable the guest account and turn on file sharing. If that doesn't do
it then create userids which match the logons and put them into the
administrator's group on each machine.

-- Zadok
('¿')

 

[Griff]

enable the guest account and turn on file sharing. If that doesn't do
it then create userids which match the logons and put them into the
administrator's group on each machine.

-- Zadok
('¿')

Could you help me by explaing how as I seem to be going round in circles.

Thanks.

Mac.

 

[Zadok]

Could you help me by explaing how as I seem to be going round in circles.

Thanks.

Mac.

In each machine:
1) right-click on "My Computer" and select "manage".
2) In "Local Users and Groups" select "Users"
3) enable the guest account.
How we doing so far? Did that fix it?
If not:
4) make a new user that matches EXACTLY the other machine's user's
logon id and password.
Did that fix it?

-- Zadok
('¿')

 

[Ian Bethell]

Zadok.. XP Home doesn't have local users/groups i don't think.

 

[Griff]

In each machine:

1) right-click on "My Computer" and select "manage".
2) In "Local Users and Groups" select "Users"
3) enable the guest account.
How we doing so far? Did that fix it?
If not:
4) make a new user that matches EXACTLY the other machine's user's
logon id and password.
Did that fix it?

-- Zadok

Zadok.

XP Home does not have ---"Local Users and Groups" select "Users"---or at
least not from that menu.
I have made sure that the Folder that I have selected to share is not
'Documents and Settings' etc which I beleive is amongst those not accessible
in XP Home.
Both PC's have us 2 users set to Administator on both machines. Workgroup is
the same on both.
After setting up the first machine I took the option to save the settings
onto a floppy and ran this in the second machine so I assume that Windows
does the necessary.
When each PC shows the Network name in Microsoft Windows Network, I have
assumed that each is seeing the other at that point, could it be that each
PC is seeing this on themselves and is not displaying the Network name
(Usergroup) of each other across the Network?
I am assuming that as each can use the Internet, the Wireless Network is in
place properly.
One PC is wired directly to the Router, the other sees it wirelessly.

Hope that makes sense.

Mac.

 

[Zadok]

When each PC shows the Network name in Microsoft Windows Network, I have
assumed that each is seeing the other at that point, could it be that each
PC is seeing this on themselves and is not displaying the Network name
(Usergroup) of each other across the Network?

The correct term is "Workgroup". They Workgroup name should be the
same on both machines. When you see your Workgroup's name in My
Network Places it should have both computer's names listed under it.
When you double click on either then it should open. Since you don't
see them then they are not networked together to begin with.

(click start, run, type cmd, hit enter.See DOS window)

Do an "ipconfig /all" from the cmd prompt on both machines and get the
i/p addresses. What are they?

-- Zadok
('¿')

 

[Griff]

The correct term is "Workgroup". They Workgroup name should be the
same on both machines. When you see your Workgroup's name in My
Network Places it should have both computer's names listed under it.
When you double click on either then it should open. Since you don't
see them then they are not networked together to begin with.

(click start, run, type cmd, hit enter.See DOS window)

Do an "ipconfig /all" from the cmd prompt on both machines and get the
i/p addresses. What are they?

-- Zadok
('¿')

Hi.

PC 1 IP address 192.168.1.2
PC 2 IP address 192.168.1.4

Default Gateway, DHCP Server, DNS Server 192.168.1.1 on both.

Mac.

 

[Zadok]

Hi.

PC 1 IP address 192.168.1.2
PC 2 IP address 192.168.1.4

Default Gateway, DHCP Server, DNS Server 192.168.1.1 on both.

Mac.

That looks perfect. Now we're getting somewhere.
At the cmd prompt type "ping 192.168.1.4" from pc1 then
type "ping 192.168.1.2" from pc2. Can they ping each other?
If not then you have a firewall problem. What are you using?
Zonealarm? Norton? Try shotting down the firewall for the moment.

If they can ping each other then click start, run, type
"\\pc1" on pc2 and vica versa using the computer names.
A window should open showing the folders on the other pc.

-- Zadok
('¿')

 

[Griff]

That looks perfect. Now we're getting somewhere.
At the cmd prompt type "ping 192.168.1.4" from pc1 then
type "ping 192.168.1.2" from pc2. Can they ping each other?
If not then you have a firewall problem. What are you using?
Zonealarm? Norton? Try shotting down the firewall for the moment.

If they can ping each other then click start, run, type
"\\pc1" on pc2 and vica versa using the computer names.
A window should open showing the folders on the other pc.

-- Zadok

Right then,

Pinging with Nortons Firewall on gives 'timed out' 3 times.

Pinging with Nortons Firewall off gives 'reply from 192.168.1.2 bytes=32
time=2ms TTL=128.

Same on other machine but with the other IP address.

So then after Start, Run, \\Name I can see shared Folders now, so must be
Nortons screwing it then?

Mac.

 

[Zadok]

Right then,

Pinging with Nortons Firewall on gives 'timed out' 3 times.

Pinging with Nortons Firewall off gives 'reply from 192.168.1.2 bytes=32
time=2ms TTL=128.

Same on other machine but with the other IP address.

So then after Start, Run, \\Name I can see shared Folders now, so must be
Nortons screwing it then?

Mac.

Problem solved. You need to allow your network 192.168.1.0-256 into
the TRUSTED/ALLOWED zone (or whatever Norton calls it).
Please post what you do. The onlything I could quickly find on the
Symantec site was : On the Networking tab, click Wizard.

-- Zadok
('¿')

 

[Griff]

Problem solved. You need to allow your network 192.168.1.0-256 into
the TRUSTED/ALLOWED zone (or whatever Norton calls it).
Please post what you do. The onlything I could quickly find on the
Symantec site was : On the Networking tab, click Wizard.

-- Zadok
('¿')

Zadoc

This is what I did after following your instructions re: pinging.

Once establishing that Norton's Firewall was the culprit in blocking access
I did the following.

Open up Norton's Internet Security (2006)/Personal
Firewall/Configure/Networking Tab/Trusted/Add/select using a Network
Address/Network address - inserted IP address for PC connecting to/Subnet
mask - 255.255.255.0 in my case/OK

Networking is a dream now although slow to display the Shared Files - will
look into that though

This problem was not highlighted in any of the books I have read on
Networking and is probably responsible for a lot of Networking error
messages happening to the uninitiated

I understand a bit better what I am doing now

Zadoc is the man!

Thanks

Mac

 

[Zadok]

Zadoc is the man!

Thanks

Mac

You're welcome!
Who is Zadoc?

-- Zadok
('¿')

 

[Griff]

Who is Zadoc?

-- Zadok
('¿')

Sorry Zadok, your high Priestship

My slip of the finger after the excitement of getting the Network up and
running after many hours pratting about with it

Mac.

 

[az-willie]

I am having a similar problem ... but not exactly the same.

I have an older wireless router and my main computer runs XP Home SP2.

Just bought a laptop with Vista Home Premium and I'm trying to set up a
mixed network.

I turned on the wireless on my router before I even turned the new
laptop on and when it installed Vista on itself it found the router and
internet with no problem.

I have set up sharing on the drives on both machines and they are both
set to allow sharing on their drives and to allow users to change files
etc.etc. etc.

When I go to my network places I can see both machines and I can see the
drives but if I click to open a folder I get an error message about
not having permissions.

The router is set to only allow computers with certain MAC addresses and
not to use encryption. The router found the MAC address of both machines
itself with no problem.

Good thing I'm already bald or I would be tearing my hair out.

Have you any suggestions?

 

[Zadok]

I am having a similar problem ... but not exactly the same.

I have an older wireless router and my main computer runs XP Home SP2.

Just bought a laptop with Vista Home Premium and I'm trying to set up a
mixed network.

I turned on the wireless on my router before I even turned the new
laptop on and when it installed Vista on itself it found the router and
internet with no problem.

I have set up sharing on the drives on both machines and they are both
set to allow sharing on their drives and to allow users to change files
etc.etc. etc.

When I go to my network places I can see both machines and I can see the
drives but if I click to open a folder I get an error message about
not having permissions.

The router is set to only allow computers with certain MAC addresses and
not to use encryption. The router found the MAC address of both machines
itself with no problem.

Good thing I'm already bald or I would be tearing my hair out.

Have you any suggestions?

create a user on each machine with admin rights and logon id and
password as the other. Give permissions to everyone on the folders. Be
sure they are not on the desktop.

-- Zadok
('¿')

 

[az-willie]

create a user on each machine with admin rights and logon id and
password as the other. Give permissions to everyone on the folders. Be
sure they are not on the desktop.

-- Zadok
('¿')

=======================
Had a tech come out yesterday, supposed to be an expert in networks. He
thought it would take him about 30 min tops.

Took an hour and a half for him to find the problem.

Turns out there was a registry entry missing on the XP machine.

Part of an error message about permissions that came up on the Vista
machine finally provided the clue.

I have often looked up error messages via Google but for some unknown
reason it didn't even dawn on me this time.

I was < sure > it was a setting I had wrong somewhere.

Not exactly.

But part of the error message said there wasn't enough server space to
complete the task which was strange since I am not using a server.

But he Googled that after about 45 minutes of trying to figure out the
bad setting just like I had been doing and found several pointers to fixes.

The mystery is why the setting was completely missing from the registry.

I installed XP from a brand new copy to a brand new RAID 0 set up when I
built this machine last year. It isn't using an upgrade.

We suspect that a registry cleaner had removed the setting.

Even once he put the missing setting in, he had to go back in and
increase it.

Anyway, problem seems to be solved for now.

Only thing I'm wondering about now is security. He set up an open
network and I forgot to tell him to secure it. However, it is using MAC
addresses and the only machine allowed to connect to the router via
wireless is the laptop with it's MAC address so I would think that was
fairly secure.

At least as long as the laptop is at home because there are no computer
wizards living within range of my router.

If I took it on a cruise or something though, I suppose it < might > be
possible for someone smart to gain access but I don't know how if their
computer doesn't have that MAC address.

But then I'm obviously not a network wizard.

 

[Zadok]

Only thing I'm wondering about now is security. He set up an open
network and I forgot to tell him to secure it. However, it is using MAC
addresses and the only machine allowed to connect to the router via
wireless is the laptop with it's MAC address so I would think that was
fairly secure.

Access is secure with MAC restriction but your transmissions are not
encrypted so they could be had for the taking. WPA is good and easy to
use. You just need a password. If you have a guest with a laptop then
you'd need to enter his/her MAC into the access table. With WPA you'd
just need to give out the password.

If I took it on a cruise or something though, I suppose it < might > be
possible for someone smart to gain access but I don't know how if their
computer doesn't have that MAC address.

The MAC restriction is in the router not the laptop so...
Turn off "file and print sharing" on the laptop if you want to feel
safer.

But then I'm obviously not a network wizard.

Too easy...

-- Zadok
('¿')

 

[az-willie]

Access is secure with MAC restriction but your transmissions are not
encrypted so they could be had for the taking. WPA is good and easy to
use. You just need a password. If you have a guest with a laptop then
you'd need to enter his/her MAC into the access table. With WPA you'd
just need to give out the password.


The MAC restriction is in the router not the laptop so...
Turn off "file and print sharing" on the laptop if you want to feel
safer.


Too easy...

-- Zadok
('¿')

=======================
This old router only has WEP encryption and it looks a bit confusing.
The new lappy has both but naturally WPA is no use since the router
doesn't have it.

Maybe it would be worth investing in a new router. Someone gave this one
to me for fixing their computer. Their kids gave it to them and they
had no idea what to do with it and didn't want it.

 

[Zadok]

This old router only has WEP encryption and it looks a bit confusing.
The new lappy has both but naturally WPA is no use since the router
doesn't have it.

Maybe it would be worth investing in a new router. Someone gave this one
to me for fixing their computer. Their kids gave it to them and they
had no idea what to do with it and didn't want it.

If it works... don't fix it!

-- Zadok
('¿')