The specified network name is nolonger available

[Roland Hall]

in message : Matt, I was asking WHERE I should use IP adress instead of a name. Now I
: guess you mean either in the run box or in the IE address field.
: Yes, I can get it both ways, which according to your mesage means
corrupted
: netbios name cache
:
: How do I fix a corrupted netbios name cache ?

You need to regroup.

1. If you cannot reach a computer on the LAN by name on another computer and
you're running TCP/IP, you try to get there by IP address. At a command
prompt:

Assuming computers are named computer1, computer2:

a. First you try to ping the computer by name: ping computer2 - If that
works, NetBIOS is working.
b. If that fails, ping by IP address. ping 192.168.0.12 - If that works, you
have a NetBIOS naming issue.
c. Try to ping by FQDN. This requires a domain. ping computer2.domain.com
(domain.com is a variable, not a literal)

2. If you can reach a computer on the LAN by name with UNC, then you are
trying \\server\share.
Note: Server means server service. If a computer is running F&P Sharing,
then it is running a F&P Sharing Service. For the purpose of discussion,
you can substitute server with computer if that helps your understanding.

\\computer\share

From a command prompt, you can try: dir \\computer\share
If it fails, the SPECIFIC error helps you resolve the issue. Saying it
doens't work, is not enough. It could require authentication, which
requires that you have:
Client for Microsoft Networks
File and Printer Sharing...with a share that allows access to a specified
user, (default everyone).
You must either pass credentials when trying to connect or have the same
credentials on both computers. (credentials = username, password). This
user MUST have rights to access the share. It must also have NTFS rights.
(File System Rights) to the path where the share is configured.

You access file system rights by right-clicking, in Windows Explorer, on the
path where the share exists and select properties, then the security tab.
The easy test is to try connecting with an account on the OTHER system to
test your share configuration before you try to modify permissions for
non-Admin users.

Easy test: From a command prompt:

net use * \\server\share password /u:domain\username /persistent:yes

This will map the next available drive [computer1] to a share [computer2]
using credentials configured on computer2 and make the mapping static across
reboots.

So, if mapping from computer1 to computer2 using LOCAL domain [computer
name] and administrator account, you can try a default administrative share:

net use * \\computer2\c$ password /u:computer2\administrator /persistent:yes

Note: password is a variable and should not be a literal unless your admin
password is the word password. And, if so, chnage it. It's not a good
idea.
Note: c$ is a built-in administrative share located at the root of the C:
logical drive.

I wouldn't worry about master browser election candidacy in a workgroup.
You want this to happen so it doesn't matter which computer is on or first.
In a domain, with a server, the DC should be the master and all workstations
should have this disabled. In fact, all servers that you do not want to
participate should have this disabled also. It's not an issue with what
you're doing now so don't worry about it.

In a peer-peer network, you work exponentially harder as you add more
workstations. If all users need to access all user's workstations, then you
have to create all user accounts on all workstations or use the same account
on all of them. NO, it's not recommended but it is possible and if you're
the only one using the workstations, it's still not recommended but it is
easier to work with.

Computer1 can access computer2 if computer2 has an active share and user on
computer1 has an account on computer2. This does NOT imply that computer2
has the same rights to computer1. You will have to duplicate your efforts
on computer1, as you did on computer2 for the computer2 user. Having fun
yet? (O:=

That's all there is to it. You don't need WINS unless you want to browse
across a subnet and unless you have a server, you don't have it. If you
have a NAT/firewall router, you set it to provide IP addressing via DHCP,
plug in your ISPs DNS server addresses and have it pass those with the DHCP
setup so you can access computers on the Internet by name. If you have
NetBIOS over TCP/IP enabled on your clients, then you can access the
computers by name, otherwise you must use an IP address.

HOSTS = TCP/IP
LMHOSTS = NetBIOS

You will not need to use your HOSTS file, to connect to your other system.
You can however use an LMHOSTS file, but it is not required since you're in
the same subnet.

This is FYI per your last request re: NetBIOS cache.

NetBIOS cache: (From a command prompt)
nbtstat -c
This will show you what is in cache.

How do you modify it? Edit your LMHOSTS file. You must also have your
TCP/IP settings set to use the LMHOSTS file. It is located on the WINS tab
of the Advanced TCP/IP settings.
Your LMHOSTS file is located at: %systemroot%\system32\drivers\etc\lmhosts
It does not exist by default. There is a sample, lmhosts.sam. It provides
some examples.
LMHOSTS must not have an extension or it will not work.

After you make an edit, using Notepad. Save your changes and at a command
prompt type in:
nbtstat -R
Note: R must be uppercase.

You can then check to see if your changes were added as you expected with:
nbtstat -c

If you cannot get it from here, then show EXACTLY what you tried and EXACTLY
what happend including any/all EXACT error messages. Do not interpret or
generalize.

You still have not shown your ipconfig /all settings for your computers.
Telling us it is the same eliminates anyone else being able to catch an
error you might have overlooked.

Good luck...HTH...

--
Roland Hall
/* This information is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
without any warranty; without even the implied warranty of merchantability
or fitness for a particular purpose. */
Online Support for IT Professionals -
http://support.microsoft.com/servicedesks/technet/default.asp?fr=0&sd=tech
How-to: Windows 2000 DNS:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;308201

 

[Matt Hickman]

Matt, I was asking WHERE I should use IP adress instead of a name. Now I
guess you mean either in the run box or in the IE address field.
Yes, I can get it both ways, which according to your mesage means corrupted
netbios name cache

How do I fix a corrupted netbios name cache ?

It should be rebuilt every time you reboot the host. The cache is
probably not corrupt unless you have a LMHOSTS file with a bad
entry for the host you are trying to talk to. So my best
guess from what you have written before, is that it is not the
netbios cache. But check for an LMHOSTS file anyway. Post it
here if you find an entry for your other computer in it.

My best guess now is the problem is that each of your computers is
on a different subnet. What are the addresses and subnet masks
you are using for both computers?

If I am right, possible solutions are:

1. configure your router so it does not route traffic between your
computers (and acts as a hub rather than a router) -- and only routes
traffic to the Internet -- making sure your IP addressing is fixed up
so that they are on the same subnet.

2. build a LMHOSTS file with the host name and IP address of the
computer you are trying to contact. And do the same on the other
host (say, are you having the same resolution problems going the other
way?) You should have a sample LMHOSTS (LMHOSTS.SAM) in the etc directory.

3. physically configure your network so the router is not in between
your two host computers -- making sure your IP addressing is fixed up
so that they are on the same subnet.

4. Get rid of your router and use the ICS capabilities of Windows to
connect to the Internet

5. Continue using the FQDN or IP address as a work-around

 

[Guest]

Roland,
1. I have no problems with pinging both using names or IP addresses
Problem arise when I am trying to acces files via Windows Explorer
Moreover after I, as Stiven suggested mapped drives using IP addresses
instead of computerNames, the "The specified network name is nolonger
available" does not occur any longer when I acces a network drive in
WindowsExplorer-->My Computer.

The problem still persists when I attempt to acccess these drives via My
Network Places or Computers near me. This does not bother me as I fail to
understand what these features are for as accessing drives is much easier
via My computer.

But mapping drives with IP address means that I cannot use DHCP. For the
moment this is not a problem too, but I am interested to understand why DHCP
is not working on my setup.
It looks like people covered every possibilities except the router - perhaps
its DHCP is corrupted?



2/ Try to ping by FQDN. This requires a domain. ping computer2.domain.com

(domain.com is a variable, not a literal)

I do not have a domain. How do I set up one? Please mind that we are talking
abour w2kPro, not Server

3. \\server\share.

Note: Server means server service. If a computer is running F&P Sharing,
then it is running a F&P Sharing Service

You have confused me very thoroughly -please do not forget I am a layman.

Without going into too much details here, do you mean me trying
\\computerName\shared_folder_name in the command prompt, then this works
fine.



4. I am very much confused about sharing permissions. I started a separate
thead on this subject and people there assured me that EVERYONE should
suffice for my purpose. Are they wrong? So everyone does not actualy mean
everyone and I indeed need to set permissions on my peer-to-peer network?

in message : Matt, I was asking WHERE I should use IP adress instead of a name. Now I
: guess you mean either in the run box or in the IE address field.
: Yes, I can get it both ways, which according to your mesage means
corrupted
: netbios name cache
:
: How do I fix a corrupted netbios name cache ?

You need to regroup.

1. If you cannot reach a computer on the LAN by name on another computer and
you're running TCP/IP, you try to get there by IP address. At a command
prompt:

Assuming computers are named computer1, computer2:

a. First you try to ping the computer by name: ping computer2 - If that
works, NetBIOS is working.
b. If that fails, ping by IP address. ping 192.168.0.12 - If that works, you
have a NetBIOS naming issue.
c. Try to ping by FQDN. This requires a domain. ping computer2.domain.com
(domain.com is a variable, not a literal)

2. If you can reach a computer on the LAN by name with UNC, then you are
trying \\server\share.
Note: Server means server service. If a computer is running F&P Sharing,
then it is running a F&P Sharing Service. For the purpose of discussion,
you can substitute server with computer if that helps your understanding.

\\computer\share

From a command prompt, you can try: dir \\computer\share
If it fails, the SPECIFIC error helps you resolve the issue. Saying it
doens't work, is not enough. It could require authentication, which
requires that you have:
Client for Microsoft Networks
File and Printer Sharing...with a share that allows access to a specified
user, (default everyone).
You must either pass credentials when trying to connect or have the same
credentials on both computers. (credentials = username, password). This
user MUST have rights to access the share. It must also have NTFS rights.
(File System Rights) to the path where the share is configured.

You access file system rights by right-clicking, in Windows Explorer, on the
path where the share exists and select properties, then the security tab.
The easy test is to try connecting with an account on the OTHER system to
test your share configuration before you try to modify permissions for
non-Admin users.

Easy test: From a command prompt:

net use * \\server\share password /u:domain\username /persistent:yes

This will map the next available drive [computer1] to a share [computer2]
using credentials configured on computer2 and make the mapping static across
reboots.

So, if mapping from computer1 to computer2 using LOCAL domain [computer
name] and administrator account, you can try a default administrative share:

net use * \\computer2\c$ password /u:computer2\administrator /persistent:yes

Note: password is a variable and should not be a literal unless your admin
password is the word password. And, if so, chnage it. It's not a good
idea.
Note: c$ is a built-in administrative share located at the root of the C:
logical drive.

I wouldn't worry about master browser election candidacy in a workgroup.
You want this to happen so it doesn't matter which computer is on or first.
In a domain, with a server, the DC should be the master and all workstations
should have this disabled. In fact, all servers that you do not want to
participate should have this disabled also. It's not an issue with what
you're doing now so don't worry about it.

In a peer-peer network, you work exponentially harder as you add more
workstations. If all users need to access all user's workstations, then you
have to create all user accounts on all workstations or use the same account
on all of them. NO, it's not recommended but it is possible and if you're
the only one using the workstations, it's still not recommended but it is
easier to work with.

Computer1 can access computer2 if computer2 has an active share and user on
computer1 has an account on computer2. This does NOT imply that computer2
has the same rights to computer1. You will have to duplicate your efforts
on computer1, as you did on computer2 for the computer2 user. Having fun
yet? (O:=

That's all there is to it. You don't need WINS unless you want to browse
across a subnet and unless you have a server, you don't have it. If you
have a NAT/firewall router, you set it to provide IP addressing via DHCP,
plug in your ISPs DNS server addresses and have it pass those with the DHCP
setup so you can access computers on the Internet by name. If you have
NetBIOS over TCP/IP enabled on your clients, then you can access the
computers by name, otherwise you must use an IP address.

HOSTS = TCP/IP
LMHOSTS = NetBIOS

You will not need to use your HOSTS file, to connect to your other system.
You can however use an LMHOSTS file, but it is not required since you're in
the same subnet.

This is FYI per your last request re: NetBIOS cache.

NetBIOS cache: (From a command prompt)
nbtstat -c
This will show you what is in cache.

How do you modify it? Edit your LMHOSTS file. You must also have your
TCP/IP settings set to use the LMHOSTS file. It is located on the WINS tab
of the Advanced TCP/IP settings.
Your LMHOSTS file is located at: %systemroot%\system32\drivers\etc\lmhosts
It does not exist by default. There is a sample, lmhosts.sam. It provides
some examples.
LMHOSTS must not have an extension or it will not work.

After you make an edit, using Notepad. Save your changes and at a command
prompt type in:
nbtstat -R
Note: R must be uppercase.

You can then check to see if your changes were added as you expected with:
nbtstat -c

If you cannot get it from here, then show EXACTLY what you tried and EXACTLY
what happend including any/all EXACT error messages. Do not interpret or
generalize.

You still have not shown your ipconfig /all settings for your computers.
Telling us it is the same eliminates anyone else being able to catch an
error you might have overlooked.

Good luck...HTH...

--
Roland Hall
/* This information is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
without any warranty; without even the implied warranty of merchantability
or fitness for a particular purpose. */
Online Support for IT Professionals -
http://support.microsoft.com/servicedesks/technet/default.asp?fr=0&sd=tech
How-to: Windows 2000 DNS:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;308201

 

[Guest]

Matt,
LMHOSTS and subnet mask has been checked and rechecked many times.
For the purity of the experiment, I borrowed a hub, put it in place of the
router and got the same result.

Please also note that since I mapped drives with IP addresses rather than
computerNames, file access via WindowsExplorer--> MyComputer works fine.
The problem is still there when I try access files via My Network Places -
but I am happy not to use it att all as WindowsExplorer--> MyComputer is
much more convenient.

Yet I am still very keen to understand why my system cannot work with names
and therefore with automatically obtained IP addresses.

Please also note that if I had wrong those settings which you mention, I
would ne be able to access a file on another machine at all. But I do get
access, but then loose it. Therefore the problem must be elsewhere

 

[Roland Hall]

<aa> wrote in message
First of all, good responses. You will not understand everything at one
time and it will take time, as it did with all of us. It's good that you're
asking questions and being honest and telling us when you do not understand.
You have no idea how refreshing that is.

: Roland,
: 1. I have no problems with pinging both using names or IP addresses
: Problem arise when I am trying to acces files via Windows Explorer

What is the error message you get? And this is easier from the command
line, IMHO.
If you can ping by name ping computer2 (or whatever the name is) and it
returns successful, then we need to verify workgroups and authentication.
Ping by name success = NetBIOS works
Ping by IP Address - TCP/IP works ( a given if NetBIOS over TCP/IP works)

: Moreover after I, as Stiven suggested mapped drives using IP addresses
: instead of computerNames, the "The specified network name is nolonger
: available" does not occur any longer when I acces a network drive in
: WindowsExplorer-->My Computer.

Then you have a naming issue. Accessing by IP address and then access files
is NOT the same as accessing the computer by name. Just because you can map
to a share with IP, that does not mean you do not have a naming issue. You
do!

: The problem still persists when I attempt to acccess these drives via My
: Network Places or Computers near me. This does not bother me as I fail to
: understand what these features are for as accessing drives is much easier
: via My computer.

This doesn't work because you have a naming issue.

: But mapping drives with IP address means that I cannot use DHCP. For the
: moment this is not a problem too, but I am interested to understand why
DHCP
: is not working on my setup.
: It looks like people covered every possibilities except the router -
perhaps
: its DHCP is corrupted?

I doubt that DHCP is corrupted but DHCP can provide more than dynamic IP
addresses and it would be nice to see the following, even if you've covered
it before:

LMHOSTS - please post the contents here for BOTH computers
HOSTS - humor me
ipconfig /all (run this on both computers and show both here)

: 2/ Try to ping by FQDN. This requires a domain. ping
computer2.domain.com
: > (domain.com is a variable, not a literal)
:
: I do not have a domain. How do I set up one? Please mind that we are
talking
: abour w2kPro, not Server

That's why you don't have one and why you cannot have one. It requires a
server.

: 3. \\server\share.
: > Note: Server means server service. If a computer is running F&P
Sharing,
: > then it is running a F&P Sharing Service
:
: You have confused me very thoroughly -please do not forget I am a layman.

\ in MSFT networking is called a whack. \\server\share is UNC (Universal
Naming Convention)
\\server tells MSFT OS to look for a computer running the File and Printer
sharing service with this [server] name. My server is named FS1. I can:
ping \\fs1 and I will get a successful return. It will also tell me that
the IP address is 192.168.0.9. I can see it because I have NetBIOS over
TCP/IP enabled on my client and on my server. Since NetBIOS requires TCP/IP
to be a transport, I also know that TCP/IP is working properly (within my
subnet).

If I type in: ipconfig /all
I get information about my network settings of the client/server I'm on.
Things that are important are:

host name, primary DNS suffix, DNS suffix search list, connection-specific
DNS suffix, DHCP enabled?, Autoconfiguration enabled?, IP Address, Subnet
Mask, DFG (default gateway), DHCP Server. These are important and we have
no idea what yours are.

: Without going into too much details here, do you mean me trying
: \\computerName\shared_folder_name in the command prompt, then this works
: fine.

If you just type in \\computername\share you won't get anything. If you type
in:
dir \\computername\c$ and get a list of files, then that will tell me
something. This assumes you running with an administrative account.

What else that would be useful is for you to type in:
net use

....and show us the results.

: 4. I am very much confused about sharing permissions.

You're not alone. Here is a simple explanation.

Your share on your computer is the front door. You have to give me
permission, in advance, for me to enter your house via your front door.

NTFS permissions (file system rights) defines which rooms I have access to
in your house, ONCE I get in through the front door and what I can do while
I'm in those rooms. Can I only look around? Can I place something in them?
Can I remove something from them?

Now, you can give me NTFS permissions to your whole drive (all rooms in your
house) but if I do not have share rights, they're useless. (If I cannot get
in through the front door, having permission to do something in the rooms is
useless).

So, you have to set permissions for a person, or a group. If you set
permissions for a group, any user that needs access will need to be in that
group. On W2K and XP, you right-click on My Computer and choose Manage to
get to your user permissions in a workgroup environment, or local domain as
it is actually called since NT.

: I started a separate
: thead on this subject and people there assured me that EVERYONE should
: suffice for my purpose.

Yes, the EVERYONE will suffice but it is a security risk to use.

: Are they wrong?

No. They're just not security conscious.

: So everyone does not actualy mean
: everyone and I indeed need to set permissions on my peer-to-peer network?

EVERYONE DOES MEAN EVERYONE, including anonymous users and THAT is why it is
a bad idea to use it. However, technically, it will work.

Let us see the settings I requested so we can see for ourselves and we'll go
from there. Ask any questions you want and if you need clarification on
anything, let us know.

--
Roland Hall
/* This information is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
without any warranty; without even the implied warranty of merchantability
or fitness for a particular purpose. */
Online Support for IT Professionals -
http://support.microsoft.com/servicedesks/technet/default.asp?fr=0&sd=tech
How-to: Windows 2000 DNS:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;308201

 

[Guest]

Thanks, Roland
Below are the hosts and lmhosts files and ipconfig.
Because I added the third w2k pro (destop2) in order to make sure that the
fault is not with a particular computer, I copy here data on that desktp2.
However I have similar behavour on any pair: desktop1-desktop2;
desktop1-notebook or desktop2-notebook. For the moment desktop2 is off so
you probably do not need to consider its data.

HOSTS
on the notebook (it is configured for office domain network):
10.2.1.63 ntexchange
10.2.1.5 ntserver
10.2.1.249 ntserverwrg

on the destop1 and on desktop2:
127.0.0.1 localhost (I guess you do not need the lines commented out with
# )

LMHOSTS

on the notebook:
192.168.0.13 desktop1 #PRE
192.168.0.12 desktop2 #PRE

on the desktop1:
192.168.0.11 notebookaa #PRE
192.168.0.12 desktop2 #PRE

on the desktop2:
192.168.0.11 notebookaa #PRE
192.168.0.13 desktop1 #PRE

IPCONFIG /ALL:
on the notebook:
Windows 2000 IP Configuration
Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : notebookaa
Primary DNS Suffix . . . . . . . : NTDOMAIN.co.uk
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Mixed
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : NTDOMAIN.co.uk
co.uk
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 2:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Xircom CardBus Ethernet II 10/100
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-10-A4-8A-BB-8E
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.11
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
194.98.0.1
on the Destop1:
Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : desktop1:
Primary DNS Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcast
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes (note that I cannot disable
this, dispite I posted this question here)
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : SiS 900-Based PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-10-DC-D4-AD-86
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.13
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
194.98.0.1



destop2:
Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : desktop2
Primary DNS Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcast
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8139(A) PCI Fast Ethernet
Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-C0-CA-16-CE-BB
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.12
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
194.72.9.38

What is your verdict?

 

[Guest]

1. My server is named FS1. I can:

ping \\fs1 and I will get a successful return.

the term "server" has so many meanings that it confuses me.
Do you mean a computer name which is set during computer intallation and
which is NETBios name?

2.I can:

ping \\fs1 and I will get a successful return

I was wrong in my previous message.
If I ping using these two slashes before the name, I am getting "Unknown
host"

3.> Things that are important are:

host name, primary DNS suffix, DNS suffix search list, connection-specific

DNS suffix,

In my case of workgroup peer-to-peer network are all these suffixes
relevant?

4. You use both \\computername\share and \\server\share and these seem to
have different meaning
In \\server\share - is it a literal, or I have to replace server with some
name? If so, where should I look for a name to use in place of server?

5. net use on Notebook
New connections will be remembered.
Status Local Remote Network
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
Unavailable D: \\192.168.0.13\desktop1_D Microsoft Windows Network
Disconnected E: \\192.168.0.13\desktop1_D Microsoft Windows Network
Disconnected G: \\192.168.0.12\desktop2_C Microsoft Windows Network
Unavailable Q: \\192.168.0.13\DVD_on_desktop1 Microsoft Windows
Network
The command completed successfully.

The first line probably is due to the recent loss of a partition on Notebook
(it got corrupted and the drive became unavailable) which resulted in drive
letters change.

I do no know what Disconnected means. I still can access the drives marked
as disconnected.
Also all the network drives are shown marked with the red cross in
WindowsExplorer-->My computer, and sill I can access it. What does that
cross mean?

6. About these permissions.
The theory sounds good except one thing:
What is the point in these permissions as they can be bypassed by mapping
drives using IP addresses instead of computer names?

7. Security is a political thing. I would like to understand the technical
things first, then I will consider the security issues.
For the moment just one thing:
I do not care about people on my home LAN accessing each other files.
But I am concered about aliens from the Internet accessing my network. The
security issues you mentiones - do the do with internal or external
security?

<aa> wrote in message
First of all, good responses. You will not understand everything at one
time and it will take time, as it did with all of us. It's good that you're
asking questions and being honest and telling us when you do not understand.
You have no idea how refreshing that is.

: Roland,
: 1. I have no problems with pinging both using names or IP addresses
: Problem arise when I am trying to acces files via Windows Explorer

What is the error message you get? And this is easier from the command
line, IMHO.
If you can ping by name ping computer2 (or whatever the name is) and it
returns successful, then we need to verify workgroups and authentication.
Ping by name success = NetBIOS works
Ping by IP Address - TCP/IP works ( a given if NetBIOS over TCP/IP works)

: Moreover after I, as Stiven suggested mapped drives using IP addresses
: instead of computerNames, the "The specified network name is nolonger
: available" does not occur any longer when I acces a network drive in
: WindowsExplorer-->My Computer.

Then you have a naming issue. Accessing by IP address and then access files
is NOT the same as accessing the computer by name. Just because you can map
to a share with IP, that does not mean you do not have a naming issue. You
do!

: The problem still persists when I attempt to acccess these drives via My
: Network Places or Computers near me. This does not bother me as I fail to
: understand what these features are for as accessing drives is much easier
: via My computer.

This doesn't work because you have a naming issue.

: But mapping drives with IP address means that I cannot use DHCP. For the
: moment this is not a problem too, but I am interested to understand why
DHCP
: is not working on my setup.
: It looks like people covered every possibilities except the router -
perhaps
: its DHCP is corrupted?

I doubt that DHCP is corrupted but DHCP can provide more than dynamic IP
addresses and it would be nice to see the following, even if you've covered
it before:

LMHOSTS - please post the contents here for BOTH computers
HOSTS - humor me
ipconfig /all (run this on both computers and show both here)

: 2/ Try to ping by FQDN. This requires a domain. ping
computer2.domain.com
: > (domain.com is a variable, not a literal)
:
: I do not have a domain. How do I set up one? Please mind that we are
talking
: abour w2kPro, not Server

That's why you don't have one and why you cannot have one. It requires a
server.

: 3. \\server\share.
: > Note: Server means server service. If a computer is running F&P
Sharing,
: > then it is running a F&P Sharing Service
:
: You have confused me very thoroughly -please do not forget I am a layman.

\ in MSFT networking is called a whack. \\server\share is UNC (Universal
Naming Convention)
\\server tells MSFT OS to look for a computer running the File and Printer
sharing service with this [server] name. My server is named FS1. I can:
ping \\fs1 and I will get a successful return. It will also tell me that
the IP address is 192.168.0.9. I can see it because I have NetBIOS over
TCP/IP enabled on my client and on my server. Since NetBIOS requires TCP/IP
to be a transport, I also know that TCP/IP is working properly (within my
subnet).

If I type in: ipconfig /all
I get information about my network settings of the client/server I'm on.
Things that are important are:

host name, primary DNS suffix, DNS suffix search list, connection-specific
DNS suffix, DHCP enabled?, Autoconfiguration enabled?, IP Address, Subnet
Mask, DFG (default gateway), DHCP Server. These are important and we have
no idea what yours are.

: Without going into too much details here, do you mean me trying
: \\computerName\shared_folder_name in the command prompt, then this works
: fine.

If you just type in \\computername\share you won't get anything. If you type
in:
dir \\computername\c$ and get a list of files, then that will tell me
something. This assumes you running with an administrative account.

What else that would be useful is for you to type in:
net use

...and show us the results.

: 4. I am very much confused about sharing permissions.

You're not alone. Here is a simple explanation.

Your share on your computer is the front door. You have to give me
permission, in advance, for me to enter your house via your front door.

NTFS permissions (file system rights) defines which rooms I have access to
in your house, ONCE I get in through the front door and what I can do while
I'm in those rooms. Can I only look around? Can I place something in them?
Can I remove something from them?

Now, you can give me NTFS permissions to your whole drive (all rooms in your
house) but if I do not have share rights, they're useless. (If I cannot get
in through the front door, having permission to do something in the rooms is
useless).

So, you have to set permissions for a person, or a group. If you set
permissions for a group, any user that needs access will need to be in that
group. On W2K and XP, you right-click on My Computer and choose Manage to
get to your user permissions in a workgroup environment, or local domain as
it is actually called since NT.

: I started a separate
: thead on this subject and people there assured me that EVERYONE should
: suffice for my purpose.

Yes, the EVERYONE will suffice but it is a security risk to use.

: Are they wrong?

No. They're just not security conscious.

: So everyone does not actualy mean
: everyone and I indeed need to set permissions on my peer-to-peer network?

EVERYONE DOES MEAN EVERYONE, including anonymous users and THAT is why it is
a bad idea to use it. However, technically, it will work.

Let us see the settings I requested so we can see for ourselves and we'll go
from there. Ask any questions you want and if you need clarification on
anything, let us know.

--
Roland Hall
/* This information is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
without any warranty; without even the implied warranty of merchantability
or fitness for a particular purpose. */
Online Support for IT Professionals -
http://support.microsoft.com/servicedesks/technet/default.asp?fr=0&sd=tech
How-to: Windows 2000 DNS:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;308201

 

[Matt Hickman]

It could be that you have the Netbios scope id set for one or the
other of your hosts. These need to match for communications to happen.
Look at:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NetBT\Parameters\ScopeID

on both hosts. If this has a value on one or both of your computers, it
will be the first time I ever heard of anyone actually using NetBios
Scope ID.

Also, your node type is different between notebokaa and desktop1.
This should not csuse any problems since both b-node and m-node
will broadcast. But you might want to try to set them all to b-node,
unless you have a netbios name server on your network.

 

[Matt Hickman]

Also, try running the following at the command prompt for desktop1 and
notebookaa.

nbtstat -n

And post the results.

 

[Guest]

On NOTEBOOKAA:
Local Area Connection 2:
Node IpAddress: [192.168.0.11] Scope Id: []
NetBIOS Local Name Table
Name Type Status
---------------------------------------------
NOTEBOOKAA <00> UNIQUE Registered
NTDOMAIN <00> GROUP Registered
NOTEBOOKAA <20> UNIQUE Registered
NOTEBOOKAA <03> UNIQUE Registered
NOTEBOOKAA$ <03> UNIQUE Registered
NTDOMAIN <1E> GROUP Registered
NTDOMAIN <1D> UNIQUE Registered
INet~Services <1C> GROUP Registered
..__MSBROWSE__.<01> GROUP Registered
IS~NOTEBOOKAA<50> UNIQUE Registered
ADMINISTRATOR <03> UNIQUE Registered

On Desktop1:
Local Area Connection:
Node IpAddress: [192.168.0.13] Scope Id: []
NetBIOS Local Name Table
Name Type Status
---------------------------------------------
DESKTOP1 <00> UNIQUE Registered
WORKGROUP <00> GROUP Registered
DESKTOP1 <20> UNIQUE Registered
WORKGROUP <1E> GROUP Registered
INet~Services <1C> GROUP Registered
IS~ DESKTOP1 ......<00> UNIQUE Registered

 

[Guest]

1. I do not have ScopeID listed in
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NetBT\Parameters\
on either machine

2 . But you might want to try to set them all to b-node,

unless you have a netbios name server on your network

How do I find out whether I have a netbios name server on my network?
How do I set a nod type to b-node?

 

[Matt Hickman]

I'm not seeing any red flags on your NetBIOS Local Name Table.
type

nbstat -c

to see what foreign NetBIOS names, if any, are in the cache

nbstat -r

for a list of the NetBIOS names that were resolved by broadcast

nbstat -s

for a list of NetBios Names of computers having sessions with the local host.

Do this for both notebookaa and desktop1. This should help.

 

[Guest]

Here it goes. Please note that when I run these commands the DESKTOP2 was
off.

notebookaa:

nbstat -c
Local Area Connection 2:
Node IpAddress: [192.168.0.11] Scope Id: []
192.168.0.13 <20> UNIQUE 192.168.0.13 42
DESKTOP2 <03> UNIQUE 192.168.0.12 -1
DESKTOP2 <00> UNIQUE 192.168.0.12 -1
DESKTOP2 <20> UNIQUE 192.168.0.12 -1
DESKTOP1 <03> UNIQUE 192.168.0.13 -1
DESKTOP1 <00> UNIQUE 192.168.0.13 -1
DESKTOP1 <20> UNIQUE 192.168.0.13 -1

nbstat -r
Resolved By Broadcast = 0
Resolved By Name Server = 0
Registered By Broadcast = 9
Registered By Name Server = 0

nbstat -s
Local Area Connection 2:
Node IpAddress: [192.168.0.11] Scope Id: []
NOTEBOOKAA <03> Listening
NOTEBOOKAA$ <03> Listening
ADMINISTRATOR <03> Listening

============
DESKTOP1
nbstat -c
Local Area Connection:
Node IpAddress: [192.168.0.13] Scope Id: []
DESKTOP1 <03> UNIQUE 192.168.0.12 -1
DESKTOP1 <00> UNIQUE 192.168.0.12 -1
DESKTOP1 <20> UNIQUE 192.168.0.12 -1
NOTEBOOKAA <03> UNIQUE 192.168.0.11 -1
NOTEBOOKAA <00> UNIQUE 192.168.0.11 -1
NOTEBOOKAA <20> UNIQUE 192.168.0.11 -1

nbstat -r
Resolved By Broadcast = 0
Resolved By Name Server = 0
Registered By Broadcast = 8
Registered By Name Server = 0

nbstat -s
Local Area Connection:
Node IpAddress: [192.168.0.13] Scope Id: []
No Connections

I do not know what exactly No Connections means, but at that very moment the
connection between NOTEBOOKAA and DESKTOP1 was fine and I was viewing files
on each other with no problem (before and after I run that command)

 

[Matt Hickman]

Everything looks fine. Shows that the entries in your LMHOSTS
file are loading up in to your cache. And the LMHOST entries look
like they are correct.

Try the following from notebookaa (note the case of the -a/A)

nbstat -a DESKTOP1
nbstat -A 192.168.0.13

then from DESKTOP1

nbstat -a notebookaa
nbstat -A 192.168.0.11

This will demonstrate connectivity, if the commands do not error out.
If they don't error out, NBT is working ok and the problem
lies higher up the stack.

If you do get errors, try temporarily renaming the LMHOST files
on both machines then running

nbtstat -R

both places and trying the -a/A commands again

 

[Guest]

I will. Meanwhile will you please tell me why nbtstat on DESKTOP1 was
shoing no connection whereas notebook was showing some?

 

[Matt Hickman]

I will. Meanwhile will you please tell me why nbtstat on DESKTOP1 was
shoing no connection whereas notebook was showing some?

This is actually quite odd. The results from notebookaa show that
the node was listening for attempts to contact it using the names
listed:
NOTEBOOKAA <03> Listening
NOTEBOOKAA$ <03> Listening
ADMINISTRATOR <03> Listening

(you must have been logged on as administrator on notebookaa)

Desktop1 was not listening at all. Which leads one to believe that
Desktop1 could not be contacted at all using NBT -- for the simple reason
it was not listening on the adapter for its name(s).

It could be that, while Desktop1 is running NBT, the workstation
service is not bound to the protocol. Look in properties -> networking
for your network connection to see if this is the case.

 

[Guest]

Look in properties -> networking for your network connection

Where exactly shall I find this "networking" property? Or you mean
networking --> properties? If so I have the same protoclls there on both
computers

 

[Roland Hall]

<aa> wrote in message : Look in properties -> networking for your network connection
:
: Where exactly shall I find this "networking" property? Or you mean
: networking --> properties? If so I have the same protoclls there on both
: computers

Yes, he means networking properties but we still need to see ipconfig /all
for both computers.

 

[Guest]

Roland,
We seem to be going in circles - ipcongig /all is what we started with, I
posted the ipconfig and nobody reported any wrong in it.
Unfortunately the beginning of the thread has been deleted.
OK, Repetition is the Mother of Learning, here it goes:

on NOTEBOOKAA:
Windows 2000 IP Configuration
Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : NOTEBOOKAA
Primary DNS Suffix . . . . . . . : NTDOMAIN.co.uk
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Mixed
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : NTDOMAIN.co.uk
co.uk
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 2:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Xircom CardBus Ethernet II 10/100
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-10-A4-8A-BB-8E
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.11
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
194.98.0.1

On DESKTOP1:

Windows 2000 IP Configuration
Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : DESKTOP1
Primary DNS Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcast
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : SiS 900-Based PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-10-DC-D4-AD-86
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.13
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
194.98.0.1

 

[Matt Hickman]

Yes, he means networking properties but we still need to see ipconfig /all
for both computers.

Checking IPCONFIG /ALL results are usually the first step in
troubleshooting problems like this.