A very frustrated computer novice trying to network his computers

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Guest

That's me. I've read every manual I can find, but nothing is helping. If
someone would please give me some assistance in my network troubles it would
be greatly appreciated. There are two points of concern.
1) I am trying to link my home computers. The connections have been
established, but when I try to access shared documents, I get an error
message that reads "(fill in the blank) computer is not accessible. You might
not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator
of this server to find out if you have access permissions. The Network path
was not found". This is incredibly frustrating, and soon after I realized
that I could not even access the Shared Documents from the computers on which
they reside... the folders have just become inaccessible. I want to remedy
this.
2) I am going away to college in the fall, so I won't be around my primary
computer much anymore. Is it possible to use a Virtual Private Network to
just link my laptop at school and my desktop at home? Thank you so much for
your help.
 
That's me. I've read every manual I can find, but nothing is helping. If
someone would please give me some assistance in my network troubles it would
be greatly appreciated. There are two points of concern.
1) I am trying to link my home computers. The connections have been
established, but when I try to access shared documents, I get an error
message that reads "(fill in the blank) computer is not accessible. You might
not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator
of this server to find out if you have access permissions. The Network path
was not found". This is incredibly frustrating, and soon after I realized
that I could not even access the Shared Documents from the computers on which
they reside... the folders have just become inaccessible. I want to remedy
this.
2) I am going away to college in the fall, so I won't be around my primary
computer much anymore. Is it possible to use a Virtual Private Network to
just link my laptop at school and my desktop at home? Thank you so much for
your help.
Click to expand...

Josh,

There are many reasons for "not accessible...path was not found", aka "error =
53", errors. Try this article to start:
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/06/mysterious-error-53-aka-name-not-found.html>

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

A VPN is indeed a possible solution for linking your laptop and desktops, from a
distance. Depending upon your internet service (on both ends), what operating
system on the computers (XP Home, XP Pro, other?), what network hardware (the
right router makes a difference too) this can be fairly simple, or it can be
challenging.
<http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/howtobuy/choosing2.mspx>
 
Thanks Chuck, The networking links fixed my problems. I'm still having great
difficulty with the VPN. I am able to establish one on the host computer (XP
Home, SP2), but when the client computer (XP Pro, SP2) tries to connect to
the IP address, no connection is made and the client times out while dialing.
It seems the two should connect rather easily, given that they are on the
same LAN, and even share an IP address. Any Tips?
 
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