Accessing small network--this computer XP, others Win 2k

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I have created a user on this computer and on all the Win 2k computers on my
network. This user has Administrator rights on all these computers. I believe
I have assigned this computer to the workgroup name that is the workgroup
name among the Win 2k computers. This workgroup is displayed as I drill down
to the local area network, but XP reports that this workgroup is inaccessible.

I am new to XP, and have had a passing knowledge of Win2k for 5 years.
 
twilsonmi said:
I have created a user on this computer and on all the Win 2k computers on my
network. This user has Administrator rights on all these computers. I believe
I have assigned this computer to the workgroup name that is the workgroup
name among the Win 2k computers. This workgroup is displayed as I drill down
to the local area network, but XP reports that this workgroup is inaccessible.

I am new to XP, and have had a passing knowledge of Win2k for 5 years.
Click to expand...

Here is more: I have, through another post, found out how to log on as
"Administrator." When I was initially logged in as Administrator (I am still
not sure how I got on this login in the beginning, I was apparently able to
get on my network, because I have a shared folder from another computer on
the network among my network places, although I cannot access it now. All of
a sudden, I cannot access the network (I had obtained several updates from
Windows update). I can, of course, access the internet, and that, to be sure,
is over my network, as this computer is not directly connected to the
network, and it does not have a wireless card that might be accessing a hot
spot. It appears I was doing several routine things as "Administrator" over
my network, such as setting up shortcuts to the "server" (the network is P to
P, of course, so, not a true server). Thank you for any help you can provide.
 
twilsonmi said:
Here is more: I have, through another post, found out how to log on as
"Administrator." When I was initially logged in as Administrator (I am
still not sure how I got on this login in the beginning, I was apparently
able to get on my network, because I have a shared folder from another
computer on the network among my network places, although I cannot access
it now. All of a sudden, I cannot access the network (I had obtained
several updates from Windows update). I can, of course, access the
internet, and that, to be sure, is over my network, as this computer is
not directly connected to the network, and it does not have a wireless
card that might be accessing a hot spot. It appears I was doing several
routine things as "Administrator" over my network, such as setting up
shortcuts to the "server" (the network is P to P, of course, so, not a
true server). Thank you for any help you can provide.
Click to expand...

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
 
twilsonmi said:
TWilsonmi reply in betwixt below:
Click to expand...
Please note that the other computers are Win 2k. I don't know if you noted
this in my post. It may be germaine. Win 2k has no "Network Setup Wizard,"
and one cannot run a network setup disk generated on an XP system on a Win
2k system.
Click to expand...

That's fine, just set the Win2k boxen up manually. Create identical user
accounts on all machines and configure firewalls to allow the lan as
trusted.
is XP SP2 Pro. As regards the firewall, I have some anomolies there: in
the "Security Center," Firewall is indicated to be "On," but when I go to
"Manage Security Settings for Windows Firewall," that dialog box has radio
button "Firewall Off" selected, and the setting cannot be changed; in
other words, I cannot check on "With Exceptions," nor can I change the
radio button from "Off," to "On."
Click to expand...

This does sound like you have a third-party firewall running. Perhaps you
even had one once, like Zone Alarm, and thought you uninstalled it
completely but didn't.
I don't have any other firewall running.
Click to expand...

See my comments above. If you really, really don't have third-party security
software with a firewall or firewall-like function, then perhaps you have a
Group Policy regarding the Windows firewall. Since you didn't say whether
this is a work or home network - or whether you ever "experimented" with
setting Group Policies - I can't address that. If you think you did, here's
a KB article and you can also Google for "XP SP2 firewall + group policy".

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/875357
None are, except for this one.
Click to expand...

It only takes one. Since you have an XP Pro machine and Win2k boxen, then
you should disable Simple Sharing on the XP box and create the user
accounts and passwords as suggested.

If all that still doesn't help you, then go through Mr. Michna's
troubleshooter.

http://winhlp.com/wxnet.htm

Malke
 
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