Ok here is my setup.
I have a computer room with internet access that the public uses. This room
has 4 computers in the room all on the same workgroup and the same account
names. Never an issue accessing any of them.
Now we also have a wireless system by smart bridges that connects to our
router. They use the same range of IP addresses since they are assigned from
our router. However each user that accesses the wireless may have a
different work group. The total of those are unknow because it can change on
a minute to minute basis.
We never share anything with all of those people but I do every once in a
while have a user share a folder on their machine so I can copy something
over to them.
What happens is sometimes the work groups are not available or if I am on
their machine and click show workgroup computers it will fail. But later it
will work again and all will be well.
Could this be an issue with the wireless system?
One other thing. Even though this workgroup may not be available I would
like to be able to click the link to see the entire network but on XP you do
not have that link available untill your work group opens up. Is there
another way to get to the entire list of work groups?
And one last thing. I have noticed that if a person has 2 or 3 computers all
have the same accounts on them and say one is XP Pro and the others are XP
Home. Then any machine can navigate to documents and settings\user
name\desktop and get in if they are trying to access an XP Home machine but
when trying to go the other direction the XP Pro will let them into any file
but the user account folders. None of the folders are set private.
Any idea why Home and Pro are acting different?
Thanks
Vince
Vince,
To answer the last questions first, Windows XP Home and XP Pro can share files
differently. XP Home always runs Simple File Sharing. With SFS, if a folder is
accessible by anybody, it's accessible by everybody. With XP Pro, you can
enable or disable SFS. With SFS disabled, you can use the Guest account on some
folders, and enable SFS like access, selectively. Read my article, if you like,
for details:
<
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/06/file-sharing-under-windows-xp.html>
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/06/file-sharing-under-windows-xp.html
Now to the workgroup access / visibility issue. The contents of Network
Neighborhood depends upon the browser subsystem, and upon a master browser which
manages the browser subsystem. The master browser needs to be one computer,
which needs to be stable. If you have WiFi connected computers in a workgroup,
you won't have a stable browser subsystem.
The browser subsystem works best in a domain, where the domain controller
becomes the master browser. You take great pains to ensure that the domain
controller stays up, 7 x 24 x 60. In a workgroup, folks can turn their computer
off on a whim. If someone powers the master browser off, or if someone carries
the master browser out of range of the router for a few seconds, and the master
browser disappears, another computer may become the master browser.
Have you ever seen what happens in a department when two people try to be the
boss? That's what happens when two computers try to be the master browser.
It's chaos. Read my article please for more details. It's fascinating.
<
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/04/nt-browser-or-why-cant-i-always-see.html>
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/04/nt-browser-or-why-cant-i-always-see.html