an amateur trying desperately to network desktop and laptop

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Guest

Hi there. Okay, here's the situation:
I have an older desktop and a brand new laptop - both run XP Home. Both are
running through a Linksys wireless router (desktop is wired, laptop isn't).
The shared internet access via that router is working well. Anyhow, I have
run through the network setup wizards on both computers numerous times. My
laptop can "see" my desktop, but can't access it. My desktop can't seem to
"see" my laptop. When I select "view my workgroup computers" on my desktop,
it says "-network- is not accessible. You might not have permission to use
the network resource. Contact the administrator of the server to find out if
you have access permission. The list of servers for this workgroup is not
currently available." For what its worth, my desktop has Norton Internet
Security and Antivirus installed. The laptop has a trial version of McAfee.
What am I doing wrong? As I am not too comfortable with experimenting
(checking this, unchecking that... I can never find my way back out), I would
appreciate any clear instructions or suggestions you might be able to walk me
through. I can't help but think I am close, but just missing one or two
steps. What do you think? Thank you so much!
Kristin
 
Hi there. Okay, here's the situation:
I have an older desktop and a brand new laptop - both run XP Home. Both are
running through a Linksys wireless router (desktop is wired, laptop isn't).
The shared internet access via that router is working well. Anyhow, I have
run through the network setup wizards on both computers numerous times. My
laptop can "see" my desktop, but can't access it. My desktop can't seem to
"see" my laptop. When I select "view my workgroup computers" on my desktop,
it says "-network- is not accessible. You might not have permission to use
the network resource. Contact the administrator of the server to find out if
you have access permission. The list of servers for this workgroup is not
currently available." For what its worth, my desktop has Norton Internet
Security and Antivirus installed. The laptop has a trial version of McAfee.
What am I doing wrong? As I am not too comfortable with experimenting
(checking this, unchecking that... I can never find my way back out), I would
appreciate any clear instructions or suggestions you might be able to walk me
through. I can't help but think I am close, but just missing one or two
steps. What do you think? Thank you so much!
Kristin
Click to expand...

Kristin,

The problem could be caused by either McAfee, Norton, or another security
component. There are several other possibilities too, and any might be the cause
of your problem. Read this article with an open mind.
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/10/irregularities-in-workgroup-visibility.html>
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/10/irregularities-in-workgroup-visibility.html

For more direct help, provide "browstat status" and "ipconfig /all" from each
computer, so we can diagnose the problem. Read this article, and linked
articles, and follow instructions precisely (download browstat!):
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/05/troubleshooting-network-neighborhood.html#AskingForHelp>
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/05/troubleshooting-network-neighborhood.html#AskingForHelp

Please let us know if any of these suggestions are of any help. What you learn
may help others in the future, and that's the purpose of these forums.
 
kbbrothers said:
Hi there. Okay, here's the situation:
I have an older desktop and a brand new laptop - both run XP Home.
Both are running through a Linksys wireless router (desktop is wired,
laptop isn't).
The shared internet access via that router is working well. Anyhow, I
have
run through the network setup wizards on both computers numerous
times. My
laptop can "see" my desktop, but can't access it. My desktop can't
seem to
"see" my laptop. When I select "view my workgroup computers" on my
desktop, it says "-network- is not accessible. You might not have
permission to use the network resource. Contact the administrator of
the server to find out if you have access permission. The list of
servers for this workgroup is not
currently available." For what its worth, my desktop has Norton
Internet
Security and Antivirus installed. The laptop has a trial version of
McAfee.
What am I doing wrong? As I am not too comfortable with experimenting
(checking this, unchecking that... I can never find my way back out),
I would appreciate any clear instructions or suggestions you might be
able to walk me
through. I can't help but think I am close, but just missing one or
two
steps. What do you think? Thank you so much!
Kristin
Click to expand...

This is most commonly caused by a misconfigured firewall. Since you ran
the Network Setup Wizard, it turned 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. However, if you have third-party firewall
software as you apparently do, turn the Windows Firewall off and
configure NIS/McAfee 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.

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
 
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