broadband router home network????

[Guest]

Hi I do hope some can help this has been driving me mad for over a week now.

Right I have bought a broadband router so as to set up my home network now i
have installed the catV and the outlets not a problem I have conected my to
PC's to the router and the uplink from the broadband modem. Great! both
computers conect to the internet with as the connection is on all the time
and it does not matter if one or the other pc is on they both connect. NOW
when i want to create a fiel and printer share using the network wizard this
is the out come ......................... thats right nothing i ahve created
the comutetrs names set give them the same workgroup name ect ect but still
the pc's will not see each other can anyone help ? am i missing something?

 

[Jack Gillis]

Look at your Firewalls. If they are set for your connections, try
disabling them.

 

[Lance]

You don't say if you have XP Home or Pro, Service Pack 1 or 2. I'm
assuming you cannot see any workgroup in My Network Places/Entire
Network/Microsoft Windows Network and can't open up the folders.
However, the internet works fine for everyone, you've run Network Setup
Wizard a few times and you have set some folders for sharing (folder
icon with hand underneath).

Like Jack says, check your firewall settings if you have one, or since
you're behind a router, disable or even uninstall the firewall. The
exact settings depend on the firewall software, but may say something
like "Put local network in trusted zone" or "Enable File and Printer
Sharing". My Windows Firewall is set to allow ports 139 & 445 (TCP) and
137 & 138 (UDP) only for my local network (ie, Scope = subnet)

If the firewall is set correctly then the firewall is allowing the
computers talk to each other for file sharing. Next, check to see if
each computer has the necessary services/protocols running for file and
printer sharing:

Check if the "Computer Browser" and "TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper" services
have started and are set to automatic (start/run, type services.msc, hit
return).

Check that "Client for MS Networks" and "File and Printer Sharing" are
installed and enabled in Network Properties (Control Panel/Network
Connections/right-click on Local Area Connection, select Properties).

Check that NetBIOS is enabled in Advanced TCP/IP Settings. Again, go to
Network Properties, highlight "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)", click
Properties button, click Advanced button. Click WINS tab, check "Enable
NetBIOS over TCP/IP"

Check that "TCP/IP Filtering" is not enabled and set to "Permit All". Go
to Advanced TCP/IP settings, click on Options tab, highlight "TCP/IP
filtering", click Properties button. Check "Permit All", UNcheck "Enable
TCP/IP Filtering (All adapters)".

The steps above establish the necessary services/protocols required for
File and Printer Sharing. The steps below give the computers permission
to share files and printers (courtesy of Chuck):

*****
On any XP Pro computer, check to see if Simple File Sharing (Control
Panel - Folder Options - View - Advanced settings) is enabled or
disabled. With XP Home and Pro together, you need to have SFS properly
set on each computer.

With XP Pro, if SFS is disabled, check the Local Security Policy
(Control Panel - Administrative Tools). Under Local Policies - Security
Options, look at "Network access: Sharing and security model", and
ensure it's set to "Classic - local users authenticate as themselves".

With XP Pro, if you set the Local Security Policy to "Guest only", make
sure that the Guest account is enabled, thru Local User Manager (Start -
Run - "lusrmgr.msc"), and has an identical, non-blank, password on all
computers. If "Classic", setup and use a common non-Guest account, with
identical, non-blank, password on all computers.

For XP Home, OR for XP Pro with Simple File Sharing enabled, make sure
that the Guest account is enabled (for XP Pro, thru Local User Manager
(Start - Run - "lusrmgr.msc")), on each computer.
*****

All of these steps - firewall setting, services/protocols, permissions -
should have your home network running perfectly. If not, then there is a
deeper problem.

Lance
*****

ash thought carefully and wrote on 9/11/2004 4:21 AM:

 

[Jim]

Lance,

Excellent step-by-step assistance in your post. I was
having similar trouble to Ash (original post) [Linksys
DSL router, Norton Firewall & 2 XP Home machines]. The
thing that drove me nuts was that my configuration used
to work - and then stopped working.....

Bottom line: I checked all the items in your post,
changed several and now am able to print and file share.

Thanks.

Jim

 

[Lance]

Thanks Jim. It was a long road to learn this stuff and get my own home
network running. I'm glad to share what I've learned with others.

Lance
*****

Jim thought carefully and wrote on 9/11/2004 1:34 PM:

 

[Guest]

You don't say if you have XP Home or Pro, Service Pack 1 or 2. I'm
assuming you cannot see any workgroup in My Network Places/Entire
Network/Microsoft Windows Network and can't open up the folders.
However, the internet works fine for everyone, you've run Network Setup
Wizard a few times and you have set some folders for sharing (folder
icon with hand underneath).

Like Jack says, check your firewall settings if you have one, or since
you're behind a router, disable or even uninstall the firewall. The
exact settings depend on the firewall software, but may say something
like "Put local network in trusted zone" or "Enable File and Printer
Sharing". My Windows Firewall is set to allow ports 139 & 445 (TCP) and
137 & 138 (UDP) only for my local network (ie, Scope = subnet)

which firewall - the firewall in the router, or Norton or Zone Alarm which I
have running on different computers?

 

[Lance]

jim frei thought carefully and wrote on 9/12/2004 9:41 AM:

:




which firewall - the firewall in the router, or Norton or Zone Alarm which I
have running on different computers?

Drop the firewalls on the different computers - NOT the router firewall,
but read on...

We're talking about a home network of computers connected to a router.
The router is connected to a Cable/asdl modem. The modem is connected to
the internet. If your home network setup is different than this, then
that's a different story.

The firewall in the router protects the home network from nasty stuff on
the internet. Keep this firewall operating, understand how it works and
don't turn it off.

The primary reason for firewalls on home network computers is to protect
the computers from each other.

For example, my niece will bring over her laptop and hook up to my home
network. In her case, I really really really need something to protect
my computers against whatever her laptop has picked up this week. So the
Windows Firewall is active on all my home computers. The router firewall
offers no protection against my niece's laptop.

If my niece didn't have a laptop, I wouldn't worry and I'd drop my
computer firewalls. Maintaining firewalls on 4 computers gets to be a
real hassle and my wife and kids have learned very good surfing habits.

Lance
*****

 

[Lance]

jim frei said the following on 9/13/2004 6:53 AM:

:



Thanks for the replies, Lance. Im running Win XP SP1 (should I install SP2
before I try your suggestions?)

Actually I can see the worksgroup I created, but I can't access it.

Don't install SP2 before going through this checklist:
Service Pack 2 Pre-Installation Checklist (Jupiter Jones, MVP):
<http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/xpsp2.htm>
It's a lot of work, but you can save tons of frustration later. I do
everything I can to avoid computer frustration.

When you can't access the workgroups, exactly what error are you getting
or what happens?

I suggest going through some basic steps to eliminate all the simple
causes of problems first, then dig deeper.

Setting up basic File and Printer Sharing depends on whether you are
running XP Home or Professional.

For XP Professional:
Windows XP Professional File Sharing
By Ron Lowe and Steve Winograd, December 12, 2001
<http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/xp_filesharing/index.htm>

For XP Home:
Windows XP Simple File Sharing
Windows XP Simple File Sharing
<http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/xp/filesharing.htm>

If you run into a problem after going through the basic setup, then go
through the checks I posted earlier in this thread.

After all that, if you still have problems, then there are probably
deeper problems like spyware/adware remnants or software that didn't
uninstall completely.

Lance
*****