can ping but don't see each other in network neighborhood

[John Smith]

I have two computers, one running XP home (A), the other XP Pro (B). A
can ping B and B can ping A. But they don't see each other in Network
Neighborhood. They only see themself (they have the same workgroup
name). I have disabled firewall program and Windows Firewall. Still
cannot see each other.

The XP Pro is a new addition. It replaces a W2k which had no problem
seeing XP home and vice versa.

Where do I begin to solve the problem? Thanks.

 

[Chuck]

I have two computers, one running XP home (A), the other XP Pro (B). A
can ping B and B can ping A. But they don't see each other in Network
Neighborhood. They only see themself (they have the same workgroup
name). I have disabled firewall program and Windows Firewall. Still
cannot see each other.

The XP Pro is a new addition. It replaces a W2k which had no problem
seeing XP home and vice versa.

Where do I begin to solve the problem? Thanks.

John,

What "firewall program" have you disabled? Not all firewalls can be disabled
successfully, and some cause more problems when disabled.

Are you running both Client for Microsoft Networks, and File and Printer Sharing
for Microsoft Networks (Local Area Connection - Properties), on each computer?
Do you have shares setup on each?

Are you running NetBIOS Over TCP/IP (Local Area Connection - Properties - TCP/IP
- Properties - Advanced - WINS) on each computer?

Make sure the browser service is running on each computer. Control Panel -
Administrative Tools - Services. Verify that the Computer Browser, and the
TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper, services both show with Status = Started.

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 Pro,
you need to have SFS properly set on each computer.

On XP Pro with SFS disabled, check the Local Security Policies (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".

On XP Pro with SFS disabled, if you set the above Local Security Policy to
"Guest only", enable the Guest account, using Start - Run - "cmd" - type "net
user guest /active:yes" in the command window. If "Classic", setup and use a
common non-Guest account on all computers. Whichever account is used, give it
an identical, non-blank password on all computers.

On XP Home, and on XP Pro with Simple File Sharing enabled, make sure that the
Guest account is enabled, on each computer. Enable Guest with Start - Run -
"cmd" - type "net user guest /active:yes" in the command window.

On XP Pro, if you're going to use Guest authentication, check your Local
Security Policy (Control Panel - Administrative Tools) - User Rights Assignment,
on the XP Pro computer, and look at "Deny access to this computer from the
network". Make sure Guest is not in the list.

Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.

 

[Steve Winograd [MVP]]

I have two computers, one running XP home (A), the other XP Pro (B). A
can ping B and B can ping A. But they don't see each other in Network
Neighborhood. They only see themself (they have the same workgroup
name). I have disabled firewall program and Windows Firewall. Still
cannot see each other.

The XP Pro is a new addition. It replaces a W2k which had no problem
seeing XP home and vice versa.

Where do I begin to solve the problem? Thanks.

1. Use only one protocol for File and Printer Sharing. If the network
needs more than one protocol, unbind File and Printer Sharing from all
but one of them. Details here:

Windows XP Network Protocols
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/xp/network_protocols.htm

2. Make sure that NetBIOS over TCP/IP is enabled on both computers:

a. Open the Network Connections folder.
b. Right click the local area network connection and
click Properties.
c. Double click Internet Protocol (TCP/IP).
d. Click Advanced.
e. Click WINS.
f. Click the Enable NetBIOS Over TCP/IP button.

3. Run "ipconfig /all" on each computer and look at the "Node Type" at
the beginning of the output. If it says "Peer-to-Peer" (which should
actually be "Point-to-Point") that's the problem. It means that the
computer only uses a WINS server, which isn't available on a
peer-to-peer network, for NetBIOS name resolution.

If that's the case, run the registry editor, open this key:

HLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Netbt\Parameters

and delete these values if they're present:

NodeType
DhcpNodeType

Reboot, then try network access again.

If that doesn't fix it, open that registry key again, create a DWORD
value called "NodeType", and set it to 1 for "Broadcast" or 4 for
"Mixed".

For details, see these Microsoft Knowledge Base articles:

Default Node Type for Microsoft Clients
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;160177

TCP/IP and NBT Configuration Parameters for Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314053
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

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