Cannot share laptop files on home network

[John]

I am trying to share files on my laptop w/other computers in the same
workgroup, but when I look at the workgroup on the laptop using windows
explorer via
Entire Network>>Microsoft Windows Network>>WorkgroupName
my laptop never shows up in the list of computers in the group. I have two
other computers in the same group on my home network and these show up fine
both on the laptop and on each of the other computers.

I've run the network setup wizard to enable sharing and rebooted the laptop
and still do not see the laptop listed as a shared computer anywhere.

Your help is appreciated, John

 

[John Wunderlich]

I am trying to share files on my laptop w/other computers in the
same workgroup, but when I look at the workgroup on the laptop
using windows explorer via
Entire Network>>Microsoft Windows Network>>WorkgroupName
my laptop never shows up in the list of computers in the group. I
have two other computers in the same group on my home network and
these show up fine both on the laptop and on each of the other
computers.

I've run the network setup wizard to enable sharing and rebooted
the laptop and still do not see the laptop listed as a shared
computer anywhere.

Your help is appreciated, John

A couple of things to try:

On the laptop, bring up a command window and enter the command:
ipconfig /all
Examine the output line labeled "Node Type" and make sure it is not
peer-to-peer. If it is, use the following article to change it to
anything else (search for NodeType):
"TCP/IP and NBT configuration parameters for Windows XP"
<http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314053>

Check / temporarily disable all firewalls on your laptop. If you have
a Cisco VPN Client in particular, make sure you disable its built-in
firewall.

Try manually connecting to the laptop share from one of the other
computers by bringing up a command window and enter the command:
net use * \\computername\share
where you substitute in the computername and sharename with your
laptop's name and share name. The error message if it doesn't work may
help.

HTH,
John

 

[John]

John W, ipconfig /all showed Node Type = Hybrid, so I guess this is ok. My
AVGIS firewall is & has been off and WinXP firewall is off too. I do not
have any firewall in my Linksys router.

Tried "net use * \\RobinZ60\Data" as you suggested and rcvd "Sys error 67
occurred -- Network name not found". Ran this cmd on the laptop and rcvd
same msg.

For kicks, I did a "net view" on both another computer and the laptop. In
both cases this showed the other two computers, but did not list RobinZ60 as
being visible on the network.

Since the other computers show up in the net view, but the laptop doesn't
something else must be preventing the laptop from registering itself on the
network. Any ideas?

Sure appreciate your help, John J

 

[John Wunderlich]

John,

Node Type = Hybrid should be OK. This node type will check with your
WINS server first, then broadcast if the name is not found there.
Broadcasting *should* find this node.

The results of "net use" indicate the machine is not registering its
name on the network. You might try replacing the computer name with
its IP address e.g.: net use * \\192.168.1.100\DATA

"net view" does the same thing as network neighborhood -- namely asking
the local Browse Master for a list of known computers. You might try
searching for the computer:
Start -> Search -> Computers or People -> Computers.
This tries every trick in the book to locate the computer.

On the laptop, try bringing up a command prompt and try the command:
nbtstat -n
At a minimum, you should have a result that looks like:

NetBIOS Local Name Table

Name Type Status
---------------------------------------------
COMPUTER <00> UNIQUE Registered
COMPUTER <20> UNIQUE Registered
WORKGROUP <00> GROUP Registered

Where "COMPUTER" and "WORKGROUP" correspond to your computer name and
workgroup. If the <20> line is missing, make sure your "Server"
Service is running:
Start->Run->services.msc
Look for service named "Server" and make sure it is "Started" and
"Automatic".

Try the command:
nbtstat -A <ip address>
from one of your other computers where '-A' is a capital 'A' and <ip
address> is replaced with the IP address of your laptop. You should
receive the same output as before with the local "nbtstat -n" command.

HTH,
John

 

[Jim]

John,

Node Type = Hybrid should be OK. This node type will check with your
WINS server first, then broadcast if the name is not found there.
Broadcasting *should* find this node.

The results of "net use" indicate the machine is not registering its
name on the network. You might try replacing the computer name with
its IP address e.g.: net use * \\192.168.1.100\DATA

"net view" does the same thing as network neighborhood -- namely asking
the local Browse Master for a list of known computers. You might try
searching for the computer:
Start -> Search -> Computers or People -> Computers.
This tries every trick in the book to locate the computer.

On the laptop, try bringing up a command prompt and try the command:
nbtstat -n
At a minimum, you should have a result that looks like:

NetBIOS Local Name Table

Name Type Status
---------------------------------------------
COMPUTER <00> UNIQUE Registered
COMPUTER <20> UNIQUE Registered
WORKGROUP <00> GROUP Registered

Where "COMPUTER" and "WORKGROUP" correspond to your computer name and
workgroup. If the <20> line is missing, make sure your "Server"
Service is running:
Start->Run->services.msc
Look for service named "Server" and make sure it is "Started" and
"Automatic".

Try the command:
nbtstat -A <ip address>
from one of your other computers where '-A' is a capital 'A' and <ip
address> is replaced with the IP address of your laptop. You should
receive the same output as before with the local "nbtstat -n" command.

HTH,
John

My laptop is only connected to the wireless network when a user is logged
on. There is a way to make the wireless adapter to connect at startup and
never disconnect. But, I decided not to
make that change for security reasons.

So, right now, as nobody is logged onto the laptop, net view only shows the
local computer. And, if you try to execute net use, the desktop will not be
able to do so.

Perhaps the OP has a similar situation. By the way, when both computers
have an active user, every thing works quite well.

Jim

 

[GTS]

Try enabling NetBIOS on all the workstations.

 

[John]

Bingo! After following up on w/ GTS suggestion to see if netbios was enabled
(which it is) I found no check in box for "File and printer sharing for
Microsoft networks" on the General tab. Checking this fixed the problem. I
don't know how it got unchecked, but now I can share my laptop files.

Many thanks to John W and GTS. I learned a lot. -John