Can't access other computer or printers

  • Thread starter Thread starter Tom Brown
  • Start date Start date
T

Tom Brown

Well, I am sorry to join the seemingly ENDLESS list of people who can't
access the other computers on a network, but I have to admit defeat and beg
for help.

At home, we have two XP Home SP2 computers plugged into a router. That
router is connected to the internet. Up until last week, we had a wireless
router but were mostly using the wired ethernet connections. Everything was
fine and I could access the internet and the printers and files on the other
machine.

But, the wireless router started getting flakey, losing connectivity and
needing to be unpowered/powered to regain function. So, I took off the
wireless router and replaced it with an old Linksys BEFSX41 router. Now, I
can still access the internet from both computers but I can't access the
printers or the files on the other computer. From my computer, I can see my
computer and the other computer but if I try to double-click on the other
one, I get an error message " \\Chriscomputer not accessable. You might not
have permissions ....... etc." Then, another message that says "The network
path was not found." I am also unable to Add a Printer as I have done in
the past.

The printers, hard disks on the other computer are shared. I am letting the
router automatically assign IP numbers. I have even tried turning off the
Windows Firewall and also the Norton Firewall but that still doesn't allow
me
access.

Any help will be appreciated.

Tom
 
Well, I am sorry to join the seemingly ENDLESS list of people who can't
access the other computers on a network, but I have to admit defeat and beg
for help.

At home, we have two XP Home SP2 computers plugged into a router. That
router is connected to the internet. Up until last week, we had a wireless
router but were mostly using the wired ethernet connections. Everything was
fine and I could access the internet and the printers and files on the other
machine.

But, the wireless router started getting flakey, losing connectivity and
needing to be unpowered/powered to regain function. So, I took off the
wireless router and replaced it with an old Linksys BEFSX41 router. Now, I
can still access the internet from both computers but I can't access the
printers or the files on the other computer. From my computer, I can see my
computer and the other computer but if I try to double-click on the other
one, I get an error message " \\Chriscomputer not accessable. You might not
have permissions ....... etc." Then, another message that says "The network
path was not found." I am also unable to Add a Printer as I have done in
the past.

The printers, hard disks on the other computer are shared. I am letting the
router automatically assign IP numbers. I have even tried turning off the
Windows Firewall and also the Norton Firewall but that still doesn't allow
me
access.

Any help will be appreciated.

Tom
Click to expand...

Tom,

The browser is a very common cause of problems like yours.
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/04/nt-browser-or-why-cant-i-always-see.html>

The Microsoft Browstat program will show us what browsers (I'm not talking about
Internet Explorer here) you have in your domain / workgroup, at any time.
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=188305

You can download Browstat from either:
<http://www.dynawell.com/reskit/microsoft/win2000/browstat.zip>
<http://rescomp.stanford.edu/staff/manual/rcc/tools/browstat.zip>

Browstat is very small (40K), and needs no install. Just unzip the downloaded
file, copy browstat.exe to any folder in the Path, and run it from a command
window, by "browstat status". Make sure all computers list the same master
browser.

For more information about the browser subsystem (very intricate), see:
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=188305
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=188001
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=231312
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q102878/
<http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winntas/deploy/prodspecs/ntbrowse.mspx>
<http://www.microsoft.com/technet/archive/win95/w95brows.mspx>

--
Cheers,
Chuck
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/
Paranoia is not necessarily a bad thing - it's a normal response from experience.
My email is AT DOT
actual address pchuck sonic net.
 
Ok, I shut off the browser as advised in
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/04/nt-browser-or-why-cant-i-always-see.html
and now I can't even View Workgroup Computers. The error message tells me
"Workgroup is not accessible." Also, "The list of servers for this
workgroup is not currently available."

So, I went back in and Started the Browser again and then ran the "Browstat
status" in a CMD window. Here is the result.

===============================================
Status for domain WORKGROUP on transport
\Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{B38010A4-4D69-4B88-BDEC-F2DEB5E5D525}
Browsing is active on domain.
Master browser name is: TOMSDELL
Master browser is running build 2600
1 backup servers retrieved from master TOMSDELL
\\TOMSDELL
There are 1 servers in domain WORKGROUP on transport
\Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{B38010A4-4D69-4B88-BDEC-F2DEB5E5D525}
There are 1 domains in domain WORKGROUP on transport
\Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{B38010A4-4D69-4B88-BDEC-F2DEB5E5D525}
================================================

Does this offer any clues? Any more ideas?

Thanks,

Tom
 
Ok, I shut off the browser as advised in
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/04/nt-browser-or-why-cant-i-always-see.html
and now I can't even View Workgroup Computers. The error message tells me
"Workgroup is not accessible." Also, "The list of servers for this
workgroup is not currently available."

So, I went back in and Started the Browser again and then ran the "Browstat
status" in a CMD window. Here is the result.

===============================================
Status for domain WORKGROUP on transport
\Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{B38010A4-4D69-4B88-BDEC-F2DEB5E5D525}
Browsing is active on domain.
Master browser name is: TOMSDELL
Master browser is running build 2600
1 backup servers retrieved from master TOMSDELL
\\TOMSDELL
There are 1 servers in domain WORKGROUP on transport
\Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{B38010A4-4D69-4B88-BDEC-F2DEB5E5D525}
There are 1 domains in domain WORKGROUP on transport
\Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{B38010A4-4D69-4B88-BDEC-F2DEB5E5D525}
================================================

Does this offer any clues? Any more ideas?

Thanks,

Tom
Click to expand...

Tom,

This tells us that TomsDell is only seeing itself. Did you run that from
TomsDell, or from the other computer? You need to run browstat on both, for
best results.

The browser requires anonymous access, so look at registry key
[HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa], value restrictanonymous, on both
computers.
<http://www.microsoft.com/windows200...2000/techinfo/reskit/en-us/regentry/46688.asp>
<http://www.jsifaq.com/subf/tip2600/rh2625.htm>
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=246261
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=296403

For browsing to work (for each computer to be listed by a browser), each
computer must have a restrictanonymous value of "0".

The above articles refer to Windows 2000. Remember Win2K is NT V5.0, and WinXP
is NT V5.1.

Have you used the Registry Editor before? If not, it's a scary tool, but it's
pretty simple once you get used to it. Here are a couple articles that might
help:
<http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/...home/using/productdoc/en/tools_regeditors.asp>
<http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/registry>

Just remember to backup the key (create a registry patch) for
[HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa] before making any changes, if
appropriate.

--
Cheers,
Chuck
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/
Paranoia is not necessarily a bad thing - it's a normal response from experience.
My email is AT DOT
actual address pchuck sonic net.
 
Ok, it's FIXED! It works. But, I don't think anything to do with the
browser had anything to do with it. I did go into the registry and check
restrictanonymous access setting and it was already set to 0.

But, I think the thing that finally fixed it was that I went to both
computers and UNSHARED the drives and then SHARED them again. I also did
that with the two printers on the other machine.

Amazingly it, now works as advertised.

Thanks for the help though. I appreciate your effort.

Tom



Chuck said:
Ok, I shut off the browser as advised in
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/04/nt-browser-or-why-cant-i-always-see.html
and now I can't even View Workgroup Computers. The error message tells me
"Workgroup is not accessible." Also, "The list of servers for this
workgroup is not currently available."

So, I went back in and Started the Browser again and then ran the
"Browstat
status" in a CMD window. Here is the result.

===============================================
Status for domain WORKGROUP on transport
\Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{B38010A4-4D69-4B88-BDEC-F2DEB5E5D525}
Browsing is active on domain.
Master browser name is: TOMSDELL
Master browser is running build 2600
1 backup servers retrieved from master TOMSDELL
\\TOMSDELL
There are 1 servers in domain WORKGROUP on transport
\Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{B38010A4-4D69-4B88-BDEC-F2DEB5E5D525}
There are 1 domains in domain WORKGROUP on transport
\Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{B38010A4-4D69-4B88-BDEC-F2DEB5E5D525}
================================================

Does this offer any clues? Any more ideas?

Thanks,

Tom
Click to expand...

Tom,

This tells us that TomsDell is only seeing itself. Did you run that from
TomsDell, or from the other computer? You need to run browstat on both,
for
best results.

The browser requires anonymous access, so look at registry key
[HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa], value restrictanonymous, on
both
computers.
<http://www.microsoft.com/windows200...2000/techinfo/reskit/en-us/regentry/46688.asp>
<http://www.jsifaq.com/subf/tip2600/rh2625.htm>
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=246261
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=296403

For browsing to work (for each computer to be listed by a browser), each
computer must have a restrictanonymous value of "0".

The above articles refer to Windows 2000. Remember Win2K is NT V5.0, and
WinXP
is NT V5.1.

Have you used the Registry Editor before? If not, it's a scary tool, but
it's
pretty simple once you get used to it. Here are a couple articles that
might
help:
<http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/...home/using/productdoc/en/tools_regeditors.asp>
<http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/registry>

Just remember to backup the key (create a registry patch) for
[HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa] before making any changes, if
appropriate.

--
Cheers,
Chuck
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/
Paranoia is not necessarily a bad thing - it's a normal response from
experience.
My email is AT DOT
actual address pchuck sonic net.
Click to expand...
 
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