can't see computer on home network

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I've got a laptop that accesses the internet just fine but can't see
nor be seen by other computers on my home network.

The laptop is running XP as are two other computers on the net and one
is running Win2K. All other computers can see each other without
problem.

I did not always have this problem. In fact, at one time, I configured
my desktop (XP) to map the laptop on startup. The laptop icon on the
desktop machine now has a large red element (not a good sign).

The laptop shows up under the workgroup on the desktop but I get a
permissions error when I attempt to select it.

FYI, I use the same user ID on both the desktop and laptop.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!!
 
I've got a laptop that accesses the internet just fine but can't see
nor be seen by other computers on my home network.

The laptop is running XP as are two other computers on the net and one
is running Win2K. All other computers can see each other without
problem.

I did not always have this problem. In fact, at one time, I configured
my desktop (XP) to map the laptop on startup. The laptop icon on the
desktop machine now has a large red element (not a good sign).

The laptop shows up under the workgroup on the desktop but I get a
permissions error when I attempt to select it.

FYI, I use the same user ID on both the desktop and laptop.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!!
Click to expand...

David,

Check for a browser conflict between the computers. I"m not talking about
Internet Explorer here. The browser is the program that allows any computer to
see any other computer on the LAN.

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=188001
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=188305
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=231312
<http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winntas/deploy/prodspecs/ntbrowse.mspx>
<http://www.microsoft.com/technet/archive/win95/w95brows.mspx>

The browser requires anonymous access, so look at registry key
[HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa], value restrictanonymous.
<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

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

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.

From the Annoyances article:
You can create a Registry patch by opening the Registry Editor, selecting a
branch, and choosing Export from the File menu. Then, specify a filename, and
press OK. You can then view the Registry patch file by opening it in Notepad
(right-click on it and select Edit). Again, just double-click on a Registry
patch file (or use Import in the Registry Editor's File menu) to apply it to the
registry.

--
Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.
My email is AT DOT
actual address pchuck sonic net.
 
David S. said:
I've got a laptop that accesses the internet just fine but can't see
nor be seen by other computers on my home network.

The laptop is running XP as are two other computers on the net and one
is running Win2K. All other computers can see each other without
problem.

I did not always have this problem. In fact, at one time, I configured
my desktop (XP) to map the laptop on startup. The laptop icon on the
desktop machine now has a large red element (not a good sign).

The laptop shows up under the workgroup on the desktop but I get a
permissions error when I attempt to select it.

FYI, I use the same user ID on both the desktop and laptop.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!!
Click to expand...

David, I recently had this problem with a new XP machine being added to a
cluster of three XP machines. I had to unshare all the directories that were
previously shared and I also had to add my new IP address as a Trusted IP in
my Firewall (BlackIce).

After you remove the Shares the directory locations probably still show up
when you scan your network. You should delete these "old" shares. After you
can see all computers and access them, then I would add the shares back. I
also found that there are some directories that require the Parent Folder to
be shared before you can share a child folder. You may want to give that a
try.
 
why/how would this change from the time where it was working?

Thanks,
David

Chuck said:
I've got a laptop that accesses the internet just fine but can't see
nor be seen by other computers on my home network.

The laptop is running XP as are two other computers on the net and one
is running Win2K. All other computers can see each other without
problem.

I did not always have this problem. In fact, at one time, I configured
my desktop (XP) to map the laptop on startup. The laptop icon on the
desktop machine now has a large red element (not a good sign).

The laptop shows up under the workgroup on the desktop but I get a
permissions error when I attempt to select it.

FYI, I use the same user ID on both the desktop and laptop.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!!
Click to expand...

David,

Check for a browser conflict between the computers. I"m not talking about
Internet Explorer here. The browser is the program that allows any computer to
see any other computer on the LAN.

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=188001
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=188305
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=231312
<http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winntas/deploy/prodspecs/ntbrowse.mspx>
<http://www.microsoft.com/technet/archive/win95/w95brows.mspx>

The browser requires anonymous access, so look at registry key
[HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa], value restrictanonymous.
<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

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

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.

From the Annoyances article:
You can create a Registry patch by opening the Registry Editor, selecting a
branch, and choosing Export from the File menu. Then, specify a filename, and
press OK. You can then view the Registry patch file by opening it in Notepad
(right-click on it and select Edit). Again, just double-click on a Registry
patch file (or use Import in the Registry Editor's File menu) to apply it to the
registry.

--
Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.
My email is AT DOT
actual address pchuck sonic net.
Click to expand...
 
why/how would this change from the time where it was working?

Thanks,
David
Click to expand...

David,

The browser is a peer-peer resource directory system, that depends upon a pretty
complicated peer-peer election process each time any browser computer gets
restarted.

If you have a server (any computer providing shared data) that gets taken
offline, that's running the browser service, it could elect itself the master
browser. If you then put that server back online without restarting it, it will
continue to act as the master browser (in addition to the legal master browser),
and now you have a fragmented workgroup.

Read, and think, about it:
<http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winntas/deploy/prodspecs/ntbrowse.mspx>

Run browstat on all the computers, it's free and easy to install, and to run.
See if all the computers list the same master browser.

If that isn't it, provide ipconfig information for each computer, and we'll
diagnose the problem.
Start - Run - "cmd" - Type "ipconfig /all >c:\ipconfig.txt" into the command
window. Open Notepad, make sure that Format - Word Wrap is NOT checked!, open
file c:\ipconfig.txt, copy and paste entire contents into your next post.
Identify operating system (by name, version, and SP level) with each ipconfig
listing.

--
Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.
My email is AT DOT
actual address pchuck sonic net.
 
I ran browserstat on each of the three machines currently on the network with
the following names: Office (XP Home), Playroom (Win2K), T42p. (XP Pro)

The results from Office and T42p, the computers that will most often use
files on each other, had similar results to 'browserstat status' commands:

===================================================================
FROM OFFICE:
Status for domain WORKGROUP on transport
\Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{DDE0B7A4-4381-4FE6-B339-7F3F58CC3F12}
Browsing is active on domain.
Master browser name is: PLAYROOM
Could not connect to registry, error = 5 Unable to determine build of
browser master: 5
Unable to determine server information for browser master: 5
2 backup servers retrieved from master PLAYROOM
\\OFFICE
\\PLAYROOM
There are 4 servers in domain WORKGROUP on transport
\Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{DDE0B7A4-4381-4FE6-B339-7F3F58CC3F12}
There are 1 domains in domain WORKGROUP on transport
\Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{DDE0B7A4-4381-4FE6-B339-7F3F58CC3F12}

C:\download\browserstat>browstat getmaster \device\netbt_el59x1 workgroup
The browser is not bound to transport \device\netbt_el59x1

List of transports currently bound to the browser

1 \Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{DDE0B7A4-4381-4FE6-B339-7F3F58CC3F12}

BROWSTAT accepts any of the following forms for transport name:
1, \device\XXX, XXX
==========================================
FROM T42p:
Status for domain WORKGROUP on transport
\Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{47B67FDE-749A-4CDA-8D25-A075090C6A2F}
Browsing is active on domain.
Master browser name is: PLAYROOM
Could not connect to registry, error = 53 Unable to determine build
of browser master: 53
Unable to determine server information for browser master: 53
2 backup servers retrieved from master PLAYROOM
\\OFFICE
\\PLAYROOM
Unable to retrieve server list from PLAYROOM: 53
=======================================================

But the results from Playroom were quite different:

FROM PLAYROOM:
Status for domain WORKGROUP on transport
\Device\Nbf_NdisWanNbfOut{FCBE1888-4E4B
-4736-A8FB-55188CB08099}
Browsing is NOT active on domain.
Master name cannot be determined from GetAdapterStatus.


Status for domain WORKGROUP on transport
\Device\Nbf_NdisWanNbfOut{7E2A0E26-BB68
-4656-88B9-9F1F08195681}
Browsing is NOT active on domain.
Master name cannot be determined from GetAdapterStatus.


Status for domain WORKGROUP on transport
\Device\Nbf_NdisWanNbfOut{810C530E-A161
-4A27-BB95-090A90F9ED65}
Browsing is NOT active on domain.
Master name cannot be determined from GetAdapterStatus.


Status for domain WORKGROUP on transport
\Device\Nbf_NdisWanNbfIn{2062F652-8D03-
4DE7-989A-701EB3D62C4C}
Browsing is NOT active on domain.
Master name cannot be determined from GetAdapterStatus.


Status for domain WORKGROUP on transport
\Device\Nbf_NdisWanNbfIn{AF212A79-83C3-
4092-A3D2-7542D74867A4}
Browsing is NOT active on domain.
Master name cannot be determined from GetAdapterStatus.


Status for domain WORKGROUP on transport
\Device\Nbf_NdisWanNbfIn{8D3C77CD-86DA-
4F89-B13E-3929D9F4F70B}
Browsing is NOT active on domain.
Master name cannot be determined from GetAdapterStatus.


Status for domain WORKGROUP on transport
\Device\Nbf_{65FE31CF-B400-46D7-896D-29
A7F149B37B}
Browsing is active on domain.
Master browser name is: PLAYROOM
Master browser is running build 2195
1 backup servers retrieved from master PLAYROOM
\\PLAYROOM
There are 1 servers in domain WORKGROUP on transport
\Device\Nbf_{65FE31CF-B
400-46D7-896D-29A7F149B37B}
There are 1 domains in domain WORKGROUP on transport
\Device\Nbf_{65FE31CF-B
400-46D7-896D-29A7F149B37B}


Status for domain WORKGROUP on transport
\Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{65FE31CF-B400-46D7
-896D-29A7F149B37B}
Browsing is active on domain.
Master browser name is: PLAYROOM
Master browser is running build 2195
2 backup servers retrieved from master PLAYROOM
\\OFFICE
\\PLAYROOM
There are 4 servers in domain WORKGROUP on transport
\Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{65
FE31CF-B400-46D7-896D-29A7F149B37B}
There are 1 domains in domain WORKGROUP on transport
\Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{65
FE31CF-B400-46D7-896D-29A7F149B37B}
=================================================
Is the difference meaningful? I don't know as I really don't have any kind of
background in network configuration.

The ipconfig for Office and T42p are as follows:

===============================================
FROM OFFICE

Windows IP Configuration


Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.100
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

Ethernet adapter AGN Virtual Network Adapter:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
==================================================
FROM T42p

Windows IP Configuration


Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.105
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected

Ethernet adapter AGN Virtual Network Adapter:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I hope this is enough to help troubleshoot the problem!!

Thanks in advance,
David
******************************************************
 
I ran browserstat on each of the three machines currently on the network with
the following names: Office (XP Home), Playroom (Win2K), T42p. (XP Pro)

The results from Office and T42p, the computers that will most often use
files on each other, had similar results to 'browserstat status' commands:
Click to expand...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I hope this is enough to help troubleshoot the problem!!
Click to expand...

David,

Unfortunately, we have a bit more to do.

The "error = 5" in the Office browstat is expectable - XP Home will not have
administrative access to any other computers, so accessing the registry on
Playroom won't happen. But the "error = 53" in the T42p browstat requires
investigation. As does the long list of transports in the Playroom browstats.

You provided what look like "ipconfig", not "ipconfig /all" for Office and T42p.
Nothing for Playroom. I need "ipconfig /all" for all 3 please.

Next, you need to eliminate excess protocols from the list of items under Local
Area Connection Properties, on Playroom. You only need the following items in
the list:
Client for Microsoft Networks
File and Printer Sharing For Microsoft Networks
QoS Packet Scheduler (optional)
Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)

Then, make sure that NetBIOS Over TCP/IP is enabled on all computers. Local
Area Connection - Properties - TCP/IP - Properties - Advanced - WINS - Enable
NetBIOS over TCP/IP.

--
Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.
My email is AT DOT
actual address pchuck sonic net.
 
Chuck,

I'll get the additional info later today.

Funny, the things that come to you when you're laying in bed, getting ready
for the day.....

The T42p is a corporate machine which has Zone Labs Integrity Client on it.
When I received it, Zone Labs started up with the computer. Since I'm on my
home network 99% of the time with a firewall in my router, I removed Zone
Labs from the startup routine. I realized this am that that's when the
problems started.

Well, I put it back in the routine this am, re-booted, and, sure enough,
everything is now peachy! FYI, I have to manually turn Zone Labs off after
it's started for the network connectivity to work.

I still don't want Zone Labs in the startup routine so if we can figure out
why this pattern of behavior occurs (perhaps it's obvious to you by now?),
that would be great.

I'll get that info you requested later today.

Thanks again for the assistance,
David
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
Chuck,

I'll get the additional info later today.

Funny, the things that come to you when you're laying in bed, getting ready
for the day.....

The T42p is a corporate machine which has Zone Labs Integrity Client on it.
When I received it, Zone Labs started up with the computer. Since I'm on my
home network 99% of the time with a firewall in my router, I removed Zone
Labs from the startup routine. I realized this am that that's when the
problems started.

Well, I put it back in the routine this am, re-booted, and, sure enough,
everything is now peachy! FYI, I have to manually turn Zone Labs off after
it's started for the network connectivity to work.

I still don't want Zone Labs in the startup routine so if we can figure out
why this pattern of behavior occurs (perhaps it's obvious to you by now?),
that would be great.

I'll get that info you requested later today.

Thanks again for the assistance,
David
Click to expand...

Alright, David! Good to see progress.

OK, I know this situation. I saw exactly this on my Mom's computer when I
stopped ZA from auto-starting. ZA fails open - that is, if you kill it, or
don't auto-start it, you have no network. That's by design, to protect you
against a trojan attack.

--
Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.
My email is AT DOT
actual address pchuck sonic net.
 
Chuck,

Just to be clear, killing it after it starts is the ONLY way the network
works.

So, am I stuck with this process?

David
 
Chuck,

Just to be clear, killing it after it starts is the ONLY way the network
works.

So, am I stuck with this process?

David
Click to expand...

David,

Have you tried configuring ZA properly?
1) Setup the Local (Trusted) Zone. Identify all computers on your LAN.
2) If this is ZA Pro, you will have to tell ZA what privileges the Local
(Trusted) Zone enjoys. Be sure to allow file sharing for the Local Zone.

--
Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.
My email is AT DOT
actual address pchuck sonic net.
 
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