File and printer sharing flaky in XP Home networking

[Guest]

I have an XP Home network consisting of a desktop and a laptop both running
SP2, a Roku (mp3 interface box that connects to a home stereo) a 5-port DLink
switch, and a wireless gateway/cable modem. On the desktop, I have a drive
shared. The Roku (a linux box) can see it all the time, but the laptop can
only see it once in a while, and there's no rhyme or reason to it that I can
determine.

Here are the things I have tried so far that don't help:
- rebooting each machine
- repairing network connections on each machine
- disabling XP firewall
- rerunning the network setup wizard
- connecting directly to the switch using a hardwired cable vs. connecting
wirelessly to the gateway.

The machines can each connect to the net, and they will ping each other,
they just don't see each other's shares consistently.

Any thoughts?

 

[Steve Winograd [MVP]]

I have an XP Home network consisting of a desktop and a laptop both running
SP2, a Roku (mp3 interface box that connects to a home stereo) a 5-port DLink
switch, and a wireless gateway/cable modem. On the desktop, I have a drive
shared. The Roku (a linux box) can see it all the time, but the laptop can
only see it once in a while, and there's no rhyme or reason to it that I can
determine.

Here are the things I have tried so far that don't help:
- rebooting each machine
- repairing network connections on each machine
- disabling XP firewall
- rerunning the network setup wizard
- connecting directly to the switch using a hardwired cable vs. connecting
wirelessly to the gateway.

The machines can each connect to the net, and they will ping each other,
they just don't see each other's shares consistently.

Any thoughts?

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 all computers.
Details here:

Enable NetBIOS Over TCP/IP (NetBT)
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/troubleshoot/netbt.htm

3. Run "ipconfig /all" on XP 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)

Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
for everyone to see. I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions
addressed directly to me in E-mail or news groups.

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com

 

[Guest]

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the reply. I went through the steps you outlined and found that
AEGIS protocol was installed on the laptop; I unchecked it in the list but
did not remove it. File and Print Sharing was correctly bound to TCP/IP. I
enabled NetBIOS on bothe machines.

In ipconfig, NodeType showed up as Peer-Peer on the laptop and Unknown on
the desktop. I removed the registry entry as you said and added DWORD values
of 4 on both machines to set it to Mixed, which is how it now appears on both
machines in ipconfig.

After all that, though, I still have the same problem. The laptop will not
see the desktop shares. It sometimes will see the desktop in the list of
nodes in the workgroup but it does not show any resources available at that
node, and attempting to connect to a share by manually entering the resource
name (\\server\share) results in an error window informing me that no network
is found.

Any other thoughts?

 

[Steve Winograd [MVP]]

I have an XP Home network consisting of a desktop and a laptop both running

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the reply. I went through the steps you outlined and found that
AEGIS protocol was installed on the laptop; I unchecked it in the list but
did not remove it. File and Print Sharing was correctly bound to TCP/IP. I
enabled NetBIOS on bothe machines.

In ipconfig, NodeType showed up as Peer-Peer on the laptop and Unknown on
the desktop. I removed the registry entry as you said and added DWORD values
of 4 on both machines to set it to Mixed, which is how it now appears on both
machines in ipconfig.

After all that, though, I still have the same problem. The laptop will not
see the desktop shares. It sometimes will see the desktop in the list of
nodes in the workgroup but it does not show any resources available at that
node, and attempting to connect to a share by manually entering the resource
name (\\server\share) results in an error window informing me that no network
is found.

Any other thoughts?

AEGIS isn't a network protocol that can affect file and printer
sharing, so leave it checked.

Make sure that Client for Microsoft Networks is bound to TCP/IP on
your network adapter in Network Connections | Advanced | Advanced
Settings.

What is the exact error message from each of these commands?

\\server
\\server\share
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
for everyone to see. I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions
addressed directly to me in E-mail or news groups.

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com

 

[Guest]

After all that, though, I still have the same problem. The laptop will not

AEGIS isn't a network protocol that can affect file and printer
sharing, so leave it checked.

Make sure that Client for Microsoft Networks is bound to TCP/IP on
your network adapter in Network Connections | Advanced | Advanced
Settings.

What is the exact error message from each of these commands?

\\server
\\server\share

These are commands? If I enter them as commands in a commandline window. I
get "The filename, directory name, or volume label is incorrect." If I try
to map to them using Map Network Drive in My Computer, I get "The drive could
not be mapped because no network was found" and "The mapped network drive
could not be created because the following error has occurred: The network
location cannot be reached. For information about network troubleshooting,
see Windows Help." I get the second part of that when I try the same thing in
Start/Run.

By the way, the desktop is now no longer visible in the laptop's list of
workgroup nodes. It was visible earlier. I have changed nothing - it simply
vanished.

 

[Steve Winograd [MVP]]

These are commands? If I enter them as commands in a commandline window. I
get "The filename, directory name, or volume label is incorrect." If I try
to map to them using Map Network Drive in My Computer, I get "The drive could
not be mapped because no network was found" and "The mapped network drive
could not be created because the following error has occurred: The network
location cannot be reached. For information about network troubleshooting,
see Windows Help." I get the second part of that when I try the same thing in
Start/Run.

By the way, the desktop is now no longer visible in the laptop's list of
workgroup nodes. It was visible earlier. I have changed nothing - it simply
vanished.

Yes, those can be entered as commands, and they should show the
contents of the specified server or share. You can also map a network
drive to them.

Are there any messages about networking in Event Viewer? To run it,
click Start | Control Panel | Performance and Maintenance |
Administrative Tools | Event Viewer. For more information, see:

HOW TO: View and Manage Event Logs in Event Viewer in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=308427
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
for everyone to see. I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions
addressed directly to me in E-mail or news groups.

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com

 

[Guest]

Yes, those can be entered as commands, and they should show the
contents of the specified server or share. You can also map a network
drive to them.

You learn something new every day. Thanks.

Are there any messages about networking in Event Viewer? To run it,
click Start | Control Panel | Performance and Maintenance |
Administrative Tools | Event Viewer. For more information, see:

Well, there are a lot of things in that list, but I'm thinking the ones we
care about will probably be the repeated DCOM errors containing this text:

DCOM got error "The service cannot be started, either because it is disabled
or because it has no enabled devices associated with it. " attempting to
start the service EventSystem with arguments "" in order to run the server:
{1BE1F766-5536-11D1-B726-00C04FB926AF}

However, when I go to Services, DCOM shows as Started.

I also see some of these from Service Control Manager:

The SYMTDI service failed to start due to the following error:
The system cannot find the file specified.

Thanks for your continuing assistance.