Have to disable firewall in order to recognize home network

[Pat Mac]

I have a home network set up with the host computer (running Vista),
printer and IBM laptop (running XP). I found that I have to disable both
the Windows firewall and McAfee firewall on the host computer in order for
my network to recognize my IBM laptop. Is there a workaround other than
turning the firewalls completely off?

 

[Malke]

I have a home network set up with the host computer (running Vista),
printer and IBM laptop (running XP). I found that I have to disable
both the Windows firewall and McAfee firewall on the host computer in
order for my network to recognize my IBM laptop. Is there a workaround
other than turning the firewalls completely off?

The solution is to have only one firewall running on a computer and to
configure it correctly. I can't tell from your post if you have the WF
and McAfee on one computer or WF on one machine and McAfee on the other.

For WF, all you should need to do is allow File & Printer Sharing.
McAfee is another story and you should look in its Help files or just
poke around for configuration settings.

Here are some links for networking which cover both Vista and XP:

File/Printer Sharing Vista -
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/network/evaluate/vista_fp.mspx

http://www.ezlan.net/index.html
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/

And some information on networking with XP Pro (which you probably have
on the IBM laptop):

If one or more of the computers is XP Pro or Media Center:

a. If you need Pro's ability to set fine-grained permissions, turn off
Simple File Sharing (Folder Options>View tab) and create identical user
accounts/passwords on all computers.

b. If you don't care about using Pro's advanced features, leave the
Simple File Sharing enabled.

Simple File Sharing means that Guest (network) is enabled. This means
that anyone without a user account on the target system can use its
resources. This is a security hole but only you can decide if it matters
in your situation.


Malke

 

[Pat Mac]

I have both the WF and McAfee firewalls (came with the computer) on the same
computer-host computer. The laptop only has WF. Thank you for the help.
I'll go through the articles you posted. Will post again and let you know
what works. Pat

 

[Malke]

I have both the WF and McAfee firewalls (came with the computer) on the
same computer-host computer. The laptop only has WF. Thank you for
the help. I'll go through the articles you posted. Will post again and
let you know what works. Pat

You only want one firewall on one machine. Usually McAfee's Personal
Firewall will disable the WF but if it didn't for some reason, you need
to turn WF off. Then configure the McAfee Firewall to allow the LAN as
trusted.


Malke

 

[Pat Mac]

Could you please explain how to configure McAfee to allow the trusted site
LAN? I've found the area in McAfee where I can enter trusted IP, System
services and Program Permissions, but I'm not sure how to do this correctly.
I've disabled the WF firewall.

 

[Malke]

Could you please explain how to configure McAfee to allow the trusted
site LAN? I've found the area in McAfee where I can enter trusted IP,
System services and Program Permissions, but I'm not sure how to do this
correctly. I've disabled the WF firewall.

Since I don't use McAfee software, I can't look at the program settings
for you. Here are general instructions for configuring a lan as trusted:

If you have third-party firewall software, configure it to allow the
Local Area Network traffic as trusted. I usually do this with my
firewalls with an IP range. Ex. would be 192.168.1.0-192.168.1.254.
Obviously you would substitute your correct subnet.

http://forums.mcafeehelp.com/ - McAfee support forum
http://us.mcafee.com/root/support.asp - McAfee Support
http://www.mcafeehelp.com/


Malke

 

[Pat Mac]

Thank you for all your help.

Since I don't use McAfee software, I can't look at the program settings
for you. Here are general instructions for configuring a lan as trusted:

If you have third-party firewall software, configure it to allow the Local
Area Network traffic as trusted. I usually do this with my firewalls with
an IP range. Ex. would be 192.168.1.0-192.168.1.254. Obviously you would
substitute your correct subnet.

http://forums.mcafeehelp.com/ - McAfee support forum
http://us.mcafee.com/root/support.asp - McAfee Support
http://www.mcafeehelp.com/


Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User