I have three desktop computers at home. A, B and C.
I recently installed a Belkin wireless four port router, but, all
three computers are wired directly,
A Motorola cable modem is also connected to the router. All three
computers can connect to the internet properly.
My two printers are wired directly to computer A.
All three computers have fresh installs of Win XP Pro.
Computer A was the first to be hooked up to the router and the
software was installed from A.
Here's the problem: A can connect and transfer files to and from B
and C.
B and C can connect between themselves and transfer files.
Everything's fine up to...
B and C recognizes A as a network computer, but can't see the drives,
and cannot find either of the two printers.
I've set up the printers and drives on A to share but that does
nothing. I've spent a couple hours too many on this and I've gotten
nowhere. I've tried both setting these up as a gateway or ICS too.
Is there something simple I'm overlooking?
Any suggestions?
Thanks.
Fred
Fred,
Do any of the computers have a software firewall (ICF / WF, or third party)? If
so, you need to configure them for file sharing. Firewall configurations are a
very common cause of (network) browser, and file sharing, problems.
Are you running XP Home, XP Pro, a combination, other? What Service Pack on
each? All of this makes a big difference.
On any XP Pro computer, check to see if Simple File Sharing (Control Panel -
Folder Options - View - Advanced settings) is enabled or disabled. With XP Pro,
you need to have SFS properly set on each computer.
On XP Pro with SFS disabled, check the Local Security Policies (Control Panel -
Administrative Tools). Under Local Policies - Security Options, look at
"Network access: Sharing and security model", and ensure it's set to "Classic -
local users authenticate as themselves".
On XP Pro with SFS disabled, if you set the above Local Security Policy to
"Guest only", enable the Guest account, using Start - Run - "cmd" - type "net
user guest /active:yes" in the command window. If "Classic", setup and use a
common non-Guest account on all computers. Whichever account is used, give it
an identical, non-blank password on all computers.
On XP Home, and on XP Pro with Simple File Sharing enabled, make sure that the
Guest account is enabled, on each computer. Enable Guest, with Start - Run -
"cmd", then type "net user guest /active:yes" in the command window. Ensure
that the password for Guest is blank, with Start - Run - "control
userpasswords2"; select Guest, click Reset Password, click OK without entering a
new password.
Remember, with Simple File Sharing, you'll not be able to access "C:\Program
Files", "C:\Windows", or any of the profile related folders such as "My
Documents". All of those folders require individual user, or administrator
access, and Guest access gives you neither.
On XP Pro, if you're going to use Guest authentication, check your Local
Security Policy (Control Panel - Administrative Tools) - User Rights Assignment,
on the XP Pro computer, and look at "Deny access to this computer from the
network". Make sure Guest is not in the list. Look at "Access this computer
from the network", and make sure that Everyone is in this list.
<
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/04/windows-xp-file-sharing-anything-but.html>
If none of this helps, then look at the browser next.
<
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>
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
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.
