Lost network file sharing ?

[Tim]

Have three HP's on home network. Had a number of folders set up previously
for sharing. Now I get the following error message window:

" \\computer is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this
network resource. Contact the administrator of this server to find out if
you have access permissions.

The network path was not found. "

Have now 2 desktops and one wireless laptop connected....and 1 wireless
printer. All previously worked fine with the designated shared folders.
The only thing that changed is the wireless router WEP keys...had to reduce
it to a 64bit key from 128 so our new WII box would connect to the wireless
system. Changed all WEP keys on the boxes/printers...but the pc's are not
communicating with each other now...can print wirelessly to the printer tho
from the one pc set up to print to this wireless printer after key
modification. The laptop too connects wirelessly to our ISP thru the
router.

Again...nothing was changed ( that I know of ) except the WEP keys. On my
desktop however...my Network connections stats are as follows:

wireless Settings Network Name (SSID): FOURDOGS Network Key (WEP/WPA Key):
5608F9lF3EB63ClEODEDF6411D Key Provided Automatically (802.lx): 0 Network
Authentication Type: openData Encryption Type: WEP connection Type: ESS Key
Index:

I can't find anywhere on my desktop to change the 128 bit key ( 5608xxxx )
to the new 64 bit key so I can reconnect to the laptop ?

Hope this makes sense and someone can tell me how to reconnect to the shared
folders on the 3 pc's as we had been able to do previously ?

Thanks, Tim

 

[John Wunderlich]

Have three HP's on home network. Had a number of folders set up
previously for sharing. Now I get the following error message
window:

" \\computer is not accessible. You might not have permission to
use this network resource. Contact the administrator of this
server to find out if you have access permissions.

The network path was not found. "

Have now 2 desktops and one wireless laptop connected....and 1
wireless printer. All previously worked fine with the designated
shared folders. The only thing that changed is the wireless router
WEP keys...had to reduce it to a 64bit key from 128 so our new WII
box would connect to the wireless system. Changed all WEP keys on
the boxes/printers...but the pc's are not communicating with each
other now...can print wirelessly to the printer tho from the one
pc set up to print to this wireless printer after key
modification. The laptop too connects wirelessly to our ISP thru
the router.

Again...nothing was changed ( that I know of ) except the WEP
keys. On my desktop however...my Network connections stats are as
follows:

wireless Settings Network Name (SSID): FOURDOGS Network Key
(WEP/WPA Key): 5608F9lF3EB63ClEODEDF6411D Key Provided
Automatically (802.lx): 0 Network Authentication Type: openData
Encryption Type: WEP connection Type: ESS Key Index:

I can't find anywhere on my desktop to change the 128 bit key (
5608xxxx ) to the new 64 bit key so I can reconnect to the laptop
?

Hope this makes sense and someone can tell me how to reconnect to
the shared folders on the 3 pc's as we had been able to do
previously ?

Thanks, Tim

If all computers can access the internet through your router, then it
is unlikely that your WEP/WPA key is involved at all. Your symptoms
seem to indicate that TCP/IP functions work OK, but NetBios (NBT) has
problems.

It would help to know whether we are talking XP Home or XP Pro, and if
it is XP Pro it would help to know if "Simple File Sharing" is enabled
or not. The problem may simply be that Simple File Sharing became
disabled on one of your XP Pro machines.

Make sure than NetBIOS-over-TCP/IP is enabled on all your computers:
(Network Control panel -> Right-click on NIC -> Properties ->
Double-click TCP/IP in window -> Advanced -> WINS (tab)
-> Enable NetBIOS-over-TCP/IP.

Another possibility is that one of your laptops connected to a network
that set its node type to a P-Type (peer-to-peer). Type:
ipconfig /all
from a command prompt window and examine the "Node Type" to assure that
it is not P-Type. If it is, see:

"You cannot view other workgroup computers on the network on a Windows
XP-based computer"
<http://support.microsoft.com/kb/903267>

See which computers can communicate to which other computers over NBT
by issuing the following command from a command prompt window on each
computer:
nbtstat -a computername
where you substitute the computer name for the other devices for
'computername' (do not include leading double backslashes).

HTH,
John