Networking 2 homes with a pro

[Roger]

I am trying to network 2 XP Home eds with a XP Pro ed.
When I use the network setup wizard it will not work.
The xp pro is the "server" or main pc and the other two
will be client for one piece of software. The xp pro is
connected to the internet through a different NIC than
the network NIC and all the pcs are connected to a HUB.
The two xp home computers can see each other and can pull
files to a fro but niether can see the main computer and
I used the same workgroup name on all of them. The main
was setup to be the computer connected to the internet
and all other computers use it to connect. And both of
the other home computers were setup to the computers that
connect to the internet through another computer or
residental gateway. Please if some one could help me
with this. My small business is down until I get this
going. Thanks in advance.

 

[Chuck]

I am trying to network 2 XP Home eds with a XP Pro ed.
When I use the network setup wizard it will not work.
The xp pro is the "server" or main pc and the other two
will be client for one piece of software. The xp pro is
connected to the internet through a different NIC than
the network NIC and all the pcs are connected to a HUB.
The two xp home computers can see each other and can pull
files to a fro but niether can see the main computer and
I used the same workgroup name on all of them. The main
was setup to be the computer connected to the internet
and all other computers use it to connect. And both of
the other home computers were setup to the computers that
connect to the internet through another computer or
residental gateway. Please if some one could help me
with this. My small business is down until I get this
going. Thanks in advance.

Roger,

Please provide ipconfig information for each computer.
Start - Run - "cmd". Type "ipconfig /all >c:\ipconfig.txt" into the command
window - Open c:\ipconfig.txt in Notepad, copy and paste into your next post.
Identify operating system on each ipconfig.

Are you running NetBIOS Over TCP/IP (Local Area Connection - Properties - TCP/IP
- Properties - Advanced - WINS) on both computers?

Make sure the browser service is running. Control Panel - Administrative Tools
- Services. Verify that the Computer Browser service is started.

On the XP Pro computer, check to see if Simple File Sharing (Control Panel -
Folder Options - View - Advanced settings) is enabled or disabled. With XP Home
and XP Pro on the LAN, you need to enable Simple File Sharing.

If SFS is disabled, check the Local Security Policy (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".

If you set the Local Security Policy to "Guest only", make sure that the Guest
account is enabled, and has an identical, non-blank, password on all computers.
If "Classic", setup and use a common account with identical, non-blank, password
on all computers.

For XP Home, or for XP Pro with Simple File Sharing enabled, make sure that the
Guest account is enabled, with identical, non-blank passwords, on each computer.

Do any of the computers have a software firewall (ICF or third party)? If so,
you need to configure them for file sharing, by opening ports TCP 139, 445 and
UDP 137, 138, 445, and / or by identifying the other computers as present in the
Local (Trusted) zone. Firewall configurations are a very common cause of
(network) browser, and file sharing, problems.

From the XP Pro, and one XP Home, verify connectivity:
1) Ping the other by name.
2) Ping the other by ip address.
3) Ping itself by name.
4) Ping itself by ip address.
5) Ping 127.0.0.1.
6) Ping the router.
Report success / failure of each of 12 pings.

And Roger, please don't contribute to the success of email address mining
viruses. Learn to munge your email address properly, to keep yourself a bit
safer when posting to open forums. Protect yourself and the rest of the
internet - never post your address unmunged.
http://www.mailmsg.com/SPAM_munging.htm

Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.