Networking problem

[jw]

I am out of ideas, and so I am asking for help.

I have two machines, one to my left, one to my right.
Conveniently I have named the machines (computer name) LEFT and RIGHT.
Each machine has two bootable XP one-partition hard drives, and I am
dual-booting from a boot menu to boot up with whichever hard drive I
want. That part works fine.

My problem is that I cannot share files between the first hard drive
on LEFT machine and either drive on RIGHT machine, Interestingly, I
can share files between the second hard drive on LEFT machine with
either drive on RIGHT machine.

When booted up with LEFT machine drive one and RIGHT machine drive
one, 'IPCONFIG' and 'PING' work fine in both directions. C drive in
both machines is set to 'share printer and files' with share names
LEFT DRIVE ONE and RIGHT DRIVE ONE. WORKGROUP on both machines is set
to MYHOME. MyComputer>MyNetworkPlaces on RIGHT machine shows LEFT
DRIVE ONE and RIGHT DRIVE ONE. But, MyComputer>MyNetworkPlaces on
LEFT machine shows nothing.

I hope I have omitted nothing. Anyone have a suggestion where I might
look to solve this problem?

Thanks

Duke

 

[John John - MVP]

I am out of ideas, and so I am asking for help.

I have two machines, one to my left, one to my right.
Conveniently I have named the machines (computer name) LEFT and RIGHT.
Each machine has two bootable XP one-partition hard drives, and I am
dual-booting from a boot menu to boot up with whichever hard drive I
want. That part works fine.

My problem is that I cannot share files between the first hard drive
on LEFT machine and either drive on RIGHT machine, Interestingly, I
can share files between the second hard drive on LEFT machine with
either drive on RIGHT machine.

When booted up with LEFT machine drive one and RIGHT machine drive
one, 'IPCONFIG' and 'PING' work fine in both directions. C drive in
both machines is set to 'share printer and files' with share names
LEFT DRIVE ONE and RIGHT DRIVE ONE. WORKGROUP on both machines is set
to MYHOME. MyComputer>MyNetworkPlaces on RIGHT machine shows LEFT
DRIVE ONE and RIGHT DRIVE ONE. But, MyComputer>MyNetworkPlaces on
LEFT machine shows nothing.

I hope I have omitted nothing. Anyone have a suggestion where I might
look to solve this problem?

Thanks

Duke

Oh my, a case of the left not knowing what the right is doing... All of
this right/left business is pretty confusing!

Are these machines XP Home or XP Pro? First, make sure that the
firewall is not the problem, while you troubleshoot the problem disable
the firewall, if need be disconnect from the internet while you do your
tests. This is important, get the firewall out of the way before you go
any further.

Can you access the machine by its UNC name at the Start menu Run box?
From the left box enter try to access the right box, typically:

\\RIGHT\SharedFolder

With XP Pro can you access the administrative share:

\\RIGHT\c$

(Administrative shares are not available on XP Home).

If you can't access by Computer Name this might be a NetBIOS Over TCP/IP
problem. At the Command Prompt on the Left box issue:

NET VIEW

What does the command return?

John

 

[jw]

Oh my, a case of the left not knowing what the right is doing... All of
this right/left business is pretty confusing!

Are these machines XP Home or XP Pro? First, make sure that the
firewall is not the problem, while you troubleshoot the problem disable
the firewall, if need be disconnect from the internet while you do your
tests. This is important, get the firewall out of the way before you go
any further.

It is working now! Turns out that Windows Firewall was NOT disabled
on the RIGHT machine. My bad.

Question though - does this mean that I now have no firewall
protection to/from the outside world? That would be worrisome.

Thanks

Duke

 

[John John - MVP]

It is working now! Turns out that Windows Firewall was NOT disabled
on the RIGHT machine. My bad.

That is why we *always* ask users to disable firewalls before doing
anything else! I have often seen help going on for what looks like
endless postings just to find out in the end that it was just a firewall
somewhere blocking the traffic.

Question though - does this mean that I now have no firewall
protection to/from the outside world? That would be worrisome.

If you are behind a NAT router not having the Windows firewall running
is not that big a deal, if you want to keep it running just make an
exception in it for File and Printer Sharing. You will find the needed
information somewhere in these search results:

http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt...+printer+sharing&fr=yfp-t-501&fr2=sfp&iscqry=

John

 

[jw]

If you are behind a NAT router not having the Windows firewall running
is not that big a deal, if you want to keep it running just make an
exception in it for File and Printer Sharing. You will find the needed
information somewhere in these search results:

http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt...+printer+sharing&fr=yfp-t-501&fr2=sfp&iscqry=

John

I have a Verizon FIOS MI424WR router that the web says thus about:

* Triple play powerhouse capable of delivering high throughput
multimedia services for FTTH
* Superior routing and networking capabilities
* Enterprise Level Security
o Customizable firewall
o Stateful Packet Inspection
o Denial of Service protection
o Content Filtering/Parental Controls
o Intrusion Detection
o WPA and WEP WiFi encryption
* End-to-End QoS Support For voice and video
o Tag/prioritize IP through DiffServ or 802.1p/q
o Configurable up/down traffic shaping
o Random early detection according to queue size and CPE
load
* TR-69+ Remote Management

I have learned today that NAT stands for Net Address Transation, and I
see how that works. The about overview of the router makes me
confident. You think?

Thanks

Duke

 

[John John - MVP]

I have a Verizon FIOS MI424WR router that the web says thus about:

* Triple play powerhouse capable of delivering high throughput
multimedia services for FTTH
* Superior routing and networking capabilities
* Enterprise Level Security
o Customizable firewall
o Stateful Packet Inspection
o Denial of Service protection
o Content Filtering/Parental Controls
o Intrusion Detection
o WPA and WEP WiFi encryption
* End-to-End QoS Support For voice and video
o Tag/prioritize IP through DiffServ or 802.1p/q
o Configurable up/down traffic shaping
o Random early detection according to queue size and CPE
load
* TR-69+ Remote Management

I have learned today that NAT stands for Net Address Transation, and I
see how that works. The about overview of the router makes me
confident. You think?

If the router is properly configured and secured I wouldn't be worried,
you should be fine behind that box.

John

 

[jw]

If the router is properly configured and secured I wouldn't be worried,
you should be fine behind that box.

John

Thank you - and I wish I could spell. I need to review my posts
before I send them. Sometimes I surprise myself on the words I
intend.

Anyway thanks again

Duke

 

[John John - MVP]

Thank you - and I wish I could spell. I need to review my posts
before I send them. Sometimes I surprise myself on the words I
intend.

Anyway thanks again

You're welcome. What wee all knead is a spell checker...

John

 

[jw]

I am disappointed to have to say that I cannot share files/folders
between the two machines AGAIN! The machines were off overnight.
As a test this morning, I booted up RIGHT machine to hard drive number
two and LEFT machine to hard drive number one. Same result - no
sharing. Then I booted up LEFT machine to hard drive number two.
With the machines using their two hard drives number twos, sharing
works just fine. Then I booted up LEFT machine to hard drive number
two and RIGHT machine to hard drive number one. Sharing works just
fine. This tells me that the problem lies with LEFT machine hard
drive number one, and not RIGHT machine to hard drive number one. Do
you agree?

As things stand now, when I click on LEFT machine's hard drive number
one's MyComputer>MyNetworkPlaces, and ViewWorkgroupComputers, I get
nothing (blank screen)! And when I click on
MyComputer>RepairThisConnection, I get an error - Windows cannot
finish the repair because the following action could not be completed
- Clearing NetBT.

Also - I have just discovered that I only have XP SP2 on all the other
hard drives, not the two hard drives number one. That's because they
are older. Of course SP3 on LEFT machine hard drive number one will
not talk to anything on RIGHT machine, whether SP3 (hard drive one) or
SP2 (hard drive two). And, SP3 on RIGHT machine will talk to both
drives on LEFT machine whether SP3 (hard drive one) or SP2 (hard drive
two). So it would seem that SP3 can and should talk to SP2.

This may be significant. Can I ask - do you have any ideas?

Yes - the two Windows Firewalls are OFF.
Yes - both machines are using XP PRO SP3.

I have to leave town today about 9AM and will not be back until Sunday
afternoon. So if you wonder, that would be why I don't get back to
you during the interim.

Thanks

Duke

This was my original post: