networking the XP system from hell! help!

[Guest]

Tried more stuff, still can't get it working. Added to the list of what i've tried

got 4 machines, 3 running XP one running 2k on a wireless G network, no domain, just workgroup. All the machines can access the internet through the router, and all get an IP from the router. one of the XP machines gives this error when i try to see the workgroup computers

"Workgroup 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 list of servers for this workgroup is not currently available.

the odd thing is it gives me that error even though im loged in as THE administrator. no other computers on the network can see this XP machines, but the other computers on the network can see each other. file and print sharing are enabled on the problem machine, i tried at first using the wizard, didn't work, then tried doing the advanced sharing and doing manual configuration, still no dice

from the problem machine explorer window using a "\\computername" will not find other comps on the network, but using "\\localIP" will find other machines on the network

I've looked through the administrative tools, of running services and disabled all the firewalls, went though user accounts to check access and went through the security policies for clues and came up with nothing. Disabled VPN policy, disabled DNS client service, checked ipconfig node type, made sure NetBIOS helper service is running, enabled anonamous logins and guest accounts. Im stumped, any help would be great

 

[Greg G]

I have a similar problem.

I have 2 XP machines connected to each other through a
hub ( Have tried using a cross-over cable, but the
problem remains.) Both have static IPs with no conflicts.
I have tested the hardware and all is perfect.

Have enabled ICS. I can access the internet on the client
machine, but cannot access the workgroup - MSHOME (the
default) from either the host or client!!! I get the same
error. I can't ping either. Netstat shows the connection
(TCP on port 5000 from the client) established when
checked from both machines. Have made sure that NetBIOS
is enabled on both lan connections and Computer Browser
is running as well. No firewalls are running on the LAN
connection. Any help would be much appreciated.

-----Original Message-----
Tried more stuff, still can't get it working. Added to the list of what i've tried.

got 4 machines, 3 running XP one running 2k on a

wireless G network, no domain, just workgroup. All the
machines can access the internet through the router, and
all get an IP from the router. one of the XP machines
gives this error when i try to see the workgroup
computers.

"Workgroup 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 list of servers for this
workgroup is not currently available."

the odd thing is it gives me that error even though im

loged in as THE administrator. no other computers on the
network can see this XP machines, but the other computers
on the network can see each other. file and print
sharing are enabled on the problem machine, i tried at
first using the wizard, didn't work, then tried doing the
advanced sharing and doing manual configuration, still no
dice.

from the problem machine explorer window using

a "\\computername" will not find other comps on the
network, but using "\\localIP" will find other machines
on the network.

I've looked through the administrative tools, of running

services and disabled all the firewalls, went though user
accounts to check access and went through the security
policies for clues and came up with nothing. Disabled
VPN policy, disabled DNS client service, checked ipconfig
node type, made sure NetBIOS helper service is running,
enabled anonamous logins and guest accounts. Im stumped,
any help would be great.

 

[Jack Turner]

Well, you don't really provide enough information. You
say that the router provides the IP addresses, or that
they are static IP addresses, but what about name
resolution? Are you trying to ping by name or by IP
address? If the latter works, but the former doesn't,
try adding entries in the \windows\system32
\drivers\etc\hosts file. If the former doesn't work, I
don't really know. You could verify that the sub-net
masks are correct, and that the gateway settings are
correct.

You could also make sure that the built-in XP firewall
software is not enabled, or if it is enabled, that you
are not filtering the IP addresses or ports of the other
machines on the network. Do you have any other firewall
product installed, like Symantec Internet Security or
Personal Firewall? If not, there is no reason that I can
see that you can't ping by using the IP address, at
least. Have you tried TRACERT?

Anyway, please provide a more detailed description of how
things are set up, and what is going wrong.

Thanks, Jack

 

[Chuck]

Tried more stuff, still can't get it working. Added to the list of what i've tried.

got 4 machines, 3 running XP one running 2k on a wireless G network, no domain, just workgroup. All the machines can access the internet through the router, and all get an IP from the router. one of the XP machines gives this error when i try to see the workgroup computers.

"Workgroup 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 list of servers for this workgroup is not currently available."

the odd thing is it gives me that error even though im loged in as THE administrator. no other computers on the network can see this XP machines, but the other computers on the network can see each other. file and print sharing are enabled on the problem machine, i tried at first using the wizard, didn't work, then tried doing the advanced sharing and doing manual configuration, still no dice.

from the problem machine explorer window using a "\\computername" will not find other comps on the network, but using "\\localIP" will find other machines on the network.

I've looked through the administrative tools, of running services and disabled all the firewalls, went though user accounts to check access and went through the security policies for clues and came up with nothing. Disabled VPN policy, disabled DNS client service, checked ipconfig node type, made sure NetBIOS helper service is running, enabled anonamous logins and guest accounts. Im stumped, any help would be great.

What firewalls (brand, version on which computers) did you disable? Many times
disabling a firewall does not help - you may have to enable, then un install.
Or enable, then allow file and printer sharing by opening the following ports:
TCP 139, 445; UDP 137, 138, 445.

On an 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 the SFS settings the same on each computer.

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.

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

 

[Guest]

well, maybe together we can sort out OUR problems. I ran into the same error message, trying up to wire simply 2 PC's with a crossed cable. One being connected to the internet, and I wanted the other to acces the internet through the first one. I'll call them host and client from here on. So after installing the cards, running the network config setup on both systems, I got the same message on the host when trying to browse the local network (""Workgroup is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource"). So I started to search for a solution in KB , support sites etc. Finally I found that
1. you have to enable Netbios on TCPI
2. The explorer service has to be runnin
3. you have to have Guest accounts enabled. (which was not my case)

I had to enable Guest accounts on both systems (which were not active). But... no luck. Still same problem. Further searching. Then I found a post from someone suggesting to install ipx. Which I did. And.... the error message disappeared!!! From both systems I could see the other one. (shared folders etc.). So I reran the network config tool on both systems (share internet connection). The host ended up, as expected, with 192.168.0.1. and mask 255.255.255.0. However, the client ended up with 167. something. The famous adress which you get when the sytem cannot locate any other system in the same workgroup. So I configured the client manually with 192.168.0.2 mask 255.255.255.0 default gateway 192.168.0.1
Now I could ping from the host 192.168.0.2, but not vice versa. When I try to ping the gateway (192.168.0.1)from the client , I get a timeout. When I ping from the client his own address (192.168.0.2) it answers, which seems to imply that the IP stack works. After this I've went for 2 days through a whole sequence of trials and errors: switching cards, veryfying the lastets drivers, etc.etc. But still without success. It's driving me CRAZY.
Both systems are running XP Home edition. The only difference is, that the host is configured NTFS (with it's own particular horrible security system), and the other one has FAT32.
I think I've tried everything possible I could find, but still no succes.

if ANYONE could give me a clue, I would be VERY delighted, because I'm doing this for someone that really matters to me..

Please reply to timo.hofstee AT wanadoo.fr since I'm not very frequently following newsgroups.

Some more background info: Yes, the host can access internet through it's ADSL connection. I reinstalled the ethernet cards on both systems and even switched them (same result).

 

[Guest]

ah, I forgot to say. Ofcourse I've disabled any protection software, firewalls, ran antivirus programs, spyware removers etc.

 

[Guest]

got an idea for ya Dutch, in my looking i found something, i don't remember if it was security policy or services but it was a setting about Limiting login to local console only. didn't help me but might help you.

 

[Guest]

all the subnets are the same, basic 255.255.255.0 the gateway is the same for all. the firewalls i disabled were the basic windows one, Symantic, and Norton. all three were running, and so i turned them off via their own software. i checked the host file and all the computers are there, not using static IP's, the computers get their IP's from the router. the problem computer can ping all computers on the network by IP, but not name, but no computers on the network can ping the problem one by either. no IP filtering is set up. not sure how much more info i can give.