Networking woes.

[Ross M Greenberg]

I am trying to make a printer on my son's machine shareable for the rest of
the network. The network consists of my wife's machine (running Media
Center), my son's machine (running Media Center) and my machine running XP
Professional. When I go to network places on my machine or my wife's
machine the icon for my son's machine shows up. Clicking on it, however,
generates an error message after a considerable pause.

The error message says "\\Max is not accessible. You might not have
permission to use his network resource. Contact the administrator of the
server to find out if you have access permissions.

The network path was not found."

My son is currently set up as the computer administrator, and therefore
should have full permissions on his own machine. I'm set up as an
administrator on this machine

My son can print out on the printer attached to his machine. How can I make
that printer accessible to the rest of the network?

Think you!

Ross

 

[Shenan Stanley]

I am trying to make a printer on my son's machine shareable for the
rest of the network. The network consists of my wife's machine
(running Media Center), my son's machine (running Media Center) and
my machine running XP Professional. When I go to network places on
my machine or my wife's machine the icon for my son's machine shows
up. Clicking on it, however, generates an error message after a
considerable pause.
The error message says "\\Max is not accessible. You might not have
permission to use his network resource. Contact the administrator
of the server to find out if you have access permissions.

The network path was not found."

My son is currently set up as the computer administrator, and
therefore should have full permissions on his own machine. I'm set
up as an administrator on this machine

My son can print out on the printer attached to his machine. How
can I make that printer accessible to the rest of the network?

Think you!

*grin* I think you meant "Thank You".

Anyway - do you have usernames with passwords that are identical on all
machines?

 

[Brian A]

Make sure File and Print Sharing is enabled on your sons machine.
Then on your sons machine click Start > Settings > Printers and Faxes.
Right click the printer.
Click Properties > Sharing tab.


--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375

 

[robert.waters]

Make sure File and Print Sharing is enabled on your sons machine.
Then on your sons machine click Start > Settings > Printers and Faxes.
Right click the printer.
Click Properties > Sharing tab.

--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375

To force this (No creating matching user names), you can do the
following:
Share the printer on your son's machine.
Make a batch file with the following on the other machines (or type it
into cmd shell):
NET USE \\<son's machine netbios name>\<name of printer share>
/USER:<son's login name> <son's password> /PERSISTENT:YES
The add the printer on each machine.

This is assuming that each machine has File and Printer sharing enabled
on the network adapter, and the Computer Browser/Server/Workstation
services rare unning.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

To force this (No creating matching user names), you can do the
following:
Share the printer on your son's machine.
Make a batch file with the following on the other machines (or type
it into cmd shell):
NET USE \\<son's machine netbios name>\<name of printer share>
/USER:<son's login name> <son's password> /PERSISTENT:YES
The add the printer on each machine.

This is assuming that each machine has File and Printer sharing
enabled on the network adapter, and the Computer
Browser/Server/Workstation services rare unning.

*Will work*

As long as your son does not mind having their password in plain text on
each workstation and doesn't mind sharing his password with you.

Using this suggestion - you could create a shared resource user on each
computer and limit its capabilities so that a plain text password option
such as this would be less of a security hole (although - it still would be
one) and it will ease the minds of all involved. (Plus it is less likely
that password will change as opposed to your sons.)

 

[Ross M Greenberg]

*grin* I think you meant "Thank You".

yes I did! I use Dragon NaturallySpeaking voice-recognition
software/hardware (I'm handicapped) and you'd be amazed at the mistakes it
makes! Think speako instead of typo!

Anyway - do you have usernames with passwords that are identical on all
machines?

Ends up my son uses his full name as his login ID with no password. I
checked and his login ID is set identically on my machine; I deleted his
user ID on my machine and re-created it. Waited a bit in My Network Places.
It populated with an icon representing his machine: same lack of access
however. Sigh.

Now what?

Ross

 

[robert.waters]

yes I did! I use Dragon NaturallySpeaking voice-recognition
software/hardware (I'm handicapped) and you'd be amazed at the mistakes it
makes! Think speako instead of typo!


Ends up my son uses his full name as his login ID with no password. I
checked and his login ID is set identically on my machine; I deleted his
user ID on my machine and re-created it. Waited a bit in My Network Places.
It populated with an icon representing his machine: same lack of access
however. Sigh.

Now what?

Ross

It has to be the other way around; if you want to use his printer, you
need to have an account on his machine with matching credentials and
permission to use the printer.

 

[Ross M Greenberg]

It has to be the other way around; if you want to use his printer, you

need to have an account on his machine with matching credentials and
permission to use the printer.

So I tried exactly that: no password on my account on my son's machine, no
password on my account on my machine, file and printer sharing turned on on
both machines, I'm an administrative user on both machines, and the printer
is shareable.

I still get the same error message after a considerable delay in My Network
Places. The odd thing is my wife's machine is sitting right next to my
son's machine and I have full access to her machine and its directories and
files through My Network Places.

I've never been good with networking -- and this is one I simply cannot
figure out. Any ideas?

Thanks!

Ross

 

[Brian A]

Can your sons machine connect and share to the other machines?

Have you checked any firewall rules on your machines to make sure the other
machines aren't being blocked and are configured for access in the FWs Trusted Zone?

Have you checked to make sure all machines have a different IP in the same subnet?

Some of the below may not be applicable depending on how your network is setup.
Right click My Network Places on the Desktop.
Click Properties.
Right click Local Area Connection.
Click Properties.

Under "This connection uses....."
Click "Client for MS Networks".
Click Properties.
Select "Windows Locator" from the dropdown box.
Click Ok.

Scroll to and select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP).
Click Properties.

Under the General tab make sure "Obtain an IP address automatically" is selected.
Click the Advanced button.

Under the DNS tab:
Selected "Append Primary and Parent DNS suffixes.
Register this connections address in DNS"

Under the WINS tab > NetBIOS:
Selected Default.
Ok out of MNP.
Reboot if required.

Test connectivity:
Open a command prompt, click Start > Run, type in: cmd and press Enter.
At the prompt type each command below and press Enter after each.
**Note: Command noted by =, Space noted by ^. Do not type the = or ^.

=ping ^ 192.168.1.1 *Routers IP, change as necessary.
If it times out then there is no communication between the router and machine.
If not then the machine communicates with the router.

=ping ^ google.com
If it times out then there is no connection to the net.
If not then net connection is established and all is well.

ping 127.0.0.1
If it fails it may be a TCP/IP stack problem.

Ping each computer from the other using the UNC:
=ping ^ computername
If it fails either way there's an IP or Name resolution problem.

If pinging times out on any address, to see if the machines IP is correct along with
other settings.
= ipconfig ^ /all
If anything isn't correct, at the prompt type and press Enter after each command:

=ipconfig ^ /release
=ipconfig ^ /flushdns
=ipconfig ^ /renew
=ipconfig ^ /registerdns
=exit
If that fails reopen the command prompt, run release and flushdns only and exit.

Shut down the machine.
Pull the power from the router.
Pull the power from the modem.
Wait approx 30 secs.
Apply power to the modem and wait for it to finish synchronizing with the cable.
Apply power to the router and wait for it to finish synchronizing with the modem.
Power up the machine.
The machine should now be assigned a new IP from the router.
Run ipconfig or attempt net connection to test.

--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375

 

[robert.waters]

So I tried exactly that: no password on my account on my son's machine, no
password on my account on my machine, file and printer sharing turned on on
both machines, I'm an administrative user on both machines, and the printer
is shareable.

I still get the same error message after a considerable delay in My Network
Places. The odd thing is my wife's machine is sitting right next to my
son's machine and I have full access to her machine and its directories and
files through My Network Places.

I've never been good with networking -- and this is one I simply cannot
figure out. Any ideas?

Thanks!

Ross

Windows networking is never fun. When I am confronted with a file or
printer sharing problem, here is what I do:
1. Make sure that the computer browser, server, and workstation
services are set to 'automatic' and are started on each machine
(right-click My Computer -> 'manage' -> services & applications ->
services) and file and printer sharing is enabled for the adapter.
2. Make sure the two PCs can see each other, and know each others'
names (simply looking in My Network Places might tell you that; also,
typing 'NET VIEW' in the cmd shell will show computer names, but only
for the same workgroup/domain)
3. Verify that the 'client' PC (yours) can see what is being shared by
the server machine (NET VIEW <server computer name> in a cmd shell) and
that one of the shares visible is a printer.

If all these are true, and you still can't connect, then you can be
reasonably assured (barring weird problems) that it's a permissions
issue. If that's the case, you can either try creating duplicates of
users on each machine (which is what you've done), but that sometimes
presents problems, especially with blank passwords; or, you can use an
existing user or create a new user on the 'server' machine who has
access to the printer, and explicitly use that user to connect to the
printer from the client.

Example:
- Create user 'remoteprint' on the server with password 'printme'
- Give this user access to the shared printer on the server
- On the client machine, log on and createand run a batch file with the
following line in it:
NET USE \\<servername>\<printer share name> /user:remoteprint
printme /persistent:yes
(the 'persistent:yes' parameter should keep it working past a reboot,
but we're putting it in a batch file so that we can run it again if
needed)
- Use the 'Add printer' wizard to add this network printer; it should
work. Note that this step must be performed by each individual user on
the client machine.

 

[Pop`]

All appears to be good advice; however, here's a simple "is it plugged in"
kind of question for you:

HAS the printer been set to be shared on your son's machine? If the printer
is connected to his computer directly and doesn't connect directly to the
router/switch/whatever, I believe you have to set the printer as shared.

Assuming only the printer is at issue:
Start; Printers and Faxes; highlight the printer and RIGHT-click, choose
properties. There should be a "sharing" tab on that window. If your system
is different, you somehow have to get to your printer's Properties dialog
and set it to Share the Printer. Otherwise only that computer can use the
printer.

After that, firewall logs are usually my next choice, and pretty much what
the previous poster listed here.

HTH
Pop`

 

[Ross M Greenberg]

I finally resolved my problem! I finally arranged for my son to put up
LogMeIn and then add/removed a supposedly inactive Norton firewall.
Immediately upon its removal I had the needed access to the printer and to
his files. The machine came loaded with Norton. I never liked Norton
products. Piece of poop!

Thanks to all for your kind suggestions!

Ross