Novice: Sharing folder with my other PC?

[Terry Pinnell]

A month ago I had some help here from Fatal_Exception in this thread:

Subject: Novice: 'TRANSFERS folder' disappeared
Date: Thu, 12 Jan 2006 13:52:59 +0000
Message-ID: <[email protected]>

As a result, I was able to remake the folder 'Transfers', which I
placed on my desktop of this XP Home PC, here:
C:\Documents and Settings\Terry Pinnell\Desktop\Transfers

I used to use this to transfer files to and from my W98 PC in my
shed/workshop, via the wireless LAN my son installed for me (I'm just
not into the black art of networking). I've only just got around to
trying to use the folder in that way again, and unfortunately it
doesn't work. On my W98 PC (which is just getting onto the internet
OK, so the wireless connection is OK) I have a shortcut on my desktop
to TRANSFERS. But every time I try to open it, I get a message along
the lines of it being an invalid location.

FWIW, in the shortcut's Properties I have Target: \\TERRY\TRANSFERS.
(I don't remember how I first created that, BTW, and would appreciate
a reminder!) 'TERRY' is the name of my XP PC, although I'm not
entirely sure where that is set either. Anyway, I tried altering the
above Target, e.g. to \\TERRY\C:\Documents and Settings\Terry
Pinnell\Desktop\Transfers but that and other variations were not
accepted.

I'd greatly appreciate someone setting me straight please.

 

[Guest]

Have you or your son recently made any changes to either PC?

-Christopher Isherwood

 

[Terry Pinnell]

Have you or your son recently made any changes to either PC?

-Christopher Isherwood

In the 6 months or so since I used that transfer folder from my shed
to house, I for sure have made all sorts of changes to my PC! Apart
from the few scores of programs installed, some later uninstalled, and
the dozens of tweaks etc, there have probably also been a dozen
inadvertent changes too, some of them no doubt obscure. Like any
quirks introduced by the occasional power cut or brown-outs, or that
time my CPU fan failed and the PC switched itself off. Etc.

So I don't think that's a promising line of enquiry!

Anyone know the very basics of how you go about setting up and
maintaining simple sharing between an XP Home PC and a W98 PC via a
wireless LAN please?

 

[Terry Pinnell]

A month ago I had some help here from Fatal_Exception in this thread:

<skip>

Here is further information that might help an expert to identify the
obstacle.

I r-clicked on the folder 'Transfers' on my desktop and chose Sharing
and Security. NOTHING was initially checked in the resulting dialog,
bit as soon as I enabled 'Share this folder on the network' the name
'Transfers' appeared and the dialog looked like this:
http://www.terrypin.dial.pipex.com/Images/SharedFolder1.jpg

But when I then tried to Apply this, I got
"An error occurred while trying to share Transfers. The Server service
is not started. The shared resource was not created at this time."

Yet in XP Home Services I *have* no service called 'Server', disabled
or otherwise.

While studying Services, I saw one called Computer Browser, whose
description is:
"Maintains an updated list of computers on the network and supplies
this list to computers designated as browsers. If this service is
stopped, this list will not be updated or maintained. If this service
is disabled, any services that explicitly depend on it will fail to
start."

That was Enabled but not Started. It sounded vaguely necessary, but
when I tried to start it I got:
"Could not start the Computer Browser service on Local Computer.
Error 1058: The service cannot be started, either because it is
disabled or because it has no enabled devices."

It's beginning to look as if this ultra-simple wireless LAN network of
mine (one PC with a W98 PC used maybe 20 times a year) is not
correctly set up somehow. Yet as I said in my OP, I *can* get internet
access from the W98, which presumably contradicts that?

Any clues from the above please?

 

[Chuck]

<skip>

Here is further information that might help an expert to identify the
obstacle.

I r-clicked on the folder 'Transfers' on my desktop and chose Sharing
and Security. NOTHING was initially checked in the resulting dialog,
bit as soon as I enabled 'Share this folder on the network' the name
'Transfers' appeared and the dialog looked like this:
http://www.terrypin.dial.pipex.com/Images/SharedFolder1.jpg

But when I then tried to Apply this, I got
"An error occurred while trying to share Transfers. The Server service
is not started. The shared resource was not created at this time."

Yet in XP Home Services I *have* no service called 'Server', disabled
or otherwise.

While studying Services, I saw one called Computer Browser, whose
description is:
"Maintains an updated list of computers on the network and supplies
this list to computers designated as browsers. If this service is
stopped, this list will not be updated or maintained. If this service
is disabled, any services that explicitly depend on it will fail to
start."

That was Enabled but not Started. It sounded vaguely necessary, but
when I tried to start it I got:
"Could not start the Computer Browser service on Local Computer.
Error 1058: The service cannot be started, either because it is
disabled or because it has no enabled devices."

It's beginning to look as if this ultra-simple wireless LAN network of
mine (one PC with a W98 PC used maybe 20 times a year) is not
correctly set up somehow. Yet as I said in my OP, I *can* get internet
access from the W98, which presumably contradicts that?

Any clues from the above please?

Terry,

Please read my article, and make sure that you have all necessary network
components and services:
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/05/troubleshooting-network-neighborhood.html#Components>
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/05/troubleshooting-network-neighborhood.html#Components

 

[Terry Pinnell]

Terry,

Please read my article, and make sure that you have all necessary network
components and services:
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/05/troubleshooting-network-neighborhood.html#Components>
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/05/troubleshooting-network-neighborhood.html#Components

Thanks Chuck. I will try reading it. But, as per my subject header,
I'm a complete novice, and at a quick first scan the article mostly
looks beyond my comprehension.

I'm still hoping someone can offer a relatively simple solution in
terms I can grasp <g>.

 

[Chuck]

Thanks Chuck. I will try reading it. But, as per my subject header,
I'm a complete novice, and at a quick first scan the article mostly
looks beyond my comprehension.

I'm still hoping someone can offer a relatively simple solution in
terms I can grasp <g>.

Terry,

Do your best. Take each item one step at a time, and follow each link. I don't
include pictures in my articles, but I do try to include step-by-step
instructions.

If there's anything specific that you can't understand, please identify it as
obviously as possible. Your questions, combined with my updates, could make my
website more readable to others like you. That's the purpose of community
support after all.

When you say
I *have* no service called 'Server', disabled or otherwise
I have to suspect that you have not loaded the File and Printer Sharing network
component. So go thru my article, item by item.

 

[Terry Pinnell]

Terry,

Do your best. Take each item one step at a time, and follow each link. I don't
include pictures in my articles, but I do try to include step-by-step
instructions.

If there's anything specific that you can't understand, please identify it as
obviously as possible. Your questions, combined with my updates, could make my
website more readable to others like you. That's the purpose of community
support after all.

When you say
I *have* no service called 'Server', disabled or otherwise
I have to suspect that you have not loaded the File and Printer Sharing network
component. So go thru my article, item by item.

Chuck: Very pleased to report that your diagnosis was spot on! I've no
idea how File and Printer Sharing got removed, but I've now
re-installed it. So the folder 'Transfers' (or 'TRANSFERS' - I trust
it's not case sensitive?) is now shared, and I'm optimistic that when
I next boot up my shed W98 PC I'll be able to access it. Big thank you
for that.

You also asked for some feedback about your article:
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/05/troubleshooting-network-neighborhood.html#Components

I'm afraid my initial impression was confirmed after some further
study. It's far too complex for someone of my skill level. Too long
and technical for someone who doesn't already have network experience,
but who just wants to isolate a specific problem with clear symptoms.

For example, within a few seconds, in the 2nd paragraph, I'm reading
"If you look at the structure of this guide, you'll note that it looks
vaguely similar to the OSI 7-Layer Network Model." Meaningless to me
<g>.

To be constructive, the sort of article I want is in the 'WHAT TO DO'
style. For example, I'd like to see something like this on the first
page, with very little preamble and generalisation:

HOW TO IDENTIFY AND FIX HOME NETWORKING PROBLEMS
================================================

Action #1: xxxxx xxxx
---------------------
1.
2.
3.

Action #2: Check that 'File and Printer Sharing' is installed
--------------------------------------------------------------
1. Control Panel > Network Connections

2. Select your connection, probably something like 'Local Area
Connection', R-click > Properties

3. Under 'This connection uses the following items' do you have 'File
and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks'? If YES, proceed to do
further testing with one of the other Actions. If NO, you need to
install it as follows.

4. Click Install

etc, etc.