PCs on home LAN can't see each other

[Guest]

I have a home LAN with 3 PCs. Two of them are running XP Pro, and one is
running XP Home Edition. I ran the network setup wizard on all 3 PCs so I
could use File and Printer sharing between them. I set them all up for the
MSHOME workgroup. When I open "Computers Near Me", the two XP Pro PCs can
see each other, but neither one can see the XP Home PC, and the XP Home PC
can't see either of the other two. I can ping any of the PCs from any of the
other ones, so it's not a connectivity problem. Suggestions?

 

[Malke]

I have a home LAN with 3 PCs. Two of them are running XP Pro, and one is
running XP Home Edition. I ran the network setup wizard on all 3 PCs so I
could use File and Printer sharing between them. I set them all up for
the
MSHOME workgroup. When I open "Computers Near Me", the two XP Pro PCs can
see each other, but neither one can see the XP Home PC, and the XP Home PC
can't see either of the other two. I can ping any of the PCs from any of
the
other ones, so it's not a connectivity problem. Suggestions?

If one or more of the computers is XP Pro:

a. If you need Pro's ability to set fine-grained permissions, turn off
Simple File Sharing (Folder Options>View tab) and create identical user
accounts/passwords on all computers.

b. If you don't care about using Pro's advanced features, leave the Simple
File Sharing enabled.

Simple File Sharing means that Guest (network) is enabled. This means that
anyone without a user account on the target system can use its resources.
This is a security hole but only you can decide if it matters in your
situation.

Then create shares as desired. XP Home does not permit sharing of users'
home directories (My Documents) or Program Files, but you can share folders
inside those directories. A better choice is to simply use the Shared
Documents folder.

If that doesn't work for you, here is an excellent network troubleshooter by
MVP Hans-Georg Michna. Take the time to go through it and it will usually
pinpoint the problem area(s) - http://winhlp.com/wxnet.htm

Malke