Problem accessing shared network drives on a home network

G

Guest

I have 2 PCs linked on my home wireless network. One is a desktop (Desktop1)
and the second is a laptop (Laptop1). Both PCs have their drives shared, so
each other PC can access each others.

On the desktop, I have 3 hardrives installed (C: - 160 gig, D: - 160 gig and
E: - 80 gig). The 80gig hardisk can be accessed by the laptop without any
problems. But for some reason, the laptop cannot access the 2 160gig
hardrives on the desktop. The desktop can access all the drives on the
laptop without any problems at all.

When I try to access the 2 160gig hardrives on the desktop, I get an error
saying the drives are not available and to ensure I have permissions setup.
Yet the drives are shared out and can be seen on the laptop when I explore
the workgrop. I just cannot access them.

Someone told me that it might have something to do with the size of the
hardrives themself. For some reason, Windows cannot share large capacities
and I might have to partition these hardives down.

Have anyone had this problem before and managed to reolve it?

PC specs:

Desktop:

P4 - 2.53ghz
Windows XP Pro (SP 2)
1 gig memory
3 hardives (160 gig, 160 gig & 80 gig)
128 meg display card

Laptop:

P4m - 2.4 ghz
Windows XP Pro (SP 2)
750 meg memory
1 hardive (partioned: 10gig * 3)
64 meg display card.

Home Network:

Home portal 1000 (wireless running on G protocol)


Thanks in advance.
 
C

Chuck

I have 2 PCs linked on my home wireless network. One is a desktop (Desktop1)
and the second is a laptop (Laptop1). Both PCs have their drives shared, so
each other PC can access each others.

On the desktop, I have 3 hardrives installed (C: - 160 gig, D: - 160 gig and
E: - 80 gig). The 80gig hardisk can be accessed by the laptop without any
problems. But for some reason, the laptop cannot access the 2 160gig
hardrives on the desktop. The desktop can access all the drives on the
laptop without any problems at all.

When I try to access the 2 160gig hardrives on the desktop, I get an error
saying the drives are not available and to ensure I have permissions setup.
Yet the drives are shared out and can be seen on the laptop when I explore
the workgrop. I just cannot access them.

Someone told me that it might have something to do with the size of the
hardrives themself. For some reason, Windows cannot share large capacities
and I might have to partition these hardives down.

Have anyone had this problem before and managed to reolve it?

PC specs:

Desktop:

P4 - 2.53ghz
Windows XP Pro (SP 2)
1 gig memory
3 hardives (160 gig, 160 gig & 80 gig)
128 meg display card

Laptop:

P4m - 2.4 ghz
Windows XP Pro (SP 2)
750 meg memory
1 hardive (partioned: 10gig * 3)
64 meg display card.

Home Network:

Home portal 1000 (wireless running on G protocol)


Thanks in advance.

Rav,

The error that you're seeing, as you worded, could have several causes.

If you enable Windows Firewall, make sure that you also enable the File and
Printer Sharing exception.

On any 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 SFS properly set on each computer.

On XP Pro with SFS disabled, check the Local Security Policies (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".

On XP Pro with SFS disabled, if you set the above Local Security Policy to
"Guest only", enable the Guest account, using Start - Run - "cmd" - type "net
user guest /active:yes" in the command window. If "Classic", setup and use a
common non-Guest account on all computers. Whichever account is used, give it
an identical, non-blank password on all computers.

On XP Home, and on XP Pro with Simple File Sharing enabled, make sure that the
Guest account is enabled, on each computer. Enable Guest, with Start - Run -
"cmd", then type "net user guest /active:yes" in the command window. Ensure
that the password for Guest is blank, with Start - Run - "control
userpasswords2"; select Guest, click Reset Password, click OK without entering a
new password.

On XP Pro, if you're going to use Guest authentication, check your Local
Security Policy (Control Panel - Administrative Tools) - User Rights Assignment,
on the XP Pro computer, and look at "Deny access to this computer from the
network". Make sure Guest is not in the list. Look at "Access this computer
from the network", and make sure that Everyone is in this list.

Check for a browser conflict between the two computers. I"m not talking about
Internet Explorer here. The browser is the program that allows any computer to
see any other computer on the LAN. With two computers on a LAN, having the
browser running on both could cause an error like what you described.

Make sure the browser service is running on one of the WinXP computers. Control
Panel - Administrative Tools - Services. Verify that the Computer Browser, and
the TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper, services both show with Status = Started. Disable
the browser on the other computer.

After checking / disabling / enabling as above, power all computers off to reset
the browser settings on each. Then power both computers on.

The Microsoft Browstat program will show us what browsers (I'm not talking about
Internet Explorer here) you have in your domain / workgroup, at any time.
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=188305

You can download Browstat from either:
<http://www.dynawell.com/reskit/microsoft/win2000/browstat.zip>
<http://rescomp.stanford.edu/staff/manual/rcc/tools/browstat.zip>

Browstat is very small (40K), and needs no install. Just unzip the downloaded
file, copy browstat.exe to any folder in the Path, and run it from a command
window, by "browstat status". Make sure all computers list the same master
browser.
For more information about the browser subsystem (very intricate), see:
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=188001
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=188305
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=231312
<http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winntas/deploy/prodspecs/ntbrowse.mspx>

If none of that helps, post an exact copy of the error you're seeing, and
provide ipconfig information for each computer.
Start - Run - "cmd". Type "ipconfig /all >c:\ipconfig.txt" into the command
window - Open c:\ipconfig.txt in Notepad, make sure that Format - Word Wrap is
NOT checked!, copy and paste entire contents into your next post.

--
Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.
My email is AT DOT
actual address pchuck sonic net.
 

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