Problem after upgrading to SP2

[Laura]

My husband finally bit the bullet and installed SP2 on his desktop. He has
run into a problem that has me stumped.

We are using a Linksys wireless router and are trying to set things up so
that everyone can see and access files & Printers on our little 4+ computer
network. We are all running XP Pro. He is wired to the router with 2
wireless laptops plus one other wired desktop.

When he upgraded to SP2 we lost the ability to connect to his computer. We
can see his computer under 'My Network Places' but we can not connect. He
CAN connect to us however but not the other way around. I disabled his
Windows Firewall the other day and I could connect to his computer. As soon
as I enable the firewall again access is blocked again. I'm stumped because
when I upgraded my laptop to SP2 I did not have to change any firewall
settings to continue to see the network including his machine.

I have compared our firewall settings and they are the same so I don't know
what setting needs to be changed at this point. And yes, file sharing is
enabled. Guest account is enabled. Simple file sharing is also enabled.

What am I missing?

TIA,
Laura

 

[Doug Knox MS-MVP]

Check the firewall settings and ensure that File and Print Sharing are allowed as exceptions.

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Try the following:

Disconnect the cable from the router, unplug the power
to the router, wait 2 minutes, reconnect the cable to the
router, then return power to the router.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User
Microsoft Newsgroups

Get Windows XP Service Pack 2 with Advanced Security Technologies:
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/windowsxp/choose.mspx

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:

| My husband finally bit the bullet and installed SP2 on his desktop. He has
| run into a problem that has me stumped.
|
| We are using a Linksys wireless router and are trying to set things up so
| that everyone can see and access files & Printers on our little 4+ computer
| network. We are all running XP Pro. He is wired to the router with 2
| wireless laptops plus one other wired desktop.
|
| When he upgraded to SP2 we lost the ability to connect to his computer. We
| can see his computer under 'My Network Places' but we can not connect. He
| CAN connect to us however but not the other way around. I disabled his
| Windows Firewall the other day and I could connect to his computer. As soon
| as I enable the firewall again access is blocked again. I'm stumped because
| when I upgraded my laptop to SP2 I did not have to change any firewall
| settings to continue to see the network including his machine.
|
| I have compared our firewall settings and they are the same so I don't know
| what setting needs to be changed at this point. And yes, file sharing is
| enabled. Guest account is enabled. Simple file sharing is also enabled.
|
| What am I missing?
|
| TIA,
| Laura

 

[Laura]

Yes it is. That's what I meant when I said that File sharing was enabled. Or
are there multiple places to enable file sharing?

Check the firewall settings and ensure that File and Print Sharing are
allowed as exceptions.

 

[Laura]

And what is this suppose to accomplish? Will I lose all my wireless settings
if I power down the router?

 

[Tom Pepper Willett]

It reboots the router, like rebooting your computer. You won't lose any
settings.

Tom
| And what is this suppose to accomplish? Will I lose all my wireless
settings
| if I power down the router?
|
| | > Try the following:
| >
| > Disconnect the cable from the router, unplug the power
| > to the router, wait 2 minutes, reconnect the cable to the
| > router, then return power to the router.
| >
| > --
| > Carey Frisch
| > Microsoft MVP
| > Windows XP - Shell/User
| > Microsoft Newsgroups
| >
| > Get Windows XP Service Pack 2 with Advanced Security Technologies:
| > http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/windowsxp/choose.mspx
| >
|

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

| >
| > "Laura" wrote:
| >
| > | My husband finally bit the bullet and installed SP2 on his desktop. He
| > has
| > | run into a problem that has me stumped.
| > |
| > | We are using a Linksys wireless router and are trying to set things up
| > so
| > | that everyone can see and access files & Printers on our little 4+
| > computer
| > | network. We are all running XP Pro. He is wired to the router with 2
| > | wireless laptops plus one other wired desktop.
| > |
| > | When he upgraded to SP2 we lost the ability to connect to his
computer.
| > We
| > | can see his computer under 'My Network Places' but we can not connect.
| > He
| > | CAN connect to us however but not the other way around. I disabled his
| > | Windows Firewall the other day and I could connect to his computer. As
| > soon
| > | as I enable the firewall again access is blocked again. I'm stumped
| > because
| > | when I upgraded my laptop to SP2 I did not have to change any firewall
| > | settings to continue to see the network including his machine.
| > |
| > | I have compared our firewall settings and they are the same so I don't
| > know
| > | what setting needs to be changed at this point. And yes, file sharing
is
| > | enabled. Guest account is enabled. Simple file sharing is also
enabled.
| > |
| > | What am I missing?
| > |
| > | TIA,
| > | Laura
| >
|

 

[Doug Knox MS-MVP]

Hi Laura,

It definitely sounds like its firewall related. The following from http://www.michna.com/kb/WxSP2.htm may help.

Firewall blocks LAN connection

The new firewall blocks file and printer sharing and pinging by default. To allow this again, open the Windows Firewall settings in Control Panel. Use the Exceptions tab and check the File and Printer Sharing entry, which should now, by default, be set only for the local subnet, i.e. your LAN on the near side of any routers. This also reenables ping responses and allows the browser service to start. Reboot to allow the service to start or start the service by hand.

If you want only ping responses without file and printer sharing, click on the Advanced tab, then the ICMP Settings button. Check "Allow incoming echo request".

If, however, you need full and free communications for any type of connection, then use the third tab, Advanced, and remove the check mark from your LAN (Local Area Network) interface to allow full local connectivity for all types of traffic. This is obviously more risky and usually not necessary. Don't do it unless you are certain that all other local computers can never pose a danger. Consider that every laptop or guest computer brought into the LAN can bring a virus along.

The better alternative is to leave the firewall enabled even for the LAN interface, i.e. for your local area network, and open only the services that are actually needed, i.e. any server functions the computer may have. Here you also have the choice to open these server functions only for the local subnet. You can also allow the first ICMP function (echo, ping) or all of them.

 

[Laura]

Hi Laura,

It definitely sounds like its firewall related. The following from
http://www.michna.com/kb/WxSP2.htm may help.

Firewall blocks LAN connection
The new firewall blocks file and printer sharing and pinging by default. To
allow this again, open the Windows Firewall settings in Control Panel. Use
the Exceptions tab and check the File and Printer Sharing entry, which
should now, by default, be set only for the local subnet, i.e. your LAN on
the near side of any routers. This also reenables ping responses and allows
the browser service to start. Reboot to allow the service to start or start
the service by hand.

If you want only ping responses without file and printer sharing, click on
the Advanced tab, then the ICMP Settings button. Check "Allow incoming echo
request".

If, however, you need full and free communications for any type of
connection, then use the third tab, Advanced, and remove the check mark from
your LAN (Local Area Network) interface to allow full local connectivity for
all types of traffic. This is obviously more risky and usually not
necessary. Don't do it unless you are certain that all other local computers
can never pose a danger. Consider that every laptop or guest computer
brought into the LAN can bring a virus along.

The better alternative is to leave the firewall enabled even for the LAN
interface, i.e. for your local area network, and open only the services that
are actually needed, i.e. any server functions the computer may have. Here
you also have the choice to open these server functions only for the local
subnet. You can also allow the first ICMP function (echo, ping) or all of
them.

any more thoughts?

 

[Laura]

Done. No change with this issue.

It reboots the router, like rebooting your computer. You won't lose any
settings.

Tom
| And what is this suppose to accomplish? Will I lose all my wireless
settings
| if I power down the router?
|
| | > Try the following:
| >
| > Disconnect the cable from the router, unplug the power
| > to the router, wait 2 minutes, reconnect the cable to the
| > router, then return power to the router.
| >
| > --
| > Carey Frisch
| > Microsoft MVP
| > Windows XP - Shell/User
| > Microsoft Newsgroups
| >
| > Get Windows XP Service Pack 2 with Advanced Security Technologies:
| > http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/windowsxp/choose.mspx
| >
|
| >
| > "Laura" wrote:
| >
| > | My husband finally bit the bullet and installed SP2 on his desktop.
He
| > has
| > | run into a problem that has me stumped.
| > |
| > | We are using a Linksys wireless router and are trying to set things
up
| > so
| > | that everyone can see and access files & Printers on our little 4+
| > computer
| > | network. We are all running XP Pro. He is wired to the router with 2
| > | wireless laptops plus one other wired desktop.
| > |
| > | When he upgraded to SP2 we lost the ability to connect to his
computer.
| > We
| > | can see his computer under 'My Network Places' but we can not
connect.
| > He
| > | CAN connect to us however but not the other way around. I disabled
his
| > | Windows Firewall the other day and I could connect to his computer.
As
| > soon
| > | as I enable the firewall again access is blocked again. I'm stumped
| > because
| > | when I upgraded my laptop to SP2 I did not have to change any
firewall
| > | settings to continue to see the network including his machine.
| > |
| > | I have compared our firewall settings and they are the same so I
don't
| > know
| > | what setting needs to be changed at this point. And yes, file
sharing
is
| > | enabled. Guest account is enabled. Simple file sharing is also
enabled.
| > |
| > | What am I missing?
| > |
| > | TIA,
| > | Laura
| >
|

 

[Doug Knox MS-MVP]

The Browser service is the Computer Browser service and can be found by going to Start, Run and entering SERVICES.MSC.

Is there a particular error message when you try to connect to his computer?

 

[Star Fleet Admiral Q]

Laura,
Did you check to see if all the computers are part of the same
WorkGroup?
Are you sure his computer has some shares, as the administrative shares
(the ones that end with a dollar sign - i.e. C$) require a userid/password
to be identical on both the host and remote computers?
Lastly, check the firewall and make sure you set it up to "trust" or
"allow" computers falling within the range of IP addresses for your
network - not too sure it the Windows Firewall has this, as I use ZA Pro,
which has this type of configuration.
Since you say access is allowed if you shutoff his Windows Firewall, it
is definitely a firewall issue. Maybe you may wish to try one of the free
ones, Zone Alarm, Tiny Firewall, and there are probably others? Just be
sure to shut the Windows Firewall off after installing the one of the
others. Lastly a 3rd party firewall, such as ZA or Tiny, will protect the
PC going both directions, incoming (bad software connections trying to come
in) and outgoing (if bad software gets on your PC, it stops it from
propagating or spreading to other computers, including those on your home
network).

--

Star Fleet Admiral Q @ your Service!

http://www.google.com
Google is your "Friend"

 

[Laura]

The message is:

\\computername is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this
network resource. Contact the administrator of thie server to find out if
you have access permissions. The network path was not found.

I'll check the Browser service but I can't imagine it being disabled. This
did work prior to upgrading to SP2.

The Browser service is the Computer Browser service and can be found by
going to Start, Run and entering SERVICES.MSC.

Is there a particular error message when you try to connect to his computer?

--
Doug Knox, MS-MVP Windows Media Center\Windows Powered Smart
Display\Security
Win 95/98/Me/XP Tweaks and Fixes
http://www.dougknox.com

 

[Laura]

Laura,
Did you check to see if all the computers are part of the same
WorkGroup?

Yup. That's one of the first things i checked. This did work prior to
upgrading to SP2.

Are you sure his computer has some shares, as the administrative shares
(the ones that end with a dollar sign - i.e. C$) require a userid/password
to be identical on both the host and remote computers?

No shares have ever been set up on any of our computers yet we can all
see/access the machines. All except for his. There are 4 perm machines on
this network plus 2 additonal laptops that we fire up on occasion for
visitors.

Lastly, check the firewall and make sure you set it up to "trust" or
"allow" computers falling within the range of IP addresses for your
network - not too sure it the Windows Firewall has this, as I use ZA Pro,
which has this type of configuration.

This is the windows firewall and the local subnet is enabled.

Since you say access is allowed if you shutoff his Windows Firewall, it
is definitely a firewall issue. Maybe you may wish to try one of the free
ones, Zone Alarm, Tiny Firewall, and there are probably others? Just be
sure to shut the Windows Firewall off after installing the one of the
others. Lastly a 3rd party firewall, such as ZA or Tiny, will protect the
PC going both directions, incoming (bad software connections trying to
come in) and outgoing (if bad software gets on your PC, it stops it from
propagating or spreading to other computers, including those on your home
network).

That might be our only option at this point. I don't know if my husband will
go for it but I will discuss it with him. He seems happy with the windows
firewall.

 

[Doug Knox MS-MVP]

Laura,

Administrative shares are automatically set up, there's no user intervention required. As long as your username and password match an account on the destination machine, you should be able to access the administrative shares using \\<computername>\c$ If the computer has multiple drives or partitions, just use a different drive letter.

 

[Laura]

Can you explain this statement further: "As long as your username and
password match an account on the destination machine, you should be able to
access the administrative shares using \\<computername>\c$" We have not set
up user IDs and passwords on the other machines. The only machine that has
IDs with passwords is my Win2k machine and we can access that machine w/o
problems.

Each XP Pro machine has its own UserID (no passwords) set up as Admin users.
No IDs are replicated on the other machines.

I'm not sure how this changes with SP2. As I said before, we could access
this machine prior to installing SP2. No default settings have been changed
as far as I can tell.

Got any more thoughts?

Laura,

Administrative shares are automatically set up, there's no user intervention
required. As long as your username and password match an account on the
destination machine, you should be able to access the administrative shares
using \\<computername>\c$ If the computer has multiple drives or
partitions, just use a different drive letter.

--
Doug Knox, MS-MVP Windows Media Center\Windows Powered Smart
Display\Security
Win 95/98/Me/XP Tweaks and Fixes
http://www.dougknox.com

 

[Guest]

The message is:

\\computername is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this
network resource. Contact the administrator of thie server to find out if
you have access permissions. The network path was not found.

I'll check the Browser service but I can't imagine it being disabled. This
did work prior to upgrading to SP2.

The Browser service is the Computer Browser service and can be found by
going to Start, Run and entering SERVICES.MSC.

Is there a particular error message when you try to connect to his computer?

--
Doug Knox, MS-MVP Windows Media Center\Windows Powered Smart
Display\Security
Win 95/98/Me/XP Tweaks and Fixes
http://www.dougknox.com

 

[Guest]

Laura - I am currently experiencing the same problem - did this ever get fixed?