Problem with Accessing One Computer on a 4-Computer Home Network

[Alan]

Hi all,



I posted this a few hours ago on the
microsoft.public.windows.networking.wireless newsgroup, but the only
suggestion I've received so far is to look at a few articles that I've
already seen and tried.



I'm working on a customer's wireless home network that has 4 computers on
it, 3 running XP Pro with SP2, 1 with XP Home, and all updates installed.
I've used a Linksys router, and each machine is able to connect to the Web
without any problems.



The customer wants to be able to share printers, which are attached to two
computers, as well as to have a common directory on each machine that will
be visible to all 4 PCs on the network.



I'm having problems with one of the 4 computers not being able to have its
shared folder and attached printer accessed by the other 3 machines. When I
display the Microsoft Windows network via Windows Explorer, the unique
computer name is visible, but when I click on the computer name in order to
see the folder that is being allowed for sharing. I receive an Access Denied
message.



I am able to ping to this machine -- this is one of the 3 PCs with XP Pro
installed -- from the 3 other computers, and vice-versa, and the "problem"
machine is able to access the designated shared folder on the other 3.
Additionally, the other 3 computers are able to see the contents of each
others' files in the network.



To troubleshoot I've disabled all 3rd party firewalls and, as the network
has a hardware router, I've tried turning off the Windows firewall on the
"problem" PC to see if that makes any difference. It doesn't. I've also
turned off the IPSEC service, as suggested in
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314067http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314067
but this has not helped either.



Does anyone have some thoughts as to what might be going on, and how I can
get my "problem" PC to open itself up to the others? When I go back to the
customer's house in the morning, I'd like to have a few fresh ideas that I
can try.



Thanks for any suggestions.



Alan

 

[Chuck]

Hi all,



I posted this a few hours ago on the
microsoft.public.windows.networking.wireless newsgroup, but the only
suggestion I've received so far is to look at a few articles that I've
already seen and tried.



I'm working on a customer's wireless home network that has 4 computers on
it, 3 running XP Pro with SP2, 1 with XP Home, and all updates installed.
I've used a Linksys router, and each machine is able to connect to the Web
without any problems.



The customer wants to be able to share printers, which are attached to two
computers, as well as to have a common directory on each machine that will
be visible to all 4 PCs on the network.



I'm having problems with one of the 4 computers not being able to have its
shared folder and attached printer accessed by the other 3 machines. When I
display the Microsoft Windows network via Windows Explorer, the unique
computer name is visible, but when I click on the computer name in order to
see the folder that is being allowed for sharing. I receive an Access Denied
message.



I am able to ping to this machine -- this is one of the 3 PCs with XP Pro
installed -- from the 3 other computers, and vice-versa, and the "problem"
machine is able to access the designated shared folder on the other 3.
Additionally, the other 3 computers are able to see the contents of each
others' files in the network.



To troubleshoot I've disabled all 3rd party firewalls and, as the network
has a hardware router, I've tried turning off the Windows firewall on the
"problem" PC to see if that makes any difference. It doesn't. I've also
turned off the IPSEC service, as suggested in
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314067http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314067
but this has not helped either.



Does anyone have some thoughts as to what might be going on, and how I can
get my "problem" PC to open itself up to the others? When I go back to the
customer's house in the morning, I'd like to have a few fresh ideas that I
can try.



Thanks for any suggestions.



Alan

Alan,

A misconfigured or overlooked personal firewall, or other security component,
would be the most common, but there are other possible reasons. Read this
article with an open mind.
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/10/irregularities-in-workgroup-visibility.html>
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/10/irregularities-in-workgroup-visibility.html

But when you say "wireless", I'll bet that you have a segmented browse domain
(and when I say "browse, I'm not mentioning Internet Explorer).
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/04/nt-browser-or-why-cant-i-always-see.html>
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/04/nt-browser-or-why-cant-i-always-see.html

For more direct help, provide "browstat status" and "ipconfig /all" from each
computer, so we can diagnose the problem. Read this article, and linked
articles, and follow instructions precisely (download browstat!):
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/05/troubleshooting-network-neighborhood.html#AskingForHelp>
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/05/troubleshooting-network-neighborhood.html#AskingForHelp

 

[Guest]

on the "problem" machine turn off simple file sharing.

 

[Alan]

Hi Dragos,

Simple file sharing WAS enabled on the "problem" machine.

I turned it off, and rebooted. But still no luck.

Anyway, thanks for that suggestion.

Alan

 

[Guest]

check ntfs rights and share permissions on share's of "problem computer".

 

[Alan]

I'm just reading this suggestion now. If I can, I'll try to get over to the
customer's house on the weekend. If not, I'll go Monday. I'll let you know
what happens.

Thanks.

Alan

 

[Alan]

Hello Dragos,

Well, I checked NTFS rights, permissions and all sorts of other settings and
still had no luck. As it was a recent O/S install -- and very little user
data to back up -- I decided I had wasted enough time fiddling around.

I backed up what little user data there was and did another clean
installation of Windows XP Pro. I set up the network, saw all the PCs I was
expecting to and, best of all, I was able to access files and printers on my
"problem" PC.

Thanks to all for your suggestions. Life is good. :>

Alan

 

[Guest]

Hi all,



I posted this a few hours ago on the
microsoft.public.windows.networking.wireless newsgroup, but the only
suggestion I've received so far is to look at a few articles that I've
already seen and tried.



I'm working on a customer's wireless home network that has 4 computers on
it, 3 running XP Pro with SP2, 1 with XP Home, and all updates installed.
I've used a Linksys router, and each machine is able to connect to the Web
without any problems.



The customer wants to be able to share printers, which are attached to two
computers, as well as to have a common directory on each machine that will
be visible to all 4 PCs on the network.



I'm having problems with one of the 4 computers not being able to have its
shared folder and attached printer accessed by the other 3 machines. When I
display the Microsoft Windows network via Windows Explorer, the unique
computer name is visible, but when I click on the computer name in order to
see the folder that is being allowed for sharing. I receive an Access Denied
message.



I am able to ping to this machine -- this is one of the 3 PCs with XP Pro
installed -- from the 3 other computers, and vice-versa, and the "problem"
machine is able to access the designated shared folder on the other 3.
Additionally, the other 3 computers are able to see the contents of each
others' files in the network.



To troubleshoot I've disabled all 3rd party firewalls and, as the network
has a hardware router, I've tried turning off the Windows firewall on the
"problem" PC to see if that makes any difference. It doesn't. I've also
turned off the IPSEC service, as suggested in
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314067http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314067
but this has not helped either.



Does anyone have some thoughts as to what might be going on, and how I can
get my "problem" PC to open itself up to the others? When I go back to the
customer's house in the morning, I'd like to have a few fresh ideas that I
can try.



Thanks for any suggestions.



Alan