Small Office Network Workgroup Problems

[Guest]

I currently have a small office network that consists of (4) PC's running
Windows XP Professional and sharing resources using a Workgroup.

I just recently (yesterday) added the 4th PC and am not able to connect to
the main PC in the workgroup. When I go to 'View Workgroup Computers' I can
see the machine on there, but it will not let me access it ... can access all
other PC's in the workgroup, but not that one. Nor can THAT pc connect to
this new one ... can see the machine, but cannot connect to it.

I have searched for hours, and done everything that I could find for
resolution to the problem, yet I still have the problem and do not know what
to do at this point.

Any help would GREATLY be appreciated.

 

[Malke]

I currently have a small office network that consists of (4) PC's
running Windows XP Professional and sharing resources using a
Workgroup.

I just recently (yesterday) added the 4th PC and am not able to
connect to
the main PC in the workgroup. When I go to 'View Workgroup Computers'
I can see the machine on there, but it will not let me access it ...
can access all
other PC's in the workgroup, but not that one. Nor can THAT pc
connect to this new one ... can see the machine, but cannot connect to
it.

I have searched for hours, and done everything that I could find for
resolution to the problem, yet I still have the problem and do not
know what to do at this point.

Since we don't know what "done everything" entails - here are a few
suggestions:

1. Start by running the Network Setup Wizard on the new machine. Make
sure to say "yes" to enabling File & Printer Sharing. If you have a
third-party firewall installed, make sure you disable the Windows
Firewall afterwards and properly configure the third-party firewall to
allow lan traffic as trusted.

2. Make sure all machines are using the same setting for Simple File
Sharing (Folder Options>View).

3. With such a small network, it is also a good idea to make identical
user accounts/passwords on all boxen.

4. If none of that helps, here are two links to look at. The first is an
excellent network troubleshooter by MVP Hans-Georg Michna. Usually
taking the time to go through it carefully will pinpoint the problem
area(s).

http://winhlp.com/wxnet.htm
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/xp/addxp.htm - Adding XP to
an existing network

Malke

 

[Chuck]

I currently have a small office network that consists of (4) PC's running
Windows XP Professional and sharing resources using a Workgroup.

I just recently (yesterday) added the 4th PC and am not able to connect to
the main PC in the workgroup. When I go to 'View Workgroup Computers' I can
see the machine on there, but it will not let me access it ... can access all
other PC's in the workgroup, but not that one. Nor can THAT pc connect to
this new one ... can see the machine, but cannot connect to it.

I have searched for hours, and done everything that I could find for
resolution to the problem, yet I still have the problem and do not know what
to do at this point.

Any help would GREATLY be appreciated.

Lenny,

One of the most common causes here would be a misconfigured or overlooked
personal firewall, but there are other possibilities too.
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/10/irregularities-in-workgroup-visibility.html>
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/10/irregularities-in-workgroup-visibility.html

If no help yet, 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:
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/05/troubleshooting-network-neighborhood.html#AskingForHelp>
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/05/troubleshooting-network-neighborhood.html#AskingForHelp