Steps so far, but XP and VISTA still not sharing

[Stephan G.]

OK, following the suggestions in various threads on this news group, I
did the following.

1. On my new windows vista machine (HP Pavilion dv2200) I did a full
system restore, resetting back to all settings that existed right out of
the box.

2. Fully diagnosed and debugged all network issues on the other PCs on
my home network. This includes one Windows 95 PC, one Windows 98 PC,
and two Windows XP PCs. They are all sharing the same workgroup, can
all share printers and files in a fully expected way, and are all
visible on each other's "Network Neighborhood" or "View Workgroup
Computers" screen. I also have a print server on that same workgroup,
also fully viewable and usable by all. Also installed LLTD on both
Windows XP computers.

3. Booted up (as if for the first time) the Vista computer.

4. Connected the Vista computer to my wireless LAN, so that it had
internet access.

5. Of course, then there were windows updates and HP updates and all
that, so I booted it up a total of four more times to bring it to a
stable place. I have added no software or configuration.

6. Disconnected my wireless router from the internet so that I didn't
have to worry about any outside intrusions.

7. Disabled or closed the firewall on every single computer in the
home. All naked to the world on every port.

8. Changed the workgroup name on the Vista computer to match the
workgroup name on every other computer on my LAN. Had to reboot one
more time.

9. Made the network I was dealing with on the VISTA computer a
"private" network. Turned file sharing and printer sharing on on the
"Network and Sharing" page of the VISTA computer. Turned "Password
Protection" off.

10. Looked at the full "Network Map" on the Vista computer. As
expected, the router and the two windows XP computers showed up. The
print server and the windows 98 and windows 95 machine do not show up.
No surprise there, they do not have LLTD.

11. Verified that the Vista machine could ping every other machine by
IP address (including the print server and the router) on the network.

12. Verified that every other computer and the router could ping the
VISTA machine. Re-verified that the non-vista computers could ping each
other.

13. The Vista machine shows up in the network neighborhood or "View
Workgroup" screen of all the other computers, except the Windows 95
computer. However, when I try to open the Vista computer, or look at
the properties, I get an error message from ANY of the other computers
saying "//Vista-PC is not accessible. You might not have permission to
access it, contact the system administrator" Under that, the dialog
says "The Network Path was not found".

14. When I try to view the network on the VISTA machine, ONLY the
network hub/router and the vista machine itself show up. The other
machines do not show up at all.

15. I verified once again that ALL firewalls are off.

I am at the end of the rope here.... this computer is a big paperweight
if it can't talk to my other computers. Would love any thoughts.

-stephan

 

[Guest]

Stephan,
Do you have any 3rd party firewalls like Windows Live One Care, Norton
Internet Security?

Thanks,
Sen.

 

[Robert L [MVP - Networking]]

Hi Stephan,

Be patience with us. If you do: net use \\xpipaddress /u:username (note: 1. do this from Vista. 2. the xpipaddress is XP Ip address. 3. the username is the username logon the or you created in the XP). Do you receive any system error?


Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN Troubleshooting on http://www.ChicagoTech.net
How to Setup Windows, Network, VPN & Remote Access on http://www.HowToNetworking.com
OK, following the suggestions in various threads on this news group, I
did the following.

1. On my new windows vista machine (HP Pavilion dv2200) I did a full
system restore, resetting back to all settings that existed right out of
the box.

2. Fully diagnosed and debugged all network issues on the other PCs on
my home network. This includes one Windows 95 PC, one Windows 98 PC,
and two Windows XP PCs. They are all sharing the same workgroup, can
all share printers and files in a fully expected way, and are all
visible on each other's "Network Neighborhood" or "View Workgroup
Computers" screen. I also have a print server on that same workgroup,
also fully viewable and usable by all. Also installed LLTD on both
Windows XP computers.

3. Booted up (as if for the first time) the Vista computer.

4. Connected the Vista computer to my wireless LAN, so that it had
internet access.

5. Of course, then there were windows updates and HP updates and all
that, so I booted it up a total of four more times to bring it to a
stable place. I have added no software or configuration.

6. Disconnected my wireless router from the internet so that I didn't
have to worry about any outside intrusions.

7. Disabled or closed the firewall on every single computer in the
home. All naked to the world on every port.

8. Changed the workgroup name on the Vista computer to match the
workgroup name on every other computer on my LAN. Had to reboot one
more time.

9. Made the network I was dealing with on the VISTA computer a
"private" network. Turned file sharing and printer sharing on on the
"Network and Sharing" page of the VISTA computer. Turned "Password
Protection" off.

10. Looked at the full "Network Map" on the Vista computer. As
expected, the router and the two windows XP computers showed up. The
print server and the windows 98 and windows 95 machine do not show up.
No surprise there, they do not have LLTD.

11. Verified that the Vista machine could ping every other machine by
IP address (including the print server and the router) on the network.

12. Verified that every other computer and the router could ping the
VISTA machine. Re-verified that the non-vista computers could ping each
other.

13. The Vista machine shows up in the network neighborhood or "View
Workgroup" screen of all the other computers, except the Windows 95
computer. However, when I try to open the Vista computer, or look at
the properties, I get an error message from ANY of the other computers
saying "//Vista-PC is not accessible. You might not have permission to
access it, contact the system administrator" Under that, the dialog
says "The Network Path was not found".

14. When I try to view the network on the VISTA machine, ONLY the
network hub/router and the vista machine itself show up. The other
machines do not show up at all.

15. I verified once again that ALL firewalls are off.

I am at the end of the rope here.... this computer is a big paperweight
if it can't talk to my other computers. Would love any thoughts.

-stephan

 

[Stephan G.]

My Vista did come pre-installed with Norton, but as I said in step 7, I
disabled EVERY firewall, including the one on the VISTA machine.

Thanks... I hope there is a next idea....

-s

 

[Stephan G.]

I couldn't be more patient than I am having been on hold for hours at a
time to HP tech support!

But your instinct is great.

I did the "net use" command you suggested, and it worked fine. And a
subsequent "net use" by itself shows that the connection was made, and
was persistent.

I deleted the connection (parenthetically, I don't really know what "net
use" without a disk or device does...) and then was able to "net use" a
drive z: from my vista computer and it mounted correctly. I was able to
do the same from the XP machine to the vista machine.

Let me tell you my friend, this is the first real progress I have seen
all day.

If it weren't for the fact that I am using DHCP to get IP addresses,
this would be a fine solution. But given that DHCP is being used, and
that the IP addresses can be switched around, I imagine that this can't
work unless I reconfigure my entire network to use static addresses.
Which is possible, but not ideal.... I would love the computer names to
be the "thing" which connects.

Just for kicks, I did try the same "net use" command using the computer
name rather than the IP address, and it did not work.

Any further thoughts?

-stephan

 

[Robert L [MVP - Networking]]

Good, at lease we know you can access XP using IP. Normally, "The Network Path was not found" may cause by name resolution or firewall. Since you have turn off all firewall, it could be the name resolution issue. Did you mentioned enabling NetBIOS over TCP/IP? I not, you may try that first. Please post back with the result.

Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN Troubleshooting on http://www.ChicagoTech.net
How to Setup Windows, Network, VPN & Remote Access on http://www.HowToNetworking.com
I couldn't be more patient than I am having been on hold for hours at a
time to HP tech support!

But your instinct is great.

I did the "net use" command you suggested, and it worked fine. And a
subsequent "net use" by itself shows that the connection was made, and
was persistent.

I deleted the connection (parenthetically, I don't really know what "net
use" without a disk or device does...) and then was able to "net use" a
drive z: from my vista computer and it mounted correctly. I was able to
do the same from the XP machine to the vista machine.

Let me tell you my friend, this is the first real progress I have seen
all day.

If it weren't for the fact that I am using DHCP to get IP addresses,
this would be a fine solution. But given that DHCP is being used, and
that the IP addresses can be switched around, I imagine that this can't
work unless I reconfigure my entire network to use static addresses.
Which is possible, but not ideal.... I would love the computer names to
be the "thing" which connects.

Just for kicks, I did try the same "net use" command using the computer
name rather than the IP address, and it did not work.

Any further thoughts?

-stephan

 

[Keith D]

Hi

my fullest sympathy
mine was sorted via a 6 hour session with m/soft plus a conference call
they set up with Lynksis tec dept.

under control panel

network sharing centre

connection------on right view status

then properties

remove tick from IPV6 you dont need 2
IPV4 will do

remainder of boxes i have 7 in total
other 6 are all ticked

also have you spoken to router tec department

i have a Lynksis router
they made a small change in 192.168.1.1 but sorry cant remember what it was

Also

i noted you mentioned disabling firewalls

according to the gospel of microsft this actaully does nothing
the firewall still runs in background

someone also mentioned liveonecare

this is not third party its m/soft and i now have it running here
after same hassle as you

all other third party firewalls etc in vista machine had to be totally
removed from computer

if you get liveonecare from m/soft site it has a 90 day free trial

you will need to make one alteration from the default settings
in it

1] live onecare centre

2]on left select change settings

3] select firewall
4] firewall connection tool

5] place a tick in box for file and printer sharing
remainder do not have a tick in them

hopefully this will help a little

for the record

lynksis got me to place a floppy in A drive known to have files on it
they then concentrated on getting XP machines to see that drive in vista
machine

after that microsft sorted the rest in under 5 mins as
we had reached a point where they could fathom remainder out

cheers for now

Keith D.

 

[Robert L [MVP - Networking]]

Keith,

Thank you for the detail information.

Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN Troubleshooting on http://www.ChicagoTech.net
How to Setup Windows, Network, VPN & Remote Access on http://www.HowToNetworking.com

Hi

my fullest sympathy
mine was sorted via a 6 hour session with m/soft plus a conference call
they set up with Lynksis tec dept.

under control panel

network sharing centre

connection------on right view status

then properties

remove tick from IPV6 you dont need 2
IPV4 will do

remainder of boxes i have 7 in total
other 6 are all ticked

also have you spoken to router tec department

i have a Lynksis router
they made a small change in 192.168.1.1 but sorry cant remember what it was

Also

i noted you mentioned disabling firewalls

according to the gospel of microsft this actaully does nothing
the firewall still runs in background

someone also mentioned liveonecare

this is not third party its m/soft and i now have it running here
after same hassle as you

all other third party firewalls etc in vista machine had to be totally
removed from computer

if you get liveonecare from m/soft site it has a 90 day free trial

you will need to make one alteration from the default settings
in it

1] live onecare centre

2]on left select change settings

3] select firewall
4] firewall connection tool

5] place a tick in box for file and printer sharing
remainder do not have a tick in them

hopefully this will help a little

for the record

lynksis got me to place a floppy in A drive known to have files on it
they then concentrated on getting XP machines to see that drive in vista
machine

after that microsft sorted the rest in under 5 mins as
we had reached a point where they could fathom remainder out

cheers for now

Keith D.

 

[Stephan G.]

As far as I can tell, NetBIOS is enabled over TCP/IP on all machines. I
didn't do anything to enable it, but when I look at the settings on the
properties screen for TCP/IP, the "Enable Netbios" check box is marked.
On some machines on my network, it is checked, but also greyed out, so
that I would be unable to uncheck it. In some cases it is checked and
not greyed out (like the Vista machine).

 

[Stephan G.]

One more thing - I feel like I observe over the network that when there
is the attempt to connect by name (rather than IP address) it seems that
the request for the name is going out to the DNS server on the internet,
which of course would not be able to resolve the name, since these are
just local names. I see a DNS request packet leaving both the XP
machine and the VISTA machine destined for the DNS server. Somehow we
need to look for this stuff locally -- does this make sense?

-s

 

[Stephan G.]

Hey, thanks.

The only thing I can see here that isn't already done is to disable
IPV6, which I will try and get back to you with results. All the rest
seems to me like stuff I have done, at least as translated into the
configuration I have.

Thanks.

-s

 

[Stephan G.]

I disabled IPv6 as you suggested. Didn't seem to break anything, and
seemed to help a LITTLE bit....

VISTA still does not see the XP machine (except on the network map).
The XP machine does see vista (it shows up in the "view workgroup
machines" screen), but cannot connect.

HOWEVER - and this is BIG new
I can do the following from my VISTA machine, and mount a share from the
XP machine:

net use z: \\XP-MACHINE-NAME\SHARE-NAME /u:USERNAME

Unfortunately, however, if I try this from my XP machine:

net use z: \\VISTA-MACHINE-NAME\SHARE-NAME /u:USERNAME

I generate an error, namely "System Error 53 has occured" followed by
the verbiage "The network path was not found".

Any further thoughts here?

-stephan

This now works

Hey, thanks.

The only thing I can see here that isn't already done is to disable
IPV6, which I will try and get back to you with results. All the rest
seems to me like stuff I have done, at least as translated into the
configuration I have.

Thanks.

-s

Hi

my fullest sympathy
mine was sorted via a 6 hour session with m/soft plus a conference call
they set up with Lynksis tec dept.

under control panel

network sharing centre

connection------on right view status

then properties

remove tick from IPV6 you dont need 2
IPV4 will do

remainder of boxes i have 7 in total
other 6 are all ticked

also have you spoken to router tec department

i have a Lynksis router
they made a small change in 192.168.1.1 but sorry cant remember what
it was

Also

i noted you mentioned disabling firewalls

according to the gospel of microsft this actaully does nothing
the firewall still runs in background

someone also mentioned liveonecare

this is not third party its m/soft and i now have it running here
after same hassle as you

all other third party firewalls etc in vista machine had to be totally
removed from computer

if you get liveonecare from m/soft site it has a 90 day free trial

you will need to make one alteration from the default settings
in it

1] live onecare centre

2]on left select change settings

3] select firewall
4] firewall connection tool

5] place a tick in box for file and printer sharing
remainder do not have a tick in them

hopefully this will help a little

for the record

lynksis got me to place a floppy in A drive known to have files on it
they then concentrated on getting XP machines to see that drive in
vista machine

after that microsft sorted the rest in under 5 mins as
we had reached a point where they could fathom remainder out

cheers for now

Keith D.

 

[Guest]

Well I am just like you.

So ultimately I gave in and did a Google serach for windows networking and
found a software solution called Network Magic.

Loaded it on all my machines and 30 minutes later everything I wanted to do
from a file or printer sharing worked perfectly.

I am not an employee nor affiliated with the vendor in any way, but I can
tell you it did exactly what I see many people trying to accomplish on this
discussion board.

I would like to know why it can do everything that can't be simply explained
by MS in a step by step process.

I would also like MS poster here to comment on what they think of the
product and if presents any specific security risk.

 

[Guest]

I had similar issues with a home network where a new Vista laptop had trouble
seeing the other computers and going through a lot of troubleshooting steps
got to the point where Vista could see and access my XP box, but I could not
see Vista from my XP Box.

At one point I did download Network Magic. It bothered me, though, that
Network Magic is another layer over the top of what is going on underneath
that is broken in my particular situation. I uninstalled it.

I finally got to a point where I decided to wipe my drive and reinstall
Windows XP Pro SP2. Everything is now working as far as networking is
concerned. Let me explain further. Before Vista would not see every computer
on the network. This was puzzling because McAfee security suite could see
every computer. Immediately after I reinstalled McAfee on my XP box and
after updates and a couple of reboots I turned on my Vista laptop.
Immediately every comptuer on the network was visible and accessible from
Vista. Not only that, My XP computer could see every computer on the network,
including Vista and could access them all.

I did sanity checks by shutting down the computers and restarting. I am
keeping a list of every program I install on my XP box now and checking my
network regularly.

My conclusion from the symtoms I had that are so similar to those many of us
have all pointed to something going on under the radar with my XP machine. My
XP machine had accumulated a lot of stuff in nearly a year since the last
time I did a clean install of Windows. I may never know what the root cause
of my networking issue was. All I know is that doing a clean install of
Windows on my machine solved the problem. Everything was plug and play from
that point.

My final point is, rather than adding another layer of complexity on top of
what apparently was a broken XP system to fix the network issue, I simplified
things with a clean install and eliminated whatever it was that was affecting
the network.

 

[Guest]

I understand your reluctance. In my post I am still mildly concerned about
the demands that a "layer" can place - since we all know how windows
accumulates crud already.

It just bugs me that something that should be well understood by MS
shouldn't need a 3rd party solution, and there appears to be very poor
processes and instructions in place to accomplish what network magic did in a
few minutes.

Having said all that, the trade off is fight through what you did, or pay
$30 and fear what probably is an unnecessary layer on the OS.

Anyone from MS care to weigh in on whether there are any immediate plans to
improve the network wizards or at least the steps it takes to explicitly
eliminate these conflicts?

By the way I am very happy that SEN and Robert L contribute as much as they
do - imagine where we would all be if they didn't.

 

[Stephan G.]

Bob - just curious - I did post replies as you suggested, and as the
thread of this topic will reveal -- are you just out of ideas? I feel
like this thread (thanks to you) has taken me down a productive road but
I am not at the finish line yet and would love further expertise.....

-s

 

[Guest]

Stephan It's norton's intrusion prevention, I had same probem.

Open nortons, click Norton's internet security tab, select settings, then
intrusion prevention then configure, in the new window that opens select
trust control. In there add the ip address for each of the pc's on your
network.
This should solve the problem. It seems even though the range is set in the
firewall, the intrusion provention is screwing it up. I've already emailed
Norton's about it.

Best wishes,
Linda