still having problems networking XP and Vista

[Ross M. Greenberg]

My home network has three machines on it: my Vista Ultimate (a Dell dual
core) wired directly to my DSL modem, my wife's machine: running XP Media
Center wired directly to the DSL, and my son's machine: running Vista Home
Premium.

All machines are constantly updated using Windows Update. When I click on
Network on my machine I see the icons only for my own machine and my son's
machine. When I click on Network a my son's machine I see icons only for my
machine and my son's machine. For some reason my wife's machine, when I
click on the "My Network Places" I seem to be prohibited from accessing the
network card -- even though her machine has no problem accessing the
Internet through Internet Explorer, and can ping itself, my machine, and my
son's machine both numerically and by machine name. Likewise, I can ping
the other machines on the network, both numerically and by machine name. My
son can do the same thing.

So how do I get my wife's machine's icon and access thereof on my machine or
my son's?

This has gone beyond Really Frustrating.

Ross

 

[Kurt Herman]

Do you have all the machines set to the same workgroup name? Vista defaults
to a different workgroup name then XP does. If you never set the workgroup
name to one of your own choosing, do so now, or, set the wife's XP machine
to the Vistas default workgroup name.

Kurt

 

[Ross M. Greenberg]

Do you have all the machines set to the same workgroup name? Vista
defaults to a different workgroup name then XP does. If you never set the
workgroup name to one of your own choosing, do so now, or, set the wife's
XP machine to the Vistas default workgroup name.

Kurt:

Is casing important? Is there a difference between "RMGNET" and "RmgNet"?

 

[Kurt Herman]

I'm not sure. Try it both ways. It couldn't hurt.

Kurt

 

[Ian Betts]

Kurt:

Is casing important? Is there a difference between "RMGNET" and "RmgNet"?

Yes it is, the workgroup name must be identical on and networked comps

 

[Ross M. Greenberg]

Yes it is, the workgroup name must be identical on and networked compsby the look of things, there is no way of entering a lowercase character: no
matter what I type, even when I type entirely in the case: "rmgnet" it comes
out as "RMGNET"

Is it worthwhile to go into the registry on each machine, the two Vista
machines and the XP machine, locate the workgroup name and make sure that
the casing and spelling are identical?

Ross

 

[norm]

by the look of things, there is no way of entering a lowercase character: no
matter what I type, even when I type entirely in the case: "rmgnet" it comes
out as "RMGNET"

Is it worthwhile to go into the registry on each machine, the two Vista
machines and the XP machine, locate the workgroup name and make sure that
the casing and spelling are identical?

Ross

Windows defaults to uppercase no matter how the letters are typed. Not
an issue if the workgroup name is the same on all machines.

 

[Ross M. Greenberg]

Windows defaults to uppercase no matter how the letters are typed. Not
an issue if the workgroup name is the same on all machines.

Okay then, each of the machines in question (my Vista Ultimate machine, my
son's Vista Home Premium machine, and my wife's XP Media Center machine) are
in the workgroup "RMGNET".

From my wife's machine, running Network Places shows my sons machine and her
own machine. From my sons machine, running Network shows all three machines
(although clicking on my machines icon does generate an error)

Running Network on my machine shows an icon for my own machine and for my
sons machine. Running a command shell from any machine allows me to ping
any other machine on the network by name or by number (found out by
IPconfig). I am able to print from my machine to my sons attached printer.

Anyone have any idea of what's going on or how to resolve this issue?

Ross

 

[Guest]

Anyone have any idea of what's going on or how to resolve this issue?

Ross

Ross,
it seems that Norton Antivirus might be causing your problem. If you go to
the Dell website and search, you will find some information. Also, if you go
to Norton Documentation, there is a special section for Dell users that deals
with Norton Antivirus. I have done everything, changing name, changing rules
on the network, etc.

It still doesn't work for me.

However, it may for you.

 

[Ross M. Greenberg]

Ross,
it seems that Norton Antivirus might be causing your problem. If you go
to
the Dell website and search, you will find some information. Also, if you
go
to Norton Documentation, there is a special section for Dell users that
deals
with Norton Antivirus. I have done everything, changing name, changing
rules
on the network, etc.

It still doesn't work for me.

However, it may for you.

Norton AV is not on this machine, and never has been..............

 

[Guest]

I had similar issues. I got it to the point were occasionally the other
CPU's would show up. I only have one PC with LLTD installed and that one
will show on the map. The map was not important to me.

I went back to basics and used the UNC code for the PC's in the run line.

Go to start, all programs, accessories, run. A command box will open up, in
the box next to Open you will type \\yourPCname then click ok. If
sharing worked on you xp network and your opened up discovery and the
firewall to the ips adresses within your network your should see the file
shares and printers of that PC.

In the same manner you can map drives or put short cuts on your desktop to
the other PC's. Right mouse select new, shortcut and then add \\yourPCname
..

It seems after accessing one or more of the PC's the entire list shows up
when you open up the network folder.

If you need further information on getting through these steps please let me
know.

This might be a little bit of a work around but it saves time and agrevation
over tying to get it to work like an xp only network.