3 computers. 2 of them have XP Home and 1 has XP
professional. I have the 2 with home working fine but I
can't get them to recognize the one with Professional and
it won't recognize the other 2. What should I do? Thanks!
Hank,
Are you running both Client for Microsoft Networks, and File and Printer Sharing
for Microsoft Networks (Local Area Connection - Properties), on each computer?
Do you have shares setup on each?
Are you running NetBIOS Over TCP/IP (Local Area Connection - Properties - TCP/IP
- Properties - Advanced - WINS) on each computer?
Make sure the browser service is running on each computer. Control Panel -
Administrative Tools - Services. Verify that the Computer Browser, and the
TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper, services both show with Status = Started.
On the XP Pro computer, check to see if Simple File Sharing (Control Panel -
Folder Options - View - Advanced settings) is enabled or disabled. With XP Pro,
you need to have SFS properly set on each computer. With two XP Home computers,
and one XP Pro computer, you probably should enable SFS.
With XP Pro, and SFS disabled, check the Local Security Policy (Control Panel -
Administrative Tools). Under Local Policies - Security Options, look at
"Network access: Sharing and security model", and ensure it's set to "Classic -
local users authenticate as themselves".
With XP Pro, and SFS disabled, if you set the above Local Security Policy to
"Guest only", enable the Guest account, using Start - Run - "cmd" - type "net
user guest /active:yes" in the command window. If "Classic", setup and use a
common non-Guest account on all computers. Whichever account is used, give it
an identical, non-blank password on all computers.
For XP Home, and for XP Pro with Simple File Sharing enabled, make sure that the
Guest account is enabled, on each computer. Enable Guest with Start - Run -
"cmd" - type "net user guest /active:yes" in the command window.
Do any of the computers have a software firewall (ICF / WF, or third party)? If
so, you need to configure them for file sharing, by opening ports TCP 139, 445
and UDP 137, 138, 445, by enabling the File and Printer Sharing exception, and /
or by identifying the other computers as present in the Local (Trusted) zone.
Firewall configurations are a very common cause of (network) browser, and file
sharing, problems.
Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.
