Gabe wrote:
I'm not Chuck, but here are some comments inline. Answer the questions and
when Chuck comes back I'm sure he'll pick up your issue again.
I read through some of the info on the first link you provided.
Here are some of the issues I've come across:
1. the command "ipconfig" does not work on my WinXP Home PC
It most certainly should. You're probably doing it wrong.
Start>Run>cmd [enter]
This will give you a command prompt window. At the command prompt, type:
ipconfig /all [enter]
Note that there is a space between "ipconfig" and "/". Now you will be able
to post the ipconfig information that Chuck needs to help you.
2. I try looking at the TCP/IP Advanced settings and they are no where to
be found
Where are you looking?
3. When I try accessing Windows Firewall, I get the following error:
"Windows Firewall settings cannot be displayed because the associted
service
is not running. Do you want to start the Windows Firewall/Internet
Connection Sharing (ICS) service?"
When I click on "Yes", I get: "Windows cannot start the Windows
Firewall?Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) service."
4. I am using Norton Anti-Virus and Internet Worm Protection but not the
Norton Firewall.
#3 and #4 go together. The reason you can't start the built-in Windows
Firewall is that you are using Norton AV which has the Internet Worm
Protection. The Internet Worm Protection is a firewall which takes over
from the Windows Firewall. The Windows Firewall is therefore disabled.
Looking at your first post, Norton is probably the reason why you are having
difficulties in networking your computers. Read through the general network
troubleshooting information below.
*****
For XP, start by running the Network Setup Wizard on all machines (see
caveat in Item A below).
Problems sharing files between computers on a network are generally caused
by 1) a misconfigured firewall or overlooked firewall (including a stateful
firewall in a VPN); or 2) inadvertently running two firewalls such as the
built-in Windows Firewall and a third-party firewall; and/or 3) not having
identical user accounts and passwords on all Workgroup machines; 4) trying
to create shares where the operating system does not permit it.
A. Configure firewalls on all machines to allow the Local Area Network (LAN)
traffic as trusted. With Windows Firewall, this means allowing File/Printer
Sharing on the Exceptions tab. Normally running the Network Setup Wizard on
XP will take care of this for those machines.The only "gotcha" is that this
will turn on the XPSP2 Windows Firewall. If you aren't running a
third-party firewall or have an antivirus with "Internet Worm
Protection" (like Norton 2006/07) which acts as a firewall, then you're
fine. With third-party firewalls, I usually configure the LAN allowance
with an IP range. Ex. would be 192.168.1.0-192.168.1.254. Obviously you
would substitute your correct subnet. Do not run more than one firewall. DO
NOT TURN OFF FIREWALLS; CONFIGURE THEM CORRECTLY.
B. For ease of organization, put all computers in the same Workgroup. This
is done from the System applet in Control Panel, Computer Name tab.
C. Create matching user accounts and passwords on all machines. You do not
need to be logged into the same account on all machines and the passwords
assigned to each user account can be different; the accounts/passwords just
need to exist and match on all machines. DO NOT NEGLECT TO CREATE
PASSWORDS, EVEN IF ONLY SIMPLE ONES. If you wish a machine to boot directly
to the Desktop (into one particular user's account) for convenience, you
can do this. The instructions at this link work for both XP and Vista:
Configure Windows to Automatically Login (MVP Ramesh) -
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/Autologon.htm
D. If one or more of the computers is XP Pro or Media Center, turn off
Simple File Sharing (Folder Options>View tab).
E. Create shares as desired. XP Home does not permit sharing of users' home
directories or Program Files, but you can share folders inside those
directories. A better choice is to simply use the Shared Documents folder.
*****
Malke
