Upgrade to XP Pro to fix network problems??

[JimBo]

Dear all,

I have an ethernet network with company laptop on XP/Pro, SP2 on my
company's domain and personal desktop on XP/Home, SP2 in workgroup with same
name as company domain. Both use DHCP & connected to D-Link 4-port router.
They are getting similar IP addresses.

I can get to Home from Pro but not Pro from Home - I can't even ping Pro's
IP address.

I'm considering upgrade to Pro for my home machine. Would this help or hurt
my network problem? Would I be able to specify my company domain for my home
machine without being a domain admin? Would my domain username be available
on my home machine?

I don't have any real problems with XP/Home other than only having one
shared directory so other than solving my network problem, I don't have any
real incentive to do the upgrade.

Cheers,
JimBo

 

[Nick Burns]

You can't join a domain with home.

 

[Hans-Georg Michna]

I have an ethernet network with company laptop on XP/Pro, SP2 on my
company's domain and personal desktop on XP/Home, SP2 in workgroup with same
name as company domain. Both use DHCP & connected to D-Link 4-port router.
They are getting similar IP addresses.

I can get to Home from Pro but not Pro from Home - I can't even ping Pro's
IP address.

I'm considering upgrade to Pro for my home machine. Would this help or hurt
my network problem? Would I be able to specify my company domain for my home
machine without being a domain admin? Would my domain username be available
on my home machine?

Jim,

I wouldn't think that this would help. The problem is elsewhere.

I don't have any real problems with XP/Home other than only having one
shared directory so other than solving my network problem, I don't have any
real incentive to do the upgrade.

Let's try to tackle the problem directly. Have you activated the
exception for File and Printer Sharing in the firewall of the XP
Pro computer?

For more information please have a look at
http://www.michna.com/kb/WxSP2.htm, particularly at the repair
procedures for Winsock and IP stack and at the NetBIOS node type
problem.

Hans-Georg

 

[JimBo]

I can get to Home from Pro but not Pro from Home - I can't even ping Pro's

Let's try to tackle the problem directly. Have you activated the
exception for File and Printer Sharing in the firewall of the XP
Pro computer?
Yes


For more information please have a look at
http://www.michna.com/kb/WxSP2.htm, particularly at the repair
procedures for Winsock and IP stack and at the NetBIOS node type
problem.

Hans-Georg

The Browser service is running. File sharing is enabled. I don't care if the
Guest acct is disabled unless it is inhibiting something - I know what un
/pw to use & I would rather enter it myself. When I connect from Pro to
Home, I have to enter un & pw - no big deal.

Please tell me how this reset of the Winsock & IP stack is supposed to help.
Is this to be done on just the Pro machine or both. Be aware that I have
Oracle & all its services running on this machine and I'm not about to do
anything that will require reinstalling that, recreating the database,
Sql*Net connections, ODBC, etc. which all work just fine now.

One additiona data point: Several weeks ago my network adapter lost its
driver. Working via phone with my network folks, I got the driver
reinstalled & access to Internet & company VPN OK. I don't remember if I
tried connecting to Home immediately (pre SP2)after that or not so I don't
know if that has any bearing with these problems of (1) name to IP
translation and (2) can't get to Pro from Home.

Thanks very much for the assistance.

Jim

 

[Hans-Georg Michna]

Please tell me how this reset of the Winsock & IP stack is supposed to help.
Is this to be done on just the Pro machine or both. Be aware that I have
Oracle & all its services running on this machine and I'm not about to do
anything that will require reinstalling that, recreating the database,
Sql*Net connections, ODBC, etc. which all work just fine now.

Jim,

the surprisingly frequent cause is adware inserting LSP (Layered
Service Provider) entries into the Winsock catalog, which end up
not working properly and upsetting the Winsock.

http://www.michna.com/kb/WxSP2.htm#Networking_problems_after_installing_Service_Pack_2
explains the problem and its solutions in the subchapter on
Winsock corruption.

To be on the safe side, you could use one of the procedures to
see the Winsock catalog first, to find out whether there are any
uncommon entries in the catalog and to try to make sure that
none of those belong to some desired software on the computer.

Of course I can't be sure it isn't something else, but it is
hard to pinpoint a cause precisely. We are stuck with some
amount of trial and error, unless you want to flatten the system
and reinstall everything from scratch.

Hans-Georg

 

[JimBo]

To be on the safe side, you could use one of the procedures to
see the Winsock catalog first, to find out whether there are any
uncommon entries in the catalog and to try to make sure that
none of those belong to some desired software on the computer.

Of course I can't be sure it isn't something else, but it is
hard to pinpoint a cause precisely. We are stuck with some
amount of trial and error, unless you want to flatten the system
and reinstall everything from scratch.

Hans-Georg

Hans-Georg,
I reset the winsock catalog on both machines - no effect on situation. Pro
to Home OK, Home to Pro Not. I found I had "SpamSubtract" on Home - one of
those damn packages included with the Home system which was so annoying in
its "Please try me" pop-ups that I finally went ahead and installed it. I
guess it's off now. Also included spy-subtract in this package.

ReInstall from scratch? Dream on.

So what does this IP stack refresh thing do, please? What exactly is an IP
stack?

Is this simply a situation where Pro doesn't expose itself to anyone other
than its own domain? Of course I could see it fine from Home pre-SP2.

Thanks very much.

 

[Hans-Georg Michna]

I reset the winsock catalog on both machines - no effect on situation. Pro
to Home OK, Home to Pro Not. I found I had "SpamSubtract" on Home - one of
those damn packages included with the Home system which was so annoying in
its "Please try me" pop-ups that I finally went ahead and installed it. I
guess it's off now. Also included spy-subtract in this package.

ReInstall from scratch? Dream on.

Jim,

hehe, this proposal was only half serious. Had to say it because
it is the only known sure way if everything else fails.

So what does this IP stack refresh thing do, please? What exactly is an IP
stack?

The IP stack is a bundle of software including drivers that
perform all network communications through the IP (Internet
Protocol). The IP reset procedure rewrites a bunch of settings.
It is fairly innocuous, I think you can do it without risking
much. Whether it solves the problem is another question, but the
easiest way to find out is to do it.

Is this simply a situation where Pro doesn't expose itself to anyone other
than its own domain? Of course I could see it fine from Home pre-SP2.

Careful with the word domain. A domain in Windows parlance
requires a domain server.

But anyway, all I know in this respect is written down in
http://www.michna.com/kb/WxSP2.htm and a few related and linked
pages. If the solution is not in there, I can't solve the
problem. I guess though that 90% of all SP2 problems can be
solved with the help of that web page. I also guess that more
problems aren't solved because the solution was on the web site,
but was simply not found, than because the solution wasn't there
at all. And, of course, there are other web sites, to some of
which I link.

Wish I could pinpoint problems and deliver solutions more
easily, but I do what I can. I'm still working on it.

Hans-Georg

 

[JimBo]

Is this simply a situation where Pro doesn't expose itself to anyone other

Careful with the word domain. A domain in Windows parlance
requires a domain server.

Why should I be careful saying domain? I thought I'd mentioned early on that
I work at home & my laptop (Pro) is in my company's domain. I connect to it
using ATT Global Network Client VPN. Now, I have to disconnect from the VPN
in order for Pro to see Home but that's no big deal. This was the jist of my
original question in this thread - if I upgrade Home to Pro would that help
things? I mean, I don't think I could add the "former Home" to my work
domain since I'm not a domain admin so I'd still have one in a domain & one
in a workgroup. Just that they'd both be Pro.

In a previous job, I was using SQL*Net to connect to machines in a
different, non-trusted domain. I had to add those addresses into my hosts
file in order to access them. So that's why my question that Pro doesn't
expose itself to anyone other than those in its own domain. Thus Home can't
see it since it's in a workgroup.

Thanks for your assiatance. Your quick response to questions is greatly
appreciated. I think now that since I can transfer files by connecting Pro
to Home, I have the facilities I need so I have no real desire to continue
this pursuit. Thanks again.

Jim

 

[Hans-Georg Michna]

Why should I be careful saying domain? I thought I'd mentioned early on that
I work at home & my laptop (Pro) is in my company's domain.

Jim,

oh, I overlooked that. Often people mistake domains for
workgroups around here.

I connect to it
using ATT Global Network Client VPN. Now, I have to disconnect from the VPN
in order for Pro to see Home but that's no big deal. This was the jist of my
original question in this thread - if I upgrade Home to Pro would that help
things? I mean, I don't think I could add the "former Home" to my work
domain since I'm not a domain admin so I'd still have one in a domain & one
in a workgroup. Just that they'd both be Pro.

Unless you want to run a domain controller at home, which isn't
really such a good idea unless you have scores of computers, I
don't see any need to upgrade from XP Home to XP Pro. When you
come home, your laptop is no longer in a domain, but that should
not hinder it to use the workgroup and the other computer. You
can make the workgroup name on the home computer the same as the
domain name for convenience.

Hans-Georg