Vista newbie needs LAN setup help

[David Anderson]

I provide the technical support for an international photographic competition
and this involves setting up a temporary wired Ethernet network to
interconnect several laptops during our entry processing or judging sessions.
This network uses a small 5-port Fast Ethernet switch and fixed IP addresses.

Previously, I only used laptops running Windows XP and everything was fine.
I'm now trying to add a new laptop running Vista Home Premium and am hitting
problems due to my total lack of any previous Vista experience. I have
managed to set the IP address on the Vista laptop but it cannot 'see' any
other machines on the network and the XP laptops cannot gain access to the
Vista machine.

Some basic facts:
There are 4 laptops in this network. Their names are Dell-M20, Louis,
Scc-No-1 and Scc-No-2 (Louis is the Vista laptop).

If I open Windows Explorer in each machine and try to view the network I get
the following results.
Dell-M20 sees Louis, Scc-No-1 and Scc-No-2
Louis sees Louis only
Scc-No-1 sees Dell-M20, Louis, Scc-No-1 and Scc-No-2
Scc-No-2 sees Dell-M20, Louis, Scc-No-1 and Scc-No-2

The Vista machine (Louis) can successfully ping all the other machines but
pings from the XP machines to the Vista laptop all time out.

All the fixed IP addresses have been checked. They only differ in the final
number of the set of 4.

I would appreciate some guidance on how to get my Vista laptop talking to
the others.

David

 

[Robert L. \(MS-MVP\)]

I would check the firewall first. Do you have 3rd party security software?

--
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

 

[David Anderson]

Hi Robert,
It is a borrowed laptop so I didn't have much prior knowledge of what is or
is not installed. However, prompted by you comment I have established that
there was a Norton firewall in operation. The standard Vista firewall was
off.

Disabling the Norton firewall has now made it possible to ping the Vista
laptop from the XP laptops but the Vista machine still can't see the other
PCs. What else might be getting in the way?

Obviously, I will not leave the Vista permanently without firewall
protection but it is not vital at the moment as this LAN has no Internet
connection.

David

 

[David Anderson]

Network discovery is already set on and the network type is 'Private'. Is it
of any significance that the network is described as 'unidentified'?

David

 

[David Anderson]

I have just returned after leaving the all the kit running for a while after
I disabled the Norton firewall. The Vista PC has now found the other PCs!
Perhaps the discovery process needs some time to do its work.

The only remaining frustration is that the discovery setting gets reset by
something or other. Is this perhaps connected to the 'Unidentified network'
status in some way?

David

 

[Robert L. \(MS-MVP\)]

Thank you for the update. This search result may help.
Resolution of Vista Unidentified Network
The Vista Unidentified Network or Limited Connectivity could be
gateway, hardware, TCP/IP configuration or security issues. ...
www.chicagotech.net/vista/unidentifirdnetwork.htm


--
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