What is canonical process to debug LAN workgroup XP connections

[FUBARinSFO]

Hi:

Having spent an inordinate amount of time over the years, and most
recently in the past two days, trying to understand and diagnose
connectivity issues in a mixed LAN workgroup with XP, Win2000, Win2003
Server, Windows 98, etc workstations, in which the general advice is
to "check permissions" or "refer to your network administrator", my
questions are:

Is there a document and software floating around somewhere that
describes the steps to diagnose shared drive connectivity issues in a
mixed workgroup environment?

In particular, is there a) a standard to set the workgroup
workstations to a known base-line condition, b) a tutorial walking
through all the lower to higher level connections, such as using net
view, net use etc to explore permissions a the lowest level, then
moving up to the Windows level, and c) is there software that will do
this analysis for you as opposed to having to do it manually?.

Thank you in advance for your help.

-- Roy Zider

 

[Jack [MVP-Networking]]

Hi
Ethernet is the same and does not change with the OS.
Any Windows client that is connected to a switch and have an active Network
card can connect to another computer Windows OS provided that the Fie
sharing of each computer is configured correctly.
This page might have some info about Win98 and Win2000,
http://www.ezlan.net/sharing.html
Otherwise,
Win 7 when configured on peer-to-peer Network has three types of Sharing
configurations.
Home Network = Works only between Win 7 computers. This type of
configuration makes it very easy to Entry Level Users to start Network
sharing.
Work Network = Basically similar to the previous methods of sharing that let
you control what, how, and to whom folders would be shared with.
Public Sharing = Public Network (like Internet cafe) to reduce security
risks.
The Work Network is the one that most of us are going (and need) to use.
Win7 Work Network's Sharing settings are in principle similar to Vista's
configuration, some menus locations in Win 7 might be in different place,
and look a little different, but it should not be a problem to adapt.
Make sure that the Software Firewall on each computer allows free local
traffic. If you use 3rd party Firewall On, Vista/XP Native Firewall should
be Off, and the active Firewall has to adjusted to your Network IP numbers
on what is some time called the Trusted Zone (consult your 3rd Party
Firewall instructions.
General example, http://www.ezlan.net/faq#trusted
Win 7 -
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/...mputers-running-different-versions-of-Windows
Win7 Work Network with a little visual help),
,http://www.onecomputerguy.com/windows7/windows7_sharing.htm
Vista File and Printer Sharing-
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb727037.aspx
Windows XP File Sharing -
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;304040
Printer Sharing XP -
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/networking/expert/honeycutt_july2.mspx
Windows Native Firewall setting for Sharing XP -
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/875357
Windows XP patch for Sharing with Vista (Not need for XP-SP3) -
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922120
When finished with the setting of the system it is advisable to Reboot all
the hardware including Router and all computers involved.
Jack (MS, MVP-Networking).

 

[FUBARinSFO]

Jack:

Thank you for the text and the links. I've scanned the pages to your
links, and will have to explore this more thoroughly when I have some
more time.

The main problem is that the instructions don't have the first link:
"tell me how my existing system is set up". That leads naturally to
what's wrong. Crawling manually through all these hoops is what most
of us spend an inordinate amount of our time doing. Starting out with
the directive "Disable Software Firewalls, Virus programs, Anti
Trojan, or any other program that intercepts Internet traffic while
Configuring, or Problem Solving your Network Settings" may be one way
to start, but it violates the first rule of diagnosis, which is
"disturb nothing". It's like entering into a crime scene and cleaning
things up and leaving your fingerprints all over everything and
disrupting the whole scene. One objective may be to get the room back
into livable order, but that wasn't my primary objective here. Sorry
if I didn't make that clear.

What I'm trying to get beyond is this very same trial-and-error
approach in these pages. It is incredibly time consuming, and it's
hard to say what learning takes place that can be passed on to the
next person who sits in your sysadmin seat.

Thanks, though.

-- Roy

 

[Jack [MVP-Networking]]

Hi
When you go to a crime scene if the door to the place is closed you need to
open it.
If it locked you might need to brake it otherwise you can not go in. So
there is already a change to the scene .
While in principle you are right, the current state of a lot of technologies
is that the relation between the very low cost of Hardware, and the high
cost of Tech. work, make it so that the old principles of Diagnosis are not
applicable any more.
As a result there is No market for solid Bench test for repairs as it used
to be in the old days.
As for the links, it is a problem with instructions for old OS because they
keep disappearing from sites.
Jack (MS, MVP-Networking).