Windows file sharing problem with mixed wired and wireless network

[ModelCitizen]

Hello all,
I'm desperate for some help, any suggestions would be welcomed.

I just can't seem to get windows file sharing working from a wired
computer to a wireless computer on my home network.

To help me solve the problem I have simplified my network. It now
consists of only this:

1) Netgear Wireless ADFSL Firewall Router DG834G
2) Windows XP Pro PC conected to router wirelessly
3) Windows XP Pro laptop connected to router wired

I have turned off all firewalls and virus checkers on both computers. I
only use the firewall on the router (and NAT). I use the router as a
DHCP server, but ensure that it always supplies designated IP's to the
PCs. Both PCs and router are on same subnet (255.255.255.000,
192.168.1.***). I have run the Windows home and office network setup
wizard on both PCs. They are both in the same workgroup (MINE). I have
shared drives on both PC's to all users of the workgroup (not, there is
no domain) and allowed files to be changed by network users. There is a
single (different) user account on each machine, both are
administrators. I can ping every machine from every other machine
(includes the router). Netbios over TCP/IP is enabled. The policies on
both machines appear to be the same (but is quite difficult to tell due
to large amount of entries).

I succesfully share the Internet connection and the wireless machine
can see the shared drives on the wired machine. However, the wired
machine is denied access to the wireless machine when viewing via "My
Network Places" and so no drives or files can be seen at all. When I
try click on the wired PC icon in My Network Places/Microsoft Windows
Network/MINE I receive:

"//Mandylaptop is not accessible. You might not have permission to use
this network resource. Contact the administrator of this server to see
if you have access permissions. Access is Denied"

I am wondering if there something about the router that stops windows
file sharing from working from a wireless to a wired machine, but
suspect it is more likely a windows network problem.

The only other oddity I've discovered is that remote desktop protocol
will not connect from my wired machine to the wireless
machine. It works from the wireless machine to the wired machine and
both machines can rdp to any other hosts off my home network. I don't
know whether this is a symtom of my problem or not... it may well be a
blind alley.

 

[ModelCitizen]

Posting to this group was a bit of a waste of time then! However, those
very helpful people at www.experts-exchange.com helped me sort it out.
For the record (and for anyone else who has the same problem) this is
what worked for me:

I think the key was probably uninstalling "Microsoft File and Printer
Sharing" and "Client For Microsoft Networks" from the machine that
could not be browsed, rebooting and then reinstalling them. I think
this doing this alone may have cured the problem.

However, I also did a bit more that may also have been responsable for
my success. Just in case others have the same frustrating problem, this
is what I did. Both machines on my network are running Windows XP Pro.

All actions are performed on the machine that could not be browsed:

1) Uninstall "Microsoft File and Printer Sharing" and "Client For
Microsoft Networks"
2) Add new administrator account with the same name and password as the
administrator account on my other machine.
3) Reboot machine and log in to new account.
4) Run the Microsoft Network Wizard. This reinstalls "Microsoft File
and Printer Sharing" and "Client For Microsoft Networks".
5) Go to Windows Explorer/Tools/Folder Options/View and unclick "Use
Simple file sharing (Recommended)". This allows you to individually set
permissions by right clicking on the drive/folder you want to share.
6) Right click on drive (or folder) to be shared. Share it to all
newtork users. Go to Permisions tab. Ensure that Everyone has all
"Allow" permissions ticked (although it is probably not necessary to
tick "Full Control", and "Special" can be left as it is).
7) Check that the share can be seen on the network. If so, log out and
log back into original account. Check that shares can still be seen on
the network. Delete extraneous account.

That's it. Worked for me. I hope it works for you!