Wireless networking XP Pro to XP Home

[Guest]

I'm running two computers (XP Home and XP Pro) through a D-Link Wireless
Router for internet usage. The Home computer is connected to the Router
directly, whereas the Pro computer is connected Wirelessly.

All Internet works perfectly, and also gaming between the computers works
fine aswell. After trying to setup a proper network (so as to share files and
printers) through the "Setup a Home or Small Office Network" Wizard I have
come across some problems.

Both computers are set with "Mshome" as the workgroup, and when clicking on
"View Workgroup Computers" the XP computer can see the HOME computer but when
double-clicking on the icon an error message comes up stating "\\HOME is not
accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource.
Contact the administrator of this server to find out if you have access
permissions. The network path was not found."

I believe the cause of this may be that when using the HOME computer and
clicking on "View Workgroup Computers" it will not let me access and displays
the following error message; "Mshome is not accessible. You might not have
permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of this
server to find out if you have access permissions. The list of servers for
this workgroup is not currently available"

Any advice on how to correct this problem would be appreciated.
Cheers, Lance

 

[Malke]

I'm running two computers (XP Home and XP Pro) through a D-Link Wireless
Router for internet usage. The Home computer is connected to the Router
directly, whereas the Pro computer is connected Wirelessly.

All Internet works perfectly, and also gaming between the computers works
fine aswell. After trying to setup a proper network (so as to share files and
printers) through the "Setup a Home or Small Office Network" Wizard I have
come across some problems.

Both computers are set with "Mshome" as the workgroup, and when clicking on
"View Workgroup Computers" the XP computer can see the HOME computer but when
double-clicking on the icon an error message comes up stating "\\HOME is not
accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource.
Contact the administrator of this server to find out if you have access
permissions. The network path was not found."

I believe the cause of this may be that when using the HOME computer and
clicking on "View Workgroup Computers" it will not let me access and displays
the following error message; "Mshome is not accessible. You might not have
permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of this
server to find out if you have access permissions. The list of servers for
this workgroup is not currently available"

Problems sharing files between computers on a network are generally
caused by 1) a misconfigured firewall; 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.

Here are some general networking tips for home/small networks:

1. 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.

2. With earlier Microsoft operating systems, the name of the Workgroup
didn't matter. Apparently it does with Vista, so put all computers in
the same Workgroup. This is done from the System applet in Control
Panel, Computer Name tab.

3. Create identical user accounts and passwords on all machines. 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

4. If one or more of the computers is XP Pro or Media Center:

a. If you need Pro's ability to set fine-grained permissions, turn off
Simple File Sharing (Folder Options>View tab) and create identical user
accounts/passwords on all computers.

b. If you don't care about using Pro's advanced features, leave the
Simple File Sharing enabled.

Simple File Sharing means that Guest (network) is enabled. This means
that anyone without a user account on the target system can use its
resources. This is a security hole but only you can decide if it matters
in your situation.

I think it is a good idea to create the identical user
accounts/passwords in any case when Vista machines are involved and it
isn't an onerous task with home/small networks.

5. Create shares as desired. XP Home does not permit sharing of users'
home directories (My Documents) or Program Files, but you can share
folders inside those directories. A better choice is to simply use the
Shared Documents folder.


Malke

 

[Guest]

Problems sharing files between computers on a network are generally
caused by 1) a misconfigured firewall; 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.

Here are some general networking tips for home/small networks:

1. 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.

2. With earlier Microsoft operating systems, the name of the Workgroup
didn't matter. Apparently it does with Vista, so put all computers in
the same Workgroup. This is done from the System applet in Control
Panel, Computer Name tab.

3. Create identical user accounts and passwords on all machines. 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

4. If one or more of the computers is XP Pro or Media Center:

a. If you need Pro's ability to set fine-grained permissions, turn off
Simple File Sharing (Folder Options>View tab) and create identical user
accounts/passwords on all computers.

b. If you don't care about using Pro's advanced features, leave the
Simple File Sharing enabled.

Simple File Sharing means that Guest (network) is enabled. This means
that anyone without a user account on the target system can use its
resources. This is a security hole but only you can decide if it matters
in your situation.

I think it is a good idea to create the identical user
accounts/passwords in any case when Vista machines are involved and it
isn't an onerous task with home/small networks.

5. Create shares as desired. XP Home does not permit sharing of users'
home directories (My Documents) or Program Files, but you can share
folders inside those directories. A better choice is to simply use the
Shared Documents folder.


Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

Thankyou for your quick reply. I will try to see if i can disable the
"Norton Internet Security" Firewall that is on the Home computer... but i do
not wish to create identical user accounts on both computers as the HOME
computer is used for my whole family and has 7 user accounts on it... where
as mine is entirely for me so I only want my user account on it. Is there any
way around this?

 

[Malke]

Thankyou for your quick reply. I will try to see if i can disable the
"Norton Internet Security" Firewall that is on the Home computer... but i do
not wish to create identical user accounts on both computers as the HOME
computer is used for my whole family and has 7 user accounts on it... where
as mine is entirely for me so I only want my user account on it. Is there any
way around this?

Please read what I wrote you again. You do not need to disable the NIS
Firewall; you need to configure it correctly. In all probability, NIS
disabled the Windows Firewall but you need to check from Control
Panel>Windows Firewall.

You do not need to create all 7 user accounts on both machines. A single
user account in common will suffice. Or simply disable Simple File
Sharing on the XP Pro machine as previously suggested.


Malke

 

[Jim]

Thankyou for your quick reply. I will try to see if i can disable the
"Norton Internet Security" Firewall that is on the Home computer... but i
do
not wish to create identical user accounts on both computers as the HOME
computer is used for my whole family and has 7 user accounts on it...
where
as mine is entirely for me so I only want my user account on it. Is there
any
way around this?

Certainly. Your user account is the only one which is common to both
machines; hence it is the only one which should have identical passwords on
both machines. Your account is also
the only one which needs to map shares from one machine to the other.

By the way, do not use guest authentication on your machines. If your
machines are running XP Home, only guest authentication is available, and
you cannot keep the other users from
accessing your private machine.

Jim

 

[Guest]

Certainly. Your user account is the only one which is common to both
machines; hence it is the only one which should have identical passwords on
both machines. Your account is also
the only one which needs to map shares from one machine to the other.

By the way, do not use guest authentication on your machines. If your
machines are running XP Home, only guest authentication is available, and
you cannot keep the other users from
accessing your private machine.

Jim


Thanks guys, the problem has been solved through NIS.. you have been most helpful. thanks