XP Computer disappears and reappears arbitrarily from Vista Computer

[jpjccd]

I have a Vista Laptop that needs to access a printer on an XP computer
in my sister's law office. I'm having trouble trying to even have the
XP computer show up consistently on my sister's computer. I can ping
it every time from the command prompt. I have all firewalls unenabled
on both computers. Identical user accounts on both systems. File and
Print sharing set up on both. The Link Layer topology is present on
the Vista computer. When the laptop sits for a while the XP computer
will show up on the map; but, Vista comes up with an error message
when I try to access the XP computer. Beyond that, the map will lose
the XP computer on occassion. The Vista computer can access the
internet well enough through the router. At this point I can't
install the printer on the Vista computer for not being able to access
the XP computer from Vista. I've networked Vista computers before on
XP networks, and this is the first time I've encountered this problem.

Additional info; net view will not show xp computer. Workgroup name
is the same for both XP and Vista computer. The restrict anonymous
registry key on the XP computer is set at 1. Was originally set at 0.
(Norton's Systemwork altered setting)

Any ideas? TIA

 

[Bob Lin \(MS-MVP\)]

Sounds like computer browser issue. Can you map remote computer drive
manually? Or on both computer, run net share and post back with the result.

--
Bob Lin, Microsoft-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

 

[jpjccd]

Sounds like computer browser issue. Can you map remote computer drive
manually? Or on both computer, run net share and post back with the result.

Ok, I'll be in the office in the morning, and I'll do just that.

Thanks

 

[jpjccd]

Sounds like computer browser issue. Can you map remote computer drive
manually? Or on both computer, run net share and post back with the result.

Bob, here are the results of the net share command. I could not
successfully map the XP computer drives from the Vista machine;

XP machine results;

*****************************************************
Share name Resource Remark

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
C$ C:\ Default share
IPC$ Remote IPC
D$ D:\ Default share
print$ C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\drivers
Printer Drivers
ADMIN$ C:\WINDOWS Remote Admin
K$ K:\ Default share
J$ J:\ Default share
D D:\
Documents C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents

My Documents C:\Documents and Settings\Compaq_Administrator\My
Documents

My files C:\Documents and Settings\Compaq_Administrator\My
Documents\My file
s

PRESARIO (C) C:\
BrotherD USB001 Spooled Brother DCP-8060 USB
BrotherH LPT1: Spooled Brother HL-5240 series
HPLaserJet 2100
LPT1: Spooled HP LaserJet 2100 PCL6
The command completed successfully.
*****************************************************

Vista machine results;

*****************************************************
Share name Resource Remark

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ADMIN$ C:\Windows Remote Admin
IPC$ Remote IPC
D$ D:\ Default share
C$ C:\ Default share
print$ C:\Windows\system32\spool\drivers
Printer Drivers
C C:\
Public C:\Users\Public
Adobe PDF Documents\*.pdf Spooled Adobe PDF
Brother DCP-8060 USB
USB001 Spooled Brother DCP-8060 USB
Freedom Import Printer
FIP Spooled Freedom Import Printer
HP Deskjet F4100 series
USB003 Spooled HP Deskjet F4100 series
Microsoft Office Document Image Writer
Microsoft Document Ima Spooled Microsoft Office Document
Image Wr
Quicken PDF Printer
LPT1: Spooled Quicken PDF Printer
Send To OneNote 2007
Send To Microsoft OneN Spooled Send To OneNote 2007
The command completed successfully.
*****************************************************

These are the error codes I receive on the Vista machine when trying
to access the XP machine (by double clicking on the XP machine icon);

Error code: 0x80070035
The network path was not found

" " is not a valid host name

The network is setup as a private network on the Vista machine,
the wireless router is a USR8054.

 

[Bob Lin \(MS-MVP\)]

Can you map vista C:\Users\Public from XP? If not, what's the system error?

--
Bob Lin, Microsoft-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

 

[jpjccd]

Can you map vista C:\Users\Public from XP? If not, what's the system error?

I wasn't able to get back any sooner than this morning. My sister's
law office closes its doors early on Friday, and she and I returned
yesterday afternoon to work on it again. The XP computer can see the
Vista laptop; but, only after I ping it via the command prompt. This
is typical of a similar problem I would encounter on Windows 2000 Pro
on occassion that I was never able to rectify - having to ping other
computers on the network, (ethernet bus topology) before Windows
networking could see them. When the Vista computer does show up in
the XP networking panel, it does not allow me to map to it. This is
the standard message I recieve;

"\\****-pc is not accessible. You might not have permission to use
this network resource. Contract the administrator of this server to
find out if you have access permissions. The network path was not
found."

I did notice on the Vista laptop map that the XP computer is listed
under network "unspecified," where the Vista computer is listed under
network "US8054." The computers are both in the same workgroup,
though.

Too, when she has her computer on another network that we work with,
in another location, the other Vista computer on that network can see
her computer and access its shared resources; but, her Vista Laptop
can't see it or any other computer. It can see the workgroup, though.

Will wait for your reply. Thanks.