Cannot Access Files Over Home Network

[ngc4414]

i have networked my laptop and desktop pc using a crossed ethernet cable
i created a network using the network setup wizard and i selected to turn on file and printer sharing on both computers
the internet is working; both computers are sharing my dial-up internet connection
i can even play multiplayer quake and NFS
but no matter what i do i cannot get the files shared!
here is what im up against:




the lappy is running windows xp pro and the desktop is running xp home
what can i do?

[rgharper]

Read here:

http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;EN-US;177078

[FireAm94]

If it's XP Pro...you will need to enable the guest account like on Windows 2k for file sharing if I remember correctly.

Joe

[TripleRLtd]

If it's XP Pro...you will need to enable the guest account like on Windows 2k for file sharing if I remember correctly.

Joe

Interesting Joe, but can you provide a link or documentation for this theory?
If you think clearly about it: Why would you need to enable the "limited" guest account? Or, did you mean something else?

[JaxSon]

Did you ever have Zone Alarm on either one of these systems? If you tried Removing it or even just Shutting it down, it could really hose up your networking. I had the exact same problem...could share Internet Connections, printers and everything but Network Neighborhood could only find itself and not the other PC in order to share files.

I started up Zone Alarm again and poof, everything magically started working again.

Just another suggestion...

[ngc4414]

ok i followed the instuctions on the microsoft support site provided by rgharper and now i can access the desktop's files from the laptop, which is great, thank you

but when i try to access the laptop's files i get this:



and then this:



i think it has to do with the laptop running professional, but im at a loss

[rgharper]

ok i followed the instuctions on the microsoft support site provided by rgharper and now i can access the desktop's files from the laptop, which is great, thank you

but when i try to access the laptop's files i get this:

i think it has to do with the laptop running professional, but im at a loss

Probably so. I would recommend that the easiest and fastest way to resolve the issue would be to run the Network Setup Wizard on each computer unless there's a good reason not to - for example, one computer is a member of a domain in a workplace and the other is not. Be sure that both are in the same workgroup and that you have either:

1. Enabled Simple File Sharing on both computers; or
2. Use the same name and password to log onto both computers.

[arch0nmyc0n]

yeah, what rgharper said... I get that all the time when I don't enable filesharing on the machine... fastest way I find ( cause I dunno where else it is) is to try and share a folder somewhere and it'll be in the sharing properties of the folder...

[DiR[ëctory]]

just for giggles try right clicking in explorer on the acer the C: drive, go to properties; sharing and check to enable sharing of the root of the drive....i am not network expert but give that a shot....

[spike99]

i have networked my laptop and desktop pc using a crossed ethernet cable
i created a network using the network setup wizard and i selected to turn on file and printer sharing on both computers
the internet is working; both computers are sharing my dial-up internet connection
i can even play multiplayer quake and NFS
but no matter what i do i cannot get the files shared!
here is what im up against:

(image deleted... see above)


the lappy is running windows xp pro and the desktop is running xp home
what can i do?

I had a similar problem on my home network. I think the problem is the way that Windows XP & Windows 2000 authenticates users. Since you don't have a domain server on the home network to authenticate users, each user must have an "account" on the PCs they want to access.

The easiest way to do this is make sure that all the users involved have the same user name and password on both the laptop and PC. Also, make sure the workgroup name is the same on both. I believe the default in XP home is "MSHome," but I am not sure what the default workgroup name is in Pro.

Also, you may have to configure any firewall software to allow connections from the other system. Check to see if you have SP 2 installed on either system, this has been known to cause networking headaches because of the included firewall (my company's IT department won't install it because of the networking problems and all of us are on XP).

I solved my home networking problem by doing the following:
I uninstalled the VPN software I had installed for work - it was blocking network communications and we don't use it anymore
I changed the workgroup name on my Win2000 system & the 2 WinXP systems to "MSHome"
I made sure all 3 systems have the same user accounts set up (I think the user names & passwords have to be identical on all systems to not get logon prompt when trying to access shared resources)
I also configured my firewall software to allow connections from other PCs in the network (I added the 192.168.x.x IP range to allow that, but you could probably also allow connections based on PC name as well)

I hope this helps.

Alicia

[ngc4414]

thank you all, i've got it work perfect now!!!!

[arch0nmyc0n]

Out of curiosity and for the sake of people finding this topic 1000 years from now... what was the solution?

PS Alicia, I operate on a windows xp network at home, username and passwords don't have to be identical if it's setup properly. Although they would if you were using a domain instead of a workgroup.

[ngc4414]

for sure, i made the root drive on the laptop shared but in order to do that i had to run the network wizard, then i created a guest account (which seems to be required on xp pro)
then i was able to log into the laptop from the desktop

[arch0nmyc0n]

Well don't forget to unshare the root directory, it's not a good thing to have that "open"...