home network headache

  • Thread starter Thread starter Robin
  • Start date Start date
R

Robin

Hi,

First timer so go easy :o) Today I stepped (rather blindly) into the world
of home networking and I'm already about to give up!! I have 2 PC's, one
runs W98SE the other XP Pro. XP Pro PC has the main Broadband connection via
ADSL modem. Both PC's have a NIC each and are connected via crossover patch
lead. The XP Pro PC already had the Ethernet card installed and as far as I
know, and according to System hardware manager, is working fine. I purchased
a Linksys 10/100 Lan card today and fitted into the WIN98SE PC and again as
far as I know its working ok. The patch lead is working ok too. I ran the
network wizard on XP machine and it went ok and I successfully created the
network boot floppy at the end. I put this disk into the WIN98SE pc and
continued to setup that machine. That went fine too. Now the WIN98SE PC can
access the internet connection on the XP machine fine. The only problem is
that I want to be able to access files on the WIN98SE PC from the other pc
and vice versa. This is my headache!! I can't and I don't know why. I have
both PC's setup with unique names but the same workgroup. However, the XP
machine can't see any other PC's, not even itself on the network. The 98SE
pc can however see itself and the XP machine but can't connect to it! When I
try to "view workgroup computers" on the XP PC all I get is the message
"MSHOME is not accessible. You might not have the permission to use this
network resource." When I try to view the XP PC from the 98 pc I get is
"ROBINT is not accessible". So what am I doing wrong? Can anyone give me a
run thru of what and how each machine needs to be setup. I do have all
sharing of folders turned on on both machines (icons appear with the hand
beneath them). Any help appreciated sorry for long post.

Rob
 
Pete Wallman said:
Both machines have to have the same password..
Click to expand...

FWIW I see that suggestion from time to time but in my experience it just
isn't so. Especially sure in a mixed 9x/XP network. On my LAN I'm using 2 XP
computers, my wife's computer has 98 and my sons has 95. All computers see
each other and share files fine. Neither of the 9x machines have a password
at all and both XP machines have passwords on all account including the
built in Administrator. The Guest accounts are disabled. None of them have
identical User names.

On Robin's question it appears that your computers have two different
Workgroup names. Those do have to be the same.

Here's a couple of good home networking sites.

http://www.practicallynetworked.com/
http://www.wown.info/

--
D

I'm not an MVP a VIP nor do I have ESP.
I was just trying to help.
Please use your own best judgment before implementing any suggestions or
advice herein.
No warranty is expressed or implied.
Your mileage may vary.
See store for details. :)

Remove shoes to E-mail.
 
Sorry but I disagree, I have a peer to peer network setup between 10
machines at work and several are using different workgroups and all can be
seen by each other so I conclude workgroups do not need to be the same. The
only advantage is that access to other machines within the same workgroup is
slightly faster than different workgroups.

Also at home I found my problems of setting up a 2 PC peer to peer network
was due to having NTFS partitions in XP and not having right security
settings also it appeared that the Windows wizard didn't work correctly when
using Internet sharing with a USB ADSL modem....had to configure the network
manually on the PC with the modem and automatically with the wizard on the
client machine

HTH
Birderman
 
Birderman said:
Sorry but I disagree, I have a peer to peer network setup between 10
machines at work and several are using different workgroups and all can be
seen by each other so I conclude workgroups do not need to be the same.
Click to expand...

I can't speak to how your network is set up but, for the type of network the
OP wants to use all computers must be in the same workgroup to use file and
print sharing.

Please see
http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/broadbandnetworking/10_ts_fileone.mspx

Especially the section titled "Make sure that all computers are in the same
workgroup."

or see step #4 here under "notes"
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=814003

"Make sure that you assign every computer to the same workgroup"

Open Help and Support on a Windows XP computer and search "specify
workgroup." from the search results click "Specify computer and workgroup
names." See the "notes" section.

"The workgroup name must be the same on all the computers on the network."

--
D

I'm not an MVP a VIP nor do I have ESP.
I was just trying to help.
Please use your own best judgment before implementing any suggestions or
advice herein.
No warranty is expressed or implied.
Your mileage may vary.
See store for details. :)

Remove shoes to E-mail.
 
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