Home Networking

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dave G
  • Start date Start date
D

Dave G

I have been trying to set up a home (wireless) network, but without success.
Using an ethernet cable I can connect my desktop and laptop such that I have
internet access available on the laptop, but I cannot access any shared
drives or the printer attached to the desktop. The problem appears to be
that when I look in My Network Places, nothing, not even the host shared
documents folder, is listed. This is the case on the desktop and laptop.
However when I have logged on as Administrator in Safe mode on the laptop,
the shared drives are there !!!
How do I make the shared documents folder, and other drives etc, available
to my network?
I have Win XP home on the desktop and Pro on the laptop.
I have at last managed to get an ad-hoc network (sort of) working, each
computer can transmit on the same wireless network, but as yet neither has
actually received anything over the wireless network!!!! ~That is problem
number 2.

Any help greatly appreciated
 
Thanks for the link, I am now getting somewhere!

I have managed to establish a link from my laptop to PC, such that I can
access shared drives and printer, but as yet I cannot link from PC to laptop
shared drive, all that is visible in my network places on the PC is the
shared drives.

Also at the same time I am part way to solving the wireless problem, both
computers say they are connected to the wireless network, set for peer to
peer, both can transmit, but as yet there is no connectivity between the
two.

Any ideas how to get my wireless network working?
 
Hi Dave,

I may be mistaken (have never cared much for Shared Documents Folder) but
from your original description of the problem it sounds like (no disrespect
intended) you have a perception problem or something of that nature. Help
and Support reads:

<excerpt>
Using The Shared Documents Folder
Shared folders are counterparts to your personal folders: My Documents, My
Pictures, and My Music. Shared Documents, Shared Pictures, and Shared Music
provide a place for you to store files, pictures, and music that everyone on
your computer can access. but if
<excerpt>
the operative words being: "everyone ON your computer"
This tells you that the Shared Documents Folder is visible/accessible to
anyone sitting at your computer. It does not imply this Shared Documents
Folder would be visible on the network. This basically has to do with the
fact that under normal circumstances the My Documents etc. is allowed to be
accessed only by it's owner, the *My* in any given case :-))
Shared Documents Folder is just a special way of making *your* stuff
available to anyone else who might happen to be sitting at the same
computer.
If you want to have your stuff available over the network, go into Explorer,
Tools, Folders Options, View and uncheck the Simple File Sharing
(Recommended) checkbox (the last entry in the list).
Next (for aguments sake) pick a folder you would like to have available on
the network, right-click, Sharing and Security..., select Share This folder
and provide an appropriate name (if the suggested one does not suit you).
This will be the name visible on the network.
If you want your network users to be able to do anything more than read, hit
the Permissions button and check out the Permissions dialog.
OK out of the lot and you should be set.

hth

george


reading
 
I understand everything that you say, and I was not under that
mis-apprehension. Having read the earlier reply from Peter, once I disabled
the internet connection firewall, it enabled drives to be shared, and
therefore be viewed in the My Network Places folder, even on a standalone
machine, as long as it is network capable.

I now have the problem as stated below, where I can access shared
drives/printer on the desktop PC, but not shared folders on the laptop from
the PC.... all very strange, things were so much simpler before SP2

Thanks for your reply
 
Dave,

OK. so Firewall is disabled for the lan interface connections. Good.
How are these machines setup for useraccounts?
Do both machines have identical userid/password combos? (ie. does the userid
you use on one box to access the other also effectively exist on the other
with the same password?
If not, how are the Guest accounts set on both machines?
If it is disabled on the one you are trying to access from the network and
your userid/password is not know to that machine it will not let you access
the stuff.
You might also try to run cmd.exe and type: net view \\<machinename you
don't see any shares from>
It tends to take a little bit before shares show up in the GUI browse list
so you can point at them.
The net view command should tell you if the shares are at least 'advertised'
on the network.
Just some things to try and get this sorted.

george
 
thanks for your help, I am slowly getting there.

george said:
Dave,

OK. so Firewall is disabled for the lan interface connections. Good.
How are these machines setup for useraccounts?
Do both machines have identical userid/password combos? (ie. does the
userid you use on one box to access the other also effectively exist on
the other with the same password?
If not, how are the Guest accounts set on both machines?
If it is disabled on the one you are trying to access from the network and
your userid/password is not know to that machine it will not let you
access the stuff.
You might also try to run cmd.exe and type: net view \\<machinename you
don't see any shares from>
It tends to take a little bit before shares show up in the GUI browse list
so you can point at them.
The net view command should tell you if the shares are at least
'advertised' on the network.
Just some things to try and get this sorted.

george
Click to expand...
 
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