smith695 said:
I am trying to set up a network for two desk tops , both wireless
connected.
I have ran the network set-up wizard on both computers. I can see
both computers on the first one I set up but cannot open it...says I
am not
authorized. When I look for computers on the second computer I dont
see the
first one. Help please.
This is most commonly caused by a misconfigured firewall. When you ran
the Network Setup Wizard it turned on the XPSP2 Windows Firewall. If
you aren't running a third-party firewall or have an antivirus with
"Internet Worm Protection" (like Norton 2005/06) which acts as a
firewall, then you would have been fine. However, if you have
third-party firewall software, you need to configure it to allow the
Local Area Network traffic as trusted. I usually do this with my
firewalls with an IP range. Ex. would be 192.168.1.0-192.168.1.254.
Obviously you would substitute your correct subnet.
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.
Then 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.
If that doesn't work for you, here is an excellent network
troubleshooter by MVP Hans-Georg Michna. Take the time to go through it
and it will usually pinpoint the problem area(s) -
http://winhlp.com/wxnet.htm
Malke
