Networking XP Home

  • Thread starter Thread starter Randy Seedle
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R

Randy Seedle

I have two copies of XP home which I am trying to
network. Currently one can ping the other, itself, its
loopback, and the smart hub I am using. The other copy of
XP Home can ping itself, its loopback, and the smart hub
I am using, but it can't ping the other PC. In addition,
if you try to do a search for computers in your
workgroup; one system will see the other and the other
will see nothing. Does anybody have any ideas ?


I have already tried reinstalling the drivers, TCP/IP,
and reconfiguring IP addresses with the same exact
results. I have tried enabling Netboui and browser
services; no change. I have tried changing the hub and a
different network card with the same results.
 
These are the classic symptoms of having a firewall enabled, or an
incomplete removal of a firewall that was previously installed. Check to
see if the computer that can not be pinged has the XP firewall, or another
third party firewall installed. Currently, you can not share files through
the XP firewall, and third party firewalls may require additional
configuration to allow file sharing, depending on how they have been set up.

You can check for the XP firewall by opening up the Network Connections
control panel. If any of the icons have a little lock on them, that
indicates that the XP firewall is turned on for that connection. You can
disable the XP firewall by right clicking on the firewalled connection,
selecting properties and going to the Advanced tab. The checkbox for the
firewall is the top one. However, note that it is NOT recommended that you
disable the firewall if your computer is directly connected to the internet.
The firewall protects you from everything from some types of spam to the
blaster virus.

If you have any further questions or need more info, reply back to this
message in the newsgroup.
 
I looked through the network connections section of the
control panel on both computers. I found that the
computers' ethernet connections had no firewall however
the modem connections do have a firewall. The ethernet
was what I was trying to ping with though. It seems like
in past incarnations I have had this enabled. Is it
possible that it displays no firewall but there is still
one causing problems ? Any other good ideas ?

Randy
 
If the firewall icon isn't there, then the XP firewall shouldn't be blocking
pings. That doesn't, however, mean that you don't have another firewall
installed. There are some other possible network configuration issues
though. Can you reply to the newsgroup with the output of "ipconfig /all"
from both machines? Please also note which machine can not be pinged, and
which system doesn't see anything when browsing the network.

Also look for third party firewalls. Norton, Mcafee, Zone Alarm, Sygate,
and Blackice are just a few of the bigger brands. In addition, Norton,
Mcafee and possibly others have "Suites" that include a firewall along with
antivirus, and other stuff. If you do have a third party firewall
installed, it shouldn't be too difficult to get things in working order once
you know it is there.
 
I found the firewall. It was in a virus scan software (ie
PC-cillian)I had installed on one of the PCs.

Thanks
Randy
 
You don't have to turn the firewall OFF. In fact, it is a good idea not to.
You have two options to get file sharing working and keep your firewall:

1) Check if the firewall has an option to "enable filesharing"
2) Manually open the following ports:
UDP: 137,138, 445
TCP: 139, 445
 
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