Share can be accessed by IP, but not by name

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Steve Smith

I have a shared folder on a Windows 2000 computer on my network. I've accessed this computer from many different computers by typing in the name such as \\computer\share . I recently added a Windows XP Pro IBM notebook to the network. The notebook won't access the share by using the Windows 2000 computer's name. I can see the Windows 2000 Computer, but if I click on it, I get \\computer is not accessible... However, I can use the Windows 2000 computer's IP address \\192.168.1.2 and I can access it from the notebook just fine. I can access the share with \\192.168.1.2\share . So, I know it's not a firewall or permission problem. BTW- I've have Simple File sharing disabled. I can access a Linux computer on my network by name from the XP notebook without a problem. It seems to be a dns problem. My network is a peer to peer workgroup.

I realize I could fix this by with a lmhost file entry, but I want to know why this particular computer can't access the Windows 2000 computer. Any ideas?

Thanks,
Steve Smith
 
Check under TCP/IP Settings, that NetBIOS is enabled over TCP/IP.
Make sure that computers are not in the different subnets.

--
Winners dont do different things, they do things differently.

Madhur Ahuja
India

Homepage : http://madhur.netfirms.com
Email : madhur<underscore>ahuja<at>yahoo<dot>com



I have a shared folder on a Windows 2000 computer on my network. I've
accessed this computer from many different computers by typing in the name
such as \\computer\share . I recently added a Windows XP Pro IBM notebook to
the network. The notebook won't access the share by using the Windows 2000
computer's name. I can see the Windows 2000 Computer, but if I click on it,
I get \\computer is not accessible... However, I can use the Windows 2000
computer's IP address \\192.168.1.2 and I can access it from the notebook
just fine. I can access the share with \\192.168.1.2\share . So, I know it's
not a firewall or permission problem. BTW- I've have Simple File sharing
disabled. I can access a Linux computer on my network by name from the XP
notebook without a problem. It seems to be a dns problem. My network is a
peer to peer workgroup.

I realize I could fix this by with a lmhost file entry, but I want to know
why this particular computer can't access the Windows 2000 computer. Any
ideas?

Thanks,
Steve Smith
 
Madhur Ahuja wrote
Check under TCP/IP Settings, that NetBIOS is enabled over TCP/IP.
Make sure that computers are not in the different subnets.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply. NetBIOS enabled over TCP/IP was not checked and I checked it. I rebooted, but that change didn't help. Both computers are on the same subnet. The notebook gets it's IP address from the DHCP server on the Linux box. I've checked the IP and it is correct.

The weird thing is that I've never had a problem accessing the Windows 2000 computer before and I've accessed it from probably a hundred different computers. I repair computers and I keep some utilities on a shared folder on the Windows 2000 computer. I connect any computer I'm working on to my network and type run \\computername and I've always been able to get in. The other strange thing is that this XP notebook can access other computers on my network by name. But when I try to access the Windows 2000 computer from the notebook, I get "Network Path was not found".

I just find it odd. I can get around the problem by using the actual IP address of the Windows 2000 computer, but I want to learn why the problem exists. I've learned most of what I know about computers by solving problems and I see this as an opportunity to learn something new. Does anyone have any more ideas? BTW- I did verify that the computer browser service is running on the notebook. Also, I am unable to ping the Windows 2000 computer by name, but I can ping it's IP address.

Thanks,
Steve Smith
 
Hello
See, what happens when we give the windows the \\computername.
If the LMHOST lookup is enabled, Windows searches the computername in lmhost
file. If it doesnt finds and NetBIOS is enabled over TCP/IP, it broadcasts
the query for IP address of "computername" onto current subnet. If a
computer is having that netbios name, it replies and provides itself with
the IP Address.
If a Wins server is provided, Windows will first provide the query to the
wins server
rather than broadcasting.

Now the problem could be , your broadcasts are not reaching network. They
may be blocked by routers, becuause routers do not forward them.
Some firewall may be blocking the Netbios ports but that's rare.
One solution would be to grab the packet sniffer like www.ethereal.com and
examine yourself where are the broadcasts going and whether
any computer is replying to them.


--
Winners dont do different things, they do things differently.

Madhur Ahuja
India

Homepage : http://madhur.netfirms.com
Email : madhur<underscore>ahuja<at>yahoo<dot>com



Madhur Ahuja wrote
Check under TCP/IP Settings, that NetBIOS is enabled over TCP/IP.
Make sure that computers are not in the different subnets.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply. NetBIOS enabled over TCP/IP was not checked and I
checked it. I rebooted, but that change didn't help. Both computers are on
the same subnet. The notebook gets it's IP address from the DHCP server on
the Linux box. I've checked the IP and it is correct.

The weird thing is that I've never had a problem accessing the Windows 2000
computer before and I've accessed it from probably a hundred different
computers. I repair computers and I keep some utilities on a shared folder
on the Windows 2000 computer. I connect any computer I'm working on to my
network and type run \\computername and I've always been able to get in. The
other strange thing is that this XP notebook can access other computers on
my network by name. But when I try to access the Windows 2000 computer from
the notebook, I get "Network Path was not found".

I just find it odd. I can get around the problem by using the actual IP
address of the Windows 2000 computer, but I want to learn why the problem
exists. I've learned most of what I know about computers by solving problems
and I see this as an opportunity to learn something new. Does anyone have
any more ideas? BTW- I did verify that the computer browser service is
running on the notebook. Also, I am unable to ping the Windows 2000 computer
by name, but I can ping it's IP address.

Thanks,
Steve Smith
 
If the LMHOST lookup is enabled, Windows searches the computername in lmhost
file.
Click to expand...

Thanks again for your reply Madhur. I added the computer name to the LMHOST file and it works fine. I can access at it \\computername . However I want to know why this notebook computer requires an entry in the LMHOSTS file in order to access the Windows 200 computer by name when no other computer has ever required that. Also, why does this notebook computer access other computers on the network by name even though they are not in the LMHOST file?
Now the problem could be , your broadcasts are not reaching network. They
may be blocked by routers, becuause routers do not forward them.
Click to expand...

It doesn't make sense to me that my router would block this one computer from accessing the other computer by name. The router doesn't doesn't block any other traffic from the notebook computer to other computers or from other computers to the Windows 2K computer. Th router doesn't block it when I access it by \\IPaddress. I've disabled software firewalls on both computers. As I mentioned, this isn't really a problem at this time, but I'd like to know what's going on.

Thanks,
Steve Smith
 
I guess this is one of those mysteries that computers occationally have. I've tried a different network adapter but that didn't help. I've enabled all default Windows services, but still not luck.

I'd like to be able to take this notebook to other networks and browse the computers in the workgroup. It's not pratical to use the lmhost file in this situation. If anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them.

Steve Smith
 
I guess this is one of those mysteries that computers occationally have. =
I've tried a different network adapter but that didn't help. I've =
enabled all default Windows services, but still not luck. =20

I'd like to be able to take this notebook to other networks and browse =
the computers in the workgroup. It's not pratical to use the lmhost file =
in this situation. If anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them.

Steve Smith
Click to expand...

They are only mysterious when you don't know the explanation.

I could have told you that changing network adapters would not help, and
if services are default then they are enabled.

There is something blindingly obvious that you have not told us.

I suggest you reinstall Windows and follow the defaults offered. Think
carefully before typing or accepting usernames, computernames, IP
addresses etc.
 
PROBLEM SOLVED!
I ran ipconfig /all on both notebook computers and again I compared the results. This time I noticed that the problem notebook had "Peer-Peer" beside Node Type and the other notebook had "Hybrid" beside Node Type. I had actually noticed that difference before but I didn't pay it any mind because I do have a peer to peer network. But this seemed to be the only difference I could find, so I did a google search and found this link http://forums.devshed.com/archive/t-150645 . I followed the instructions and edited the registry and that fixed the problem. Now the computer accesses all of the other computers by name just fine.

Steve Smith
 
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