workgroup not accessible fix--attn Steve

  • Thread starter Thread starter R. Hays
  • Start date Start date
R

R. Hays

I've got an existing Win98 peer-peer Ethernet LAN with
explicit IP addresses and no Internet connections. I
recently added an XP Pro machine and hit the infamous
<workgroup> not available problem. After around 3 full
days of work, including hitting various web and newsgroup
sites with metasearches, I've finally got it. But I'll
bet others with this problem have not yet found the
solution because it was bloody hard for me to find. While
your troubleshooting was quite helpful, it didn't solve
the problem--or at least I misread what you wrote.

The problem I had was isolated by hooking the XP machine
only to a hub by itself, with no other software running.
Trying to access My network got the workgroup not
accessible error. Everything would ping OK. The network
diagnosis routine showed a curious thing in the computer
system itself. The last item was "Workgroup (empty)".
So, there had to be an internal error in XP. A posting on
the Annoyances site was the key. Bloke there said you
couldn't do it with TCP/IP alone--you had to use IPX. I
added that protocol, asked it to use NetBIOS, and guess
what? NetBIOS showed up as a new protocol on the LAN
device properties. Where I went wrong was in reading
troubleshooting directions as saying NetBIOS was needed,
but assuming that checking that box in the TCP/IP
properties would do it. Anyway, I went ahead and added
SPX to the other Win98 machines and it all works fine now.

Thanks for putting together your web site, and efforts to
help troubleshoot. Perhaps this tip belongs in there
somewhere? If you are revising, suggest you also note
that for a LAN like mine, you do not need any gateway or
DNS server. Other sources are a bit unclear on what is
needed if you don't use a router.

Cheers, and thanks, Steve.
Bob in New Zealand.
 
"R. Hays" said:
I've got an existing Win98 peer-peer Ethernet LAN with
explicit IP addresses and no Internet connections. I
recently added an XP Pro machine and hit the infamous
<workgroup> not available problem. After around 3 full
days of work, including hitting various web and newsgroup
sites with metasearches, I've finally got it. But I'll
bet others with this problem have not yet found the
solution because it was bloody hard for me to find. While
your troubleshooting was quite helpful, it didn't solve
the problem--or at least I misread what you wrote.

The problem I had was isolated by hooking the XP machine
only to a hub by itself, with no other software running.
Trying to access My network got the workgroup not
accessible error. Everything would ping OK. The network
diagnosis routine showed a curious thing in the computer
system itself. The last item was "Workgroup (empty)".
So, there had to be an internal error in XP. A posting on
the Annoyances site was the key. Bloke there said you
couldn't do it with TCP/IP alone--you had to use IPX. I
added that protocol, asked it to use NetBIOS, and guess
what? NetBIOS showed up as a new protocol on the LAN
device properties. Where I went wrong was in reading
troubleshooting directions as saying NetBIOS was needed,
but assuming that checking that box in the TCP/IP
properties would do it. Anyway, I went ahead and added
SPX to the other Win98 machines and it all works fine now.

Thanks for putting together your web site, and efforts to
help troubleshoot. Perhaps this tip belongs in there
somewhere? If you are revising, suggest you also note
that for a LAN like mine, you do not need any gateway or
DNS server. Other sources are a bit unclear on what is
needed if you don't use a router.

Cheers, and thanks, Steve.
Bob in New Zealand.
Click to expand...

I'm glad that you got your network working, Bob. Thanks for posting
your message and for your willingness to help other people by telling
the news group what you've done.

However, I disagree completely with what the Annoyances site says
about IPX. I've set up dozens of XP networks that use only TCP/IP.
So have lots of other people who post in this newsgroup. Those
networks work fine for file and printer sharing between XP and other
versions of Windows.

I've never seen a network that required another protocol. On the
contrary, my experience shows that adding another protocol is very
likely to cause network problems.

If file and printer sharing on a network only works after adding
another protocol, something is wrong with the TCP/IP configuration.
The most common problems are:

1. An improperly configured firewall program.
2. NetBIOS over TCP/IP isn't enabled.

When you add IPX/SPX, there's an entry in the list of network
components that says "NWLink NetBIOS". But NetBIOS isn't a protocol.
If a component is a protocol, it says so. For example:

NWLink IPX/SPX/NetBIOS Compatible Transport Protocol
Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)

NetBIOS an application programming interface used by file and printer
sharing. It can work over any protocol: TCP/IP, IPX/SPX, NetBEUI.

The NetBIOS setting for TCP/IP is in a different place. To find it:

1. Click "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)".
2. Click Properties.
3. Click Advanced.
4. Click WINS.

The "Default" NetBIOS setting often doesn't work, and it has to be set
to "Enabled".

You're right about default gateway and DNS: they're only needed for
Internet access over a LAN.
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
for everyone to see. I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions
addressed directly to me in E-mail or news groups.

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
 
Back
Top