XP Home networking question.

[Guest]

Hello,

I recently ran into a problem trying to network two XP Home PCs. They are connected to each other through a Linksys router and a DSL modem. I made sure they have the same workgroup name, and even made sure they have the same login name and password (though I don't think this should matter). Each is getting IP from DHCP on the router and both see the internet. I cannot get them to see each other properly however in Windows.

I tried using the built-in Windows Network Connection Wizard on each computer a couple of times. Wasn't quite sure what all the wizard is doing behind the scenes, but it's not working. Now, one PC has Norton Internet Security installed, and I haven't tried uninstalling it and rerunning the wizard yet. That should be next I suppose.

Two questions:
1) Is the correct configuration for the Network Connection Wizard to set it up as "Gateway" or "hub" (under "other" option)?
2) Are there any other settings I'm missing here? The Linksys has a built-in firewall, should I disable Windows XP Internet Connection Firewall then? Was wondering if this might be causing the strange communication problem between the 2 PCs.

Thanks for any help!
-Aaron

 

[Ron Lowe]

Hello,

I recently ran into a problem trying to network two XP Home PCs. They are

connected to each other through a Linksys router and a DSL modem. I made
sure they have the same workgroup name, and even made sure they have the
same login name and password (though I don't think this should matter).
Each is getting IP from DHCP on the router and both see the internet. I
cannot get them to see each other properly however in Windows.

I tried using the built-in Windows Network Connection Wizard on each

computer a couple of times. Wasn't quite sure what all the wizard is doing
behind the scenes, but it's not working. Now, one PC has Norton Internet
Security installed, and I haven't tried uninstalling it and rerunning the
wizard yet. That should be next I suppose.

Two questions:
1) Is the correct configuration for the Network Connection Wizard to set

it up as "Gateway" or "hub" (under "other" option)?

2) Are there any other settings I'm missing here? The Linksys has a

built-in firewall, should I disable Windows XP Internet Connection Firewall
then? Was wondering if this might be causing the strange communication
problem between the 2 PCs.

Thanks for any help!
-Aaron

Choose Residential Gateway.
That's XP-speak for your router.

Disable Internet ConnectionFirewall on the LAN connection of the PCs.
It will block file+print sharing.

Also:
Disable or un-install Norton during troubleshooting.
Ensure only TCP/IP protocol is installed ( not NetBEUI or IPX )
Enable NetBIOS-over-TCP/IP ( TCP/IP advanced properties, WINS tab )

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the suggestions Ron. One last question regarding the residential gateway..

The router itself is in gateway mode. That's fine. In Windows XP Home, when running the Network Connection Wizard, if I pick "gateway" in the setup, it configures the 2nd PC with a network bridge, instead of a local area connection. I wasn't familiar with that setup. Is that correct? Or is there a better way to configure the wizard? Thanks

Aaron

 

[Ron Lowe]

Thanks for the suggestions Ron. One last question regarding the residential gateway...

The router itself is in gateway mode. That's fine. In Windows XP Home,

when running the Network Connection Wizard, if I pick "gateway" in the
setup, it configures the 2nd PC with a network bridge, instead of a local
area connection. I wasn't familiar with that setup. Is that correct? Or
is there a better way to configure the wizard? Thanks.

Aaron

After the wizard has completed, delete the bridge.
That will leave the Ethernet LAN connection and whatever other connection
got bridged.
( wireless or firewire or whatever .)

The bridge is not usefull except in specific circumstances.
The default to bridge everything is a poor design decision.