Home Network Problem

6 Oct 2006 9:11 AM

James

Hi,

I am a networking newbie, so apologies if this type of question has been
posted before :-)

I have an ADSL modem/router and two PCs connected to it via LAN cables. One
is a desktop PC which I have had for some time and the second is a new
laptop. Both are running Windows XP Pro SP2.

I am having difficulty in setting up a home network. I ran the Windows XP
Network Setup Wizard on both computers and created a new workgroup called
'Home'. The workgroup is visible in the My Network Places folder. But on both
machines, I cannot drill down into the workgroup to see the computers. I get
an error message about the workgroup not being accessible and to contact the
network administrator.

I know that both machines have got a valid IP address from the router.

I have 3rd party firewall products running on both computers.

What steps do I need to take to troubleshoot this and get the network set up
correctly?

James

6 Oct 2006 11:29 AM

Malke

James wrote:

Show quoteHide quote

> Hi,
>
> I am a networking newbie, so apologies if this type of question has
> been posted before :-)
>
> I have an ADSL modem/router and two PCs connected to it via LAN
> cables. One is a desktop PC which I have had for some time and the
> second is a new laptop. Both are running Windows XP Pro SP2.
>
> I am having difficulty in setting up a home network. I ran the Windows
> XP Network Setup Wizard on both computers and created a new workgroup
> called 'Home'. The workgroup is visible in the My Network Places
> folder. But on both machines, I cannot drill down into the workgroup
> to see the computers. I get an error message about the workgroup not
> being accessible and to contact the network administrator.
>
> I know that both machines have got a valid IP address from the router.
>
> I have 3rd party firewall products running on both computers.

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're fine. Since you *do* have third-party firewall
software, 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. Refer to the third-party software's Help files if you
aren't sure how to configure it to allow lan traffic.

Also, if one or more of the computers is XP Pro:

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

--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User