Peer-to-peer network problems

microsoft.public.windows.networking.wireless

9 Jul 2009 4:35 AM

johngross

I have been trying - with mixed success - to set up a peer-to-peer
wireless network between two laptops, both running WinXP SP3.

One is a Fujitsu S6140, the other is a Dell Latitude 410; both have
inbuilt WiFi capability.

I have previously been totally successful in setting up an unsecured
connection between a Fujitsu S6130 (which was stolen) and a Compaq
Presario 1925 (recently "died") with a Netgear PCMCIA card.

I want to use the peer-to-peer option, because for the purposes of
this connection there is no need for internet access, and we want to
be able to communicate between the computers in many different places.

With the current laptops, I decided to try for a secure network setup,
but at first nothing I did (following the most detailed instructions I
could find) seemed to work properly: the two laptops seemed to
*connect* OK, but on one or other or both I could not see the folders
set up as shared on the other.

Then one day last week, without being aware of what I had done
differently this time, everything seemed to work OK, and over the
weekend we used the connection several times... but not very reliably:
every few minutes the application using the connection fell over,
saying it could not find the shared folder on the other system; it
seemed to come good if we closed the appliction on both systems and
started it again, but this was hardly satisfactory.

Since then, I have tried several times to diagnose the problem, with
little success... except that I've noticed more than once that,
although the connection gets started (with both laptops showing
*Security-enabled network* and *Connected* in Network Connections),
within a fairly short time the Dell system changes from *Security-
enabled* to *Unsecured*... even without any attempt to access shared
folders or files.

I would very much appreciate it if someone could tell me why this
might be happening, and what I need to do to make the connection
stable?

10 Jul 2009 4:17 AM

Jack [MVP-Networking]

Hi
I am Not sure what is the configuration that you are using and what is that
you call peer-to-peer?
When computers are plugged to a Wireless Cable/DSL Router, whether it is
wire only, wireless only, mix of the two, with or without the Internet, they
form a peer-to-peer Network. If the computers Sharing is Not configured,
the computers would only surf the Internet, if the File sharing is
configured they would surf the Internet, and would communicate one with the
other. If the Internet is cut Off they would keep Sharing.
To Share Files and or Printers under any peer-to-peer configuration.
Make sure that the Software Firewall on each computer allows free local
traffic. If you use 3rd party Firewall On, Vista/XP Native Firewall should
be Off, and the active Firewall has to adjusted to your Network IP numbers
on what is some time called the Trusted Zone (consult your 3rd Party
Firewall instructions.
General example, http://www.ezlan.net/faq#trusted
Vista File and Printer Sharing-
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb727037.aspx
Windows XP File Sharing -
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;304040
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;304040
Printer Sharing XP -
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/networking/expert/honeycutt_july2.mspx
Windows Native Firewall setting for Sharing XP -
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/875357
Windows XP patch for Sharing with Vista (Not need for XP-SP3) -
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922120
Sharing between Windows XP and Mac -
http://www.realifewebdesigns.com/web-resources/mac-pc-file-share.asp
Jack (MVP-Networking).

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"johngross" <johngr***@optusnet.com.au> wrote in message
news:d13e937d-52b7-43cf-b73e-26fea7cad871@l35g2000pra.googlegroups.com...
>I have been trying - with mixed success - to set up a peer-to-peer
> wireless network between two laptops, both running WinXP SP3.
>
> One is a Fujitsu S6140, the other is a Dell Latitude 410; both have
> inbuilt WiFi capability.
>
> I have previously been totally successful in setting up an unsecured
> connection between a Fujitsu S6130 (which was stolen) and a Compaq
> Presario 1925 (recently "died") with a Netgear PCMCIA card.
>
> I want to use the peer-to-peer option, because for the purposes of
> this connection there is no need for internet access, and we want to
> be able to communicate between the computers in many different places.
>
> With the current laptops, I decided to try for a secure network setup,
> but at first nothing I did (following the most detailed instructions I
> could find) seemed to work properly: the two laptops seemed to
> *connect* OK, but on one or other or both I could not see the folders
> set up as shared on the other.
>
> Then one day last week, without being aware of what I had done
> differently this time, everything seemed to work OK, and over the
> weekend we used the connection several times... but not very reliably:
> every few minutes the application using the connection fell over,
> saying it could not find the shared folder on the other system; it
> seemed to come good if we closed the appliction on both systems and
> started it again, but this was hardly satisfactory.
>
> Since then, I have tried several times to diagnose the problem, with
> little success... except that I've noticed more than once that,
> although the connection gets started (with both laptops showing
> *Security-enabled network* and *Connected* in Network Connections),
> within a fairly short time the Dell system changes from *Security-
> enabled* to *Unsecured*... even without any attempt to access shared
> folders or files.
>
> I would very much appreciate it if someone could tell me why this
> might be happening, and what I need to do to make the connection
> stable?