Topic: NETWORKING

[Blair]

Hi, I'm Blair Peery. I'd love some help here!

I've got a desktop (Hektor) running Win XP Pro and a laptop (Traveler) running Win XP Home, networked via a Linksys Wireless-G Broadband Router. Hektor is wired directly into the router, and Traveler is wireless via WiFi. The router is, in turn, hooked to a Westell WireSpeed DSL Modem. Both PCs can access the Internet fine with this setup.

The problem is that the PCs cannot access each other. I have set the My Documents folder on each computer to be shared, and the HP printer that is physically attached to Hektor is set to be shared as "LaserJet". But when I try to even list the network computers, I get an error saying:

"[name of workgroup] is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of this server to find out if you have access permissions.    The network path was not found."

Well, of course, it's my house, so I'm the administrator and I don't know nothin' 'bout birthin' no access permissions!  ;-)  
Any ideas, anybody?? Thanks!

-Amazing Blair

I would like an answer to this also.  I all but gave up on networking my two computers after trying all the wizards and other settings Windows XP had to offer.

Occasionally it would seem to work, I could see my computer or my wife's computer, but none of the shared folders would allow access.  Then on rebooting the machines, I get the same message as Blair " not available."

[Blair]

I all but gave up on networking my two computers after trying all the wizards and other settings Windows XP had to offer.

Hi DeweyW,

Yeah, it all seems so easy, so straightforward... right up to the point where the blasted machines won't do a darn thing you want!   :-)  Wizards are a blessing and a curse in that way.

-Blair

[Blair]

Hi All,

It looks like I might have answered my own question -- enough for me at least.  

It seems that the problem stemmed from my firewall. It was blocking the signals between my two PCs, thinking they were intruders!  A small adjustment fixed the problem in no time. As I say, this may only apply to my situation, so let me give you the details.

I have ZoneAlarm, a widely used freeware firewall, installed on Hector. Traveler, my wife's laptop, makes use of WinXP's built in firewall protection.  ZoneAlarm divides the world of computers into 2 Zones:  the Internet Zone, where the barriers and security are high; and the Trusted Zone, where the security and barriers are lower.  You list the PCs on your LAN in the Trusted Zone, and everything else is subjected to the heavy security of the Internet Zone, designed to keep you safe from crackers, viruses and the like.  

The difficulty lies in listing the PCs on your LAN. You need to do it by the IP address of the PC (or "dotted quad" number, eg, 192.168.1.100), but on my LAN these are generated dynamically by the router.  You can perhaps guess the difficulty by now:  I had failed to properly ID my computers into the Trusted Zone in ZoneAlarm.  Fortunately, ZoneAlarm keeps a handy log of all the "intrusions" it has blocked, including the IP address where the attempt came from.  Sure enough, a glance at the log showed that the 2 PCs were blocking each other.

Once I zeroed in on that, I quickly figured out how not only to enter more computers into each Zone, but better, how to enter a RANGE of IP addresses that will be considered to be "Trusted".  This excellent technique allows me to add more computers in the future without worrying about firewall settings!  I chose the IP range 192.168.1.100  -  192.168.1.200:  one hundred and one computers!  I'll probably never go more than 6, but why crimp yourself needlessly? (Besides, if I ever get up to 101, Walt Disney will make a cute animated film about me.)

My problem is solved. Traveler and Hector can see each other w/o difficulty, drag & drop files between them, and My wife can now print from the her laptop -- a major point for us.  For you, check your firewall settings.  And good luck!

-Blair

P.S.  ZoneAlarm is free:   www.zonelabs.com