Home Office Network – problem recognising other computers in network

[Andu]

I have a very simple home network, with a LAN cable connecting two PCs, both of which are running WinXP, (one with SP2, the other with SP1). The connection has worked OK in the past (on an old Win 2000 setup) and even now, shows on both computers as connected without conflicts, so I think I can safely say the hardware part of the connection is OK.

My problem is that even though the actual connection seems to be OK, when I try the ‘Map Network Drive’ feature, neither computer recognises that the other is on the network.

I’ve run the WinXP network connection wizard on both computers, put in every variation of addresses I can think of “ \\(computer name)\(user’s name) ” all to no avail.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

[Memetic]

There are differences in networking between XP Home and XP Professional which as I have XP Home have caused me no end of fustration. Which version you have could make a big difference to what the networking gurus on here can suggest.

If I remember correctly XP Home can just join work groups, it cannot fully connect to a network that uses a domain controller - hence me not being able to see files in the office when connected remotely! GRRR.

Memetic

[Andu]

Both machines have XP professional, one with SP2, the other with SP1 and most patches. No Domain, just a simple Workgroup.

[rustle]

If I remember correctly XP Home can just join work groups, it cannot fully connect to a network that uses a domain controller - hence me not being able to see files in the office when connected remotely! GRRR.

Nothing preventing you passing domain-valid credentials and mapping drives on a domain...

Domain = BIGCOMPANYDOMAIN
User = PCUSER1

When you map, pass the /USER:BIGCOMPANYDOMAIN\PCUSER1
credentials and Bob is, as they say, your uncle.


===========================


Andu,

WRT the original problem above, can you map a drive using a dotted IP address rather than a computer name?

EG:
PC1 has IP address 192.168.1.1 and hard disk C shared as "C_Drive"

PC2 has IP address 192.168.1.2 and hard disk X shared as "X_Drive"

Try mapping PC1's disk from PC2 by typing, from the command line, the following:

net use \\192.168.1.1\c_drive

That will tell you if:
it can see it
you have permission to share it

Both of these are quite important

[Mac the Knife]

"PC1 has IP address 192.168.1.1 and hard disk C shared as "C_Drive""

Urrr...I hope you've NOT sharing the rootdir of the C drive (or any drive for that matter)

[TR4A]

The WinXP Firewall is probably on. This will not let you see the other computer. SP2 has some settings for the Firewall. I do not use the WinXP Firewall. I am using Norton and ZoneAlarm on my network.

[Andu]

Just back from a trip and tried the fix you suggested, 'rustle', which worked. Thanks for the help.

Now to the next problem. The network will not open (if that’s the right term) unless I turn Zone Alarm off on the primary computer. (I run Zone Alarm 6 on both machines.) Not a huge problem – I can easily disable ZA any time I want to use the second computer, but it would be nice if I could use the network with ZA running.

Any suggestions on how I should configure ZA6 to allow the other computer to gain access to my main computer with ZA running? I also notice that ZA defaults to switching the Windows Firewall off.

[rustle]

Glad the first bit worked

Zone Alarm needs to be told to "trust" the other PC.

Usually done by "telling" the firewall to trust an IP address, or sometimes a range of IP addresses (useful if you want a load of PCs to trust each other).

How this is done is product specific and I don't know ZA at all...

But it'll be somewhere in the manual

[Oggin Aviator]

The network will not open (if that’s the right term) unless I turn Zone Alarm off on the primary computer. (I run Zone Alarm 6 on both machines.)

I had this very same problem (along with loads of other network access problems) with ZA so I uninstalled it and got McAffee firewall instead. Now works a treat. Just a suggestion.

Oggin

[Keef]

As rustle says, you can tell Zone Alarm to "trust" the other machine. If your network is in the range 192.168.1 then tell both machines' ZA to trust 192.168.1.1 - 192.168.1.255.

Exactly how you do that will depend on which version of ZA you have. I'm using version 5.1.011. In that, start ZA Control Center, click on Firewall (left hand tabs), then on Zones (top right hand tabs), and Add the range, as "IP Range" and "Trusted".

I've dumped the other firewalls in favour of ZA, which works fine, and AVG anti-virus ditto.

[Andu]

Thanks, ‘keef’ and ‘rustle’. The more I learn about these infernal machines, the more I know I don’t know.

[mikedurward]

XP Pro with sp2 does not allow you to do this by default. You need to change the firewall settings on the sp2 machine