Fanis

I am trying to help a charity and am in over my head. Had a networking college class a couple of years ago and helped them set up a small network using Windows Server 2003 and XP clients. Unfortunately, I can't remember much; I mostly do websites and graphic design.

Problem - server crashed after some electrical problems. The professional IT, who helped me in the beginning, came out after I restored. This time, he set up a different static IP for the server (from 192.168...etc. to a 10.10...etc.). Don't remember why. Then, we discovered server's ethernet and sm bus controller drivers were corrupted. He is always so busy; so, I had to reinstall them and try to finish the network on my own yesterday.

Thought all was fine and some of my schooling was coming back to me when the networking monster jumped up and bit me on my backside... or should I say on my client side.

Client workstations have shortcuts on desktop to server, but the target ip is the old static ip address. Target is grayed out and I cannot change it there. Figured it would be easy to find on Microsoft's site, but maybe I'm not using the right jargon.

Anyway, I am home now, but hoped to go complete job tomorrow. Can someone tell me if I:
- go into System Properties>Computer Name>Change on each client,
- do an ipconfig of some sort (/renew maybe?) on each client
- run a command from the server to the various clients
- something else easy for a newbie
or
- raise the white flag of surrender and call the pro back out?

Thanks for any help,
Fanis

tannerjohn

I am not certain I understand your issue, but if your only problem is that desktop shortcuts point to old IP you should be able to edit them. Normally, if grayed out, means the shortucts were created for "All Users" by and Admininstrator logged onto the worksation.......users can't edit them, grayed out, because they didn't create them.

Find out what the local admin account is and log on as that user. Right click on START and go to explore it. Find the ALL USERS profile/Desktop and you should be able to edit those admin created shortcuts.

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Fanis

Thanks tannerjohn. I am pretty sure that I logged in on the admin accounts on all of the PCs. (Those are the only accounts I know since I set them all up originally. The other usernames were added later by the secretary or clerk in that position.) If it matters, it let me change the name of the link, but not the target ip address. I'll be back up there in a couple of hours, check it out and come back to the forum if need.

BTW, for future reference, if an existing user has a new computer, how do I get it to find the server and then create the shortcut? (The network was set up with no domain controlling with users as clients - not computer clients - so that volunteer staff can use a laptop or whichever PC is available.) I remember a "log me in" command or program - something like that, but don't remember if that was on the individual PCs or on the server. Will be able to look for that when I get back up to their center, but thought you might direct me so I am more prepared.

Thanks!

Fanis

PLEASE HELP!

No luck today. Shows I'm logged on client pc as administrator, but it wouldn't let me change target. Tried "find target" - nothing. Tried inserting server address in Internet address bar and access was denied - saying I didn't have permission to access server. (Also, I think I misunderstood his comments about "not using a domain controller" and allowing user logins. Perhaps he meant we are using Active Directory?)

Anyway, if anyone viewing can just provide a good tutorial for newbies on setting up a small local network with a server, I would appreciate it. I'll be glad to study up all weekend if I just can find the right resource. Most of what I am finding is way above my head and talking about servers for email or hundreds of clients. I've only got five!

djaburg

You mentioned that the IT Pro changed IP addresses on the server, or perhaps all computers, you didn't specify, but that could be one of the causes. Normally you don't map drives by IP address, you normally do it by NETBIOS name, or the "name" of the computer. So if the server were called SERVER then you'd simply go to the MY COMPUTER icon, and put \\SERVER in the address bar and the shares that are available on the server should appear (perhaps you'll get prompted for a userid and password first). From there you can map your shortcuts or drives if you'd like. One of the issues that might be happening, and I seen it before, is that the "shortcut" you speak of might be a shortcut to a shortcut that was originally created on the server and then copied to each machine and since the source shortcut is not available, then the desktop shortcuts wouldn't be available Sounds crazy, but see if you can create a new one that points to the server and that should answer that question.

Obviously all computers MUST on the same subnet (ie 192.168.1.x or 10.10.1.x or whatever) before networking like that can occur. If the desktop computers are all statically configured, then you need to change each computer to be on the same subnet, or if you're using a router to hand out IP addresses then make sure the router has been configured for the correct IP address range. You didn't mention if the computers can see each other on the network, or if they can even browse the network.

As I see it (and I'm sure everyone has their own opinion), you have several steps to follow:

-verify the server IP address and that the folders you're looking for are shared
-verify the workstation IP addresses to make sure they're on the same subnet as the server
-see if the workstations can PING the server address and name
-see if the workstations can pull up the server by going to my computer and putting \\servername in the address bar and see if any shares come up
-see if you can recreate the shortcuts based on either IP or computer name

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Computers make it easier to do a lot of things, but most of the things they make it easier to do don't need to be done.
Andy Rooney

Fanis

Thanks for such a quick reply djaburg! Yes, it was the server's static IP that was changed and a router assigns ip addresses to the other computers. I honestly forgot about the IP address range on the router. I'll check it and go through each of these steps when I can get back over there the next few days. I'll post back with the fix if I find it just in case it could help someone else.

Thanks again!

Fanis

Hey guys. For anyone who might be checking back on this post, the pro came back out and the answer was simple and frustrating. First, he changed the IE security settings to default levels on the client laptops. Then, we were able to access the server through Remote Desktop Connection and allow individuals to log-in rather than setting up each computer as a client. In fact, if I can ever get in touch with the right person at their ISP, I am going to set up a static IP for the modem so that users can access the server from home, too. Thanks for all of your suggestions.