Need Help With File Sharing

[thornleigh]

Hello. I have the same problems accessing other pc's on my network. Can you explain the following in a little more detail?

Originally Posted by johnwill

Let's start with the basics.

Turn off any firewalls for debugging. If the firewall is the problem, you'll have to configure it to allow access to "trusted zone" addresses. Note that some firewalls must be completely uninstalled to stop them from affecting your networking.

Im running xp pro but I dont seem to be able to find windows firewall! How do I 'find' this?

PING each computer by IP address, and if successful, PING by name. You can obtain the IP address of a computer by opening a command prompt (DOS window) and typing IPCONFIG. This should work for any Windows version. A failure here needs to be corrected before you go any farther.

The IP address of the pc's on my wireless network are automatically assigned. I think this means they can change every time they access the net? Is this correct? How do I PING by name?

All computers should be in the same workgroup for computer browsing to function properly. File & Print Sharing has to be enabled on any computer you wish to share files or printers from. You also need to actually share the resource in question from My Computer, right click on the drive/printer/folder, and select sharing.

2 of 3 computers have the same workgroup name. The thrid has this option disabled even when logged on as Admin! How do I change the workgroup name on the pc with the ability to change it disabled? On the other pc from which I want to share docs, I've set Sharing as above. However, when I try and access these folders from the other pc in the workgroup, I get the message 'Laptop not accessable. You may not have permissions. The network path could not be found.'

If you encounter difficulties accessing computers that are visible in Network Neighborhood, make sure the computer being accessed has an account with the same name/password as the system connecting to it uses to login.

Sorry but I dont understand this. Does this mean user account, workgroup account or something else? How do I set this up?

While the default NetBIOS setting is correct for normal network configurations, it's possible for it to be altered, and it costs nothing to make sure it's correct. NETBIOS over TCP/IP must be enabled for normal network browsing.

I tried this without any luck including stop \ start managed services.

Although I have a wireless net work set up with each pc able to access the net from this, do I need to set up a home network as well? I thought accessing shared folders etc was supposed to be easy on a wireless network!

[johnwill]

Even though it appears you're having the same problem, please start a new thread when you have a new issue. It's very difficult to keep two problems straight and who's working on what in a single thread.

I've created a new thread for your issue here.

Thanks for your cooperation.

[johnwill]

Start here, and when you get stuck, ask some specific questions. A Good Basic File Sharing Tutorial