Vista sees but can not access XP

[Phr4nk0]

I'm running 2 PC's on a home network. They connect to a switch which in turn connects to my router. They can access the internet, but can't access each other. One PC runs Vista Ultimate, the other XP Pro (SP2). They connect through a 16-port switch (used to use it for LAN parties) which connects to my router (it's a Netcomm NB6 if thats of any help).

My vista pc can see itself, and the other pc in the network window and on the network map (I installed that responder on the xp computer). But when I try to access the XP machine, it tells me to check the spelling of the name (Error code: 0x80070035 the network path was not found.) On clicking diagnose it says it doesn't have a valid host name. My XP pc doesn't see anything.

Both computers are on the work group "WORKGROUP". My Vista machine is set to private network with Network Discovery, File sharing, Public folder sharing, printer sharing and media sharing to On and Password protected sharing Off. I've turned both machines firewalls off, they have the IP addresses 192.168.1.3 and 192.168.1.4 both have the subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 and connect through the gateway 192.168.1.1 (my router's default). I've turned off IPv6 in Vista.

If the xp computer's "network path" can't be found why does Vista find it in my network map and every time I refresh the network window. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[johnwill]

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.

Hold the Windows key and press R, then type CMD to open a command prompt for the following commands:

PING each remote computer by IP address, and if successful, PING by name. Open a command prompt as described above and type.

PING <ip address>
or
PING <computer name>

Where:
<ip address> - is the x.x.x.x IP address
<computer name> - is the computer name

A failure to PING is almost always a firewall configuration issue. Any failure to PING needs to be corrected before you go any farther.

Note: You can obtain the IP address and computer name of a computer by opening a command prompt (DOS window) and typing IPCONFIG /ALL. This should work for any Windows version. The IPCONFIG /ALL display will provide a wealth of useful information for debugging your network connection.

Check your Services are Started on all PCs:

• Computer Browser
• DHCP Client
• DNS Client
• Network Connections
• Network Location Awareness
• Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
• Server
• TCP/IP Netbios helper
• Workstation

Note: You can check the services in Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Services.

All of these services should be started, and their startup type should be automatic.

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.

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.

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.

[Phr4nk0]

Thanks for the reply johnwill.

I've read your post and have completely uninstalled any and all firewalls on both systems. Only windows firewall remains (can this be uninstalled? It's a pain sometimes but I guess that's another question for another time. It's turned off for now.)

On attempting to ping the XP pc from my Vista machine by IP Address it connected 4/4 times, but by computer name it failed. On attempting to ping XP to Vista by IP it failed 4/4 times and did also by name.

I decided to ping the computer I was pinging from just to be thorough (ie. ping 192.168.1.3 from 192.168.1.3). The Vista machine responded by IP and Name but the XP Machine didn't respond to either.

On checking the services you listed I found Vista had 'Network Connections' set to Manual and XP had 'Network Connections' and 'Network Location Awareness' set to Manual, but they were started. I changed them to Automatic and then restarted both machines.

My network is now working! I can ping both machines by name and IP and can access shares from both. However XP still doesn't see any machines connected to its workgroup. I had to manually add the network addresses of my Vista shares. Any ideas why, it's finally working and I'm having no other problems so I don't really want to mess with it too much lol.

Thanks again johnwill!

[johnwill]

Sounds like master browser issues.

On each of the machines, let's see this.

Hold the Windows key and press R, then type CMD to open a command prompt:

Type the following two commands:

NBTSTAT -n

IPCONFIG /ALL

Right click in the command window and choose Select All, then hit Enter.
Paste the results in a message here.

If you are on a machine with no network connection, use a floppy, USB disk, or a CD-RW disk to transfer a text file with the information to allow pasting it here.

[Phr4nk0]

Thanks for the continued help johnwill.

Funnily enough, after restarting at least 5 times yesterday, upon turning them on today it seems they finally recognized each other. Both machines can be seen in the workgroup, and can be accessed at will. I finally have a fully working network!

Thanks for all the help johnwill, you've bailed me out twice now.

[johnwill]

One thing to keep in mind, it takes Windows Network Browsing about 15 minutes at times to populate the Network Places computer list, nature of the beast. Sometimes patience is all that's required.

[taqwa]

hi johnwill

i had the same problem. when i deactived the firewall and did some small
changes in the registry, so i could install the xp printer on vista and browse the folder on xp maschine. as soon i actived the firewall no. what i have to change in the xp firewall that it works. all standard features in exeptions are actived (non blocked, like print and folder).

would be nice to get a help

alex

[johnwill]

It would be nice if you started your own thread with complete details about your network.