connecting 2 computers to each other

[amdfanboy]

I am a computer technician, and am confused right now.

I was at a customers house who has an old HP desktop, and wants to get some important data off onto his new laptop.

His desktop has xp, and the laptop has vista.

I shared everything on both computers, and ran the setup network stuff.

On the laptop setting up the network it directed me to the netgear router website to change settings. I don't know why, and don't know what to do. Everything looks like it should be working, but it didn't.

I prefer Linksys cause its much easier.

The customer don't want to burn the files to disc or use a thumb drive. I spent a long time working on it, and gave up. I don't give up easy, but I did.

[johnwill]

Well, I have no idea why you'd be changing settings on the router. If both computers have Internet access through the router, any manipulation of the router is not called for.


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.

In the command prompt window that opens, type type 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:

• COM+ Event System (for WZC issues)
• Computer Browser
• DHCP Client
• DNS Client
• Network Connections
• Network Location Awareness
• Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
• Server
• TCP/IP Netbios helper
• Wireless Zero Configuration (XP wireless configurations)
• WLAN AutoConfig (Vista wireless configurations)
• 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.

If a service is not running, open it's properties and check the dependencies. Check each of the dependencies and see which one is preventing the service from running. Checking the event log is also a good idea here, there may be clues to what is failing.


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 Places (Network and Sharing Center in Vista), make sure the computer being accessed has an account with the same name/password as the system connecting to it uses to login. NOTE: Vista's default is to require a password on the account to enable file/print sharing.

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. You can open a command prompt as described above and type the following command: nbtstat -n. This will display the status of NetBIOS or indicate it's not configured.

[amdfanboy]

I made sure they where on the same workgroup, and file and print sharing is enabled, and I shared the C: on both computers.

I will try the run commands, and make sure that the services are running. I didn't think I had to change any router settings, but to set up the vista pc network set up with the router and other computers it sent me to the router settings website.

I think that is really all that needs to be done is the setup for the router.

Both computers do have internet.

[wrench97]

Are both computers on the same subnet?

[amdfanboy]

yeah they are.

[amdfanboy]

I just went back to this customers house, and the computers see each other, but can't access each others C:.

I copied his files over to the public folder on the laptop. I even used my laptop, and got a different error when trying to access the C: on the customers computers.

I got this error: Sharing is allowed, but this computer isn't recognised to see the shared data or something like that.

I have no clue what would be stopping me. I got another error that said something about windows firewall which I disabled, and the same thing happened.

[wrench97]

From the XP desktop you should have been able to move everything to the shared Vista folder.

[amdfanboy]

I moved the files to the public folder, but didn't try the shared folder.

Anyway, do you know what could be going on?

[wrench97]

In Vista it would be the Public Folder, I would tend to think a firewall issue on one or both.
sometimes running the Network and Sharing Wizard on both will resolve it.

[amdfanboy]

I did the network and sharing wizard on both. I disabled the windows security center, and firewall. I still think it might be a firewall issue like you said. I will try again if I go back to that customers house. They where just happy to get the data from the desktop to the laptop.