XP file sharing broken again

[kaeiria]

I have several computers on a wired/wireless network, all in the same workgroup. all xp sp3
Here's the situation and what I've done so far:

presidio (Computer1)is not visible from excalibur >my network places
or from others in workgroup

excalibur (computer2) is visible from and can be accessed from presidio
other computers ok also from presidio.

typed \\presidio\program (the share name) in address bar on excalibur explorer

got password challenge box (see attachment)

entered username blank pw which is good on presidio.. got presented with a new password box

set up new user with abcde password on presidio

entered that on excalibur and got got presented with a new password box

rebooted presidio, no change

found a suggestion to make sure these are started:

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

they are

I'm stuck

[Luk07]

Limited or no Connectivity showing? I've had this before. A quick fix that can sometimes work is simply to switch off file sharing, and switch it back on again, this resets everything and should hopefully make it work. If not then there has to be a setting your missing, are you "Right clicking hard drive > enable sharing" that way? I found that to work.

[appatight]

Originally Posted by kaeiria

I have several computers on a wired/wireless network, all in the same workgroup. all xp sp3
Here's the situation and what I've done so far:

presidio (Computer1)is not visible from excalibur >my network places
or from others in workgroup

excalibur (computer2) is visible from and can be accessed from presidio
other computers ok also from presidio.

typed \\presidio\program (the share name) in address bar on excalibur explorer

got password challenge box (see attachment)

entered username blank pw which is good on presidio.. got presented with a new password box

set up new user with abcde password on presidio

entered that on excalibur and got got presented with a new password box

rebooted presidio, no change

found a suggestion to make sure these are started:

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

they are

I'm stuck

I think this may have something to do with it but go right click my computer and choose properties go to the remote tab and make sure other computers can access it remotely. Once I get in front of my network I can verify for sure what would need to be applied.

[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.

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:

• 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.

[kaeiria]

Originally Posted by 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.

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:

• 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.

Tried all that. I can ping all computers from one another. The one computer is not allowing it's shares to be accessed. It's just a big pita if I'm working on "excalibur" to have to go over to "presidio" and send a file instead of just grabbing it from where I am. For some reason "presidio"' is denying access to it's shared folders.

[appatight]

try deleting the shared folders and recreating the folders and resharing them. also make sure when you share it don't make it private as that would prevent access.

[AquariusFX]

Are those PC using "simple files sharing"?

[kaeiria]

I have tried everything suggested here, turned off file sharing on the resistant computer, Tried with simple and the other flavor as well, both with users with real passwords, and blank passwords.

Is it worth the effort to set up a domain controller? Might that fix it?

[johnwill]

Getting a domain network to work is more complicated than a workgroup network. If you can't get a workgroup working, that's not the solution!

BTW, you mention blank passwords. Windows file sharing doesn't like blank passwords, try assigning passwords to the machines.

[johnwill]

Your brief "tried all that" to my list of debugging tips concerns me. If you really "tried all that", you had a failure somewhere along the line, or you'd be sharing files. If you expect us to actually help, you need to provide exact symptoms when things fail.