[paysismom]

Hi,

I just bought a laptop and wireless router (linksys) and I have installed the linksys software. I have an existing desktop computer that is connected to port 1 of the router, no problems surfing the net on both the desktop and the laptop. My question is on how to create a workgroup for both computers so that I can using file and print sharing. I've read through the tutorials but I'm still stumped (sorry, not much of a network techie person ). Both computers can "see" itself on the workgroup but not each other.

Both computers are running XP Pro SP2. Hoping someone will help me with this. thanks!

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Hey paysismom,

What steps have you taken to get your two machines communicating? Generally speaking, it is quite simple to setup a Home network. Please run the Network Setup Wizard on both your laptop and your PC. Now, ensure that you have File Sharing enabled -- to do this, right-click on any Folder/File that you would like to share, and select Sharing and Security.... Ensure that Share this folder on the Network is enabled (checked). You should now be able to access the folder in your Network Places, from the other machine.

If you cannot, please ensure that you have disabled the Windows Firewall, and all other third-party firewalls as these may interfere.

If you've already tried these steps, and it's not working, then please let me know.

Thanks,
- Dan

[Dan]

Hey paysismom,

What steps have you taken to get your two machines communicating? Generally speaking, it is quite simple to setup a Home network. Please run the Network Setup Wizard on both your laptop and your PC. Now, ensure that you have File Sharing enabled -- to do this, right-click on any Folder/File that you would like to share, and select Sharing and Security.... Ensure that Share this folder on the Network is enabled (checked). You should now be able to access the folder in your Network Places, from the other machine.

If you cannot, please ensure that you have disabled the Windows Firewall, and all other third-party firewalls as these may interfere.

If you've already tried these steps, and it's not working, then please let me know.

Thanks,
- Dan

[paysismom]

Hey paysismom,

What steps have you taken to get your two machines communicating? Generally speaking, it is quite simple to setup a Home network. Please run the Network Setup Wizard on both your laptop and your PC. Now, ensure that you have File Sharing enabled -- to do this, right-click on any Folder/File that you would like to share, and select Sharing and Security.... Ensure that Share this folder on the Network is enabled (checked). You should now be able to access the folder in your Network Places, from the other machine.

If you cannot, please ensure that you have disabled the Windows Firewall, and all other third-party firewalls as these may interfere.

If you've already tried these steps, and it's not working, then please let me know.

Thanks,
- Dan

Hi Dan!

I've already done the Network Setup Wizard, made the workgroup and everything, enabled file sharing also, but the computers still can't see each other on the workgroup. Windows Firewall is already disabled, I don't have third party firewalls. I have avast 4.8 home edition installed, I've stopped the on-access protection just to be sure, but still the same results.

[Dan]

OK Just wanted to make sure you'd done the basic steps.

The first step will be information gathering; can you please do the following steps on both your laptop, and your PC (label the logs from each accordingly).

• Press Start
• Select Run
• Type cmd and press OK
• Please type the following commands (the single '>' and double '>>' are intentional; please type the commands exactly as they appear):
• In the new command prompt window, type ipconfig /all > C:\results.txt
• Once the above command completes, type net view >> C:\results.txt
• Once the above command completes, type net share >> C:\results.txt
• Navigate to your C: drive and open the text file results.txt -- please copy/paste the contents of this file into your next response.

Thanks,
- Dan

[paysismom]

desktop computer results.txt


WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No



Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:



Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8168/8111 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet NIC

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1D-7D-9A-78-8B

Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes

Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.100

Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : fe80::21d:7dff:fe9a:788b%4

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 58.69.254.78

58.69.254.80

fec0:0:0:ffff::1%1

fec0:0:0:ffff::2%1

fec0:0:0:ffff::3%1

NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, February 18, 2009 7:55:44 AM

Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, February 19, 2009 7:55:44 AM



Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 2:



Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Bluetooth PAN Network Adapter

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 10-11-11-11-11-11



Tunnel adapter Automatic Tunneling Pseudo-Interface:



Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Automatic Tunneling Pseudo-Interface

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : C0-A8-01-64

Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : fe80::5efe:192.168.1.100%2

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : fec0:0:0:ffff::1%1

fec0:0:0:ffff::2%1

fec0:0:0:ffff::3%1

NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

Server Name Remark

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\\DANIEL Desktop Computer
The command completed successfully.


Share name Resource Remark

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
print$ C:\WINDOWS\System32\spool\drivers
Printer Drivers
IPC$ Remote IPC
Printer WebEx Document Loader Spooled WebEx Document Loader
Printer2 Microsoft Document Ima Spooled Microsoft Office Document Image Wr
Printer3 USB001 Spooled Canon S400SP
The command completed successfully.

[paysismom]

laptop computer results.txt



Windows IP Configuration



Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Laptop

Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :

Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown

IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No



Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:



Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8102E Family PCI-E Fast Ethernet NIC

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1E-EC-FC-4C-02



Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:



Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom 802.11b/g WLAN

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-21-00-94-8E-E6

Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes

Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.101

Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 58.69.254.78

58.69.254.80

Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, February 18, 2009 4:11:24 PM

Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, February 19, 2009 4:11:24 PM

Server Name Remark

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\\LAPTOP compaq laptop
The command completed successfully.


Share name Resource Remark

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ADMIN$ C:\WINDOWS Remote Admin
C$ C:\ Default share
IPC$ Remote IPC
The command completed successfully.

[Dan]

According to your logs, you don't have any folders/files shared as of yet; is this correct? Can you please create a folder named Test (i.e. D:\Test) on both machines and then proceed to share it (I posted steps on how to share a folder in my first post).

On your Desktop computer, please do the following:

• Press Start
• Select Run
• Type cmd and press OK
• Please type the following commands (the single '>' and double '>>' are intentional; please type the commands exactly as they appear):
• In the new command prompt window, type net view \\LAPTOP > C:\results.txt
• Once the above command completes, type net view \\192.168.1.101 >> C:\results.txt
• Once the above command completes, type ping LAPTOP >> C:\results.txt
• Once the above command completes, type ping 192.168.1.101 >> C:\results.txt
  *NOTE: the ping commands will take about 10 seconds to complete.
• Navigate to your C: drive and open the text file results.txt -- please copy/paste the contents of this file into your next response.

Also, on your desktop, please goto Start --> Run --> In the run box, type \\LAPTOP and then press OK -- what happens? Now, try typing \\192.168.1.101 and press OK -- what happens?

Thanks,
- Dan

[paysismom]

sorry about the file sharing, I disabled it before I shut down the computers, was thinking that it wasn't really needed at that time

----> when I typed \\LAPTOP and the \\192.168.1.101 just as you instructed, it said "Windows could not find \\LAPTOP", "Windows could not find \\192.168.1.101"



desktop computer results.txt

Ping request could not find host LAPTOP. Please check the name and try again.



Pinging 192.168.1.101 with 32 bytes of data:



Reply from 192.168.1.101: bytes=32 time=36ms TTL=128

Reply from 192.168.1.101: bytes=32 time=67ms TTL=128

Reply from 192.168.1.101: bytes=32 time=91ms TTL=128

Reply from 192.168.1.101: bytes=32 time=12ms TTL=128



Ping statistics for 192.168.1.101:

Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),

Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:

Minimum = 12ms, Maximum = 91ms, Average = 51ms

[Dan]

I'm going to get you to enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP, on both your laptop and your desktop. Please do the following:

• Press Start
• Select Run
• Type ncpa.cpl and press OK
• In the new window, right-click on your Local Area Connection (or wireless) and select Properties.
• In the new window, select (highlight) Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and then press Properties (alternately, simply double-click on it).
• Click the Advanced button.
• Select the WINS tab.
• Select Enable NetBIOS Over TCP/IP and then repeatedly press OK to exit out of all open windows.

Once you have completed that, please repeat these steps:

when I typed \\LAPTOP and the \\192.168.1.101 just as you instructed, it said "Windows could not find \\LAPTOP", "Windows could not find \\192.168.1.101"

Do you get the same results? Try it on the laptop, using \\DANIEL and \\192.168.1.100 instead. What happens? On both machines, please do the following:

• Press Start
• Select Run
• Type cmd and press OK
• Please type the following commands (the single '>' and double '>>' are intentional; please type the commands exactly as they appear):
• In the new command prompt window, type ipconfig /all > C:\results.txt
• Once the above command completes, type nbtstat -n >> C:\results.txt
• Navigate to your C: drive and open the text file results.txt -- please copy/paste the contents of this file into your next response.

Thanks,
- Dan

[paysismom]

I did the Netbios over TCP/IP thing and still got the same results as before, for both the desktop and the laptop.

Desktop Computer results.txt



Windows IP Configuration



Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : daniel

Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :

Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown

IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No



Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:



Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8168/8111 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet NIC

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1D-7D-9A-78-8B

Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes

Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.100

Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : fe80::21d:7dff:fe9a:788b%4

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 58.69.254.78

58.69.254.80

fec0:0:0:ffff::1%1

fec0:0:0:ffff::2%1

fec0:0:0:ffff::3%1

NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, February 19, 2009 8:03:49 AM

Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Friday, February 20, 2009 8:03:49 AM



Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 2:



Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Bluetooth PAN Network Adapter

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 10-11-11-11-11-11



Tunnel adapter Automatic Tunneling Pseudo-Interface:



Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Automatic Tunneling Pseudo-Interface

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : C0-A8-01-64

Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : fe80::5efe:192.168.1.100%2

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : fec0:0:0:ffff::1%1

fec0:0:0:ffff::2%1

fec0:0:0:ffff::3%1

NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

[paysismom]

Laptop Computer results.txt



Windows IP Configuration



Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Laptop

Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :

Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown

IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No



Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:



Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8102E Family PCI-E Fast Ethernet NIC

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1E-EC-FC-4C-02



Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:



Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom 802.11b/g WLAN

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-21-00-94-8E-E6

Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes

Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.101

Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 58.69.254.78

58.69.254.80

Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, February 19, 2009 1:54:02 PM

Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Friday, February 20, 2009 1:54:02 PM


Local Area Connection:
Node IpAddress: [0.0.0.0] Scope Id: []



No names in cache


Wireless Network Connection:
Node IpAddress: [192.168.1.101] Scope Id: []



NetBIOS Local Name Table



Name Type Status

---------------------------------------------

LAPTOP <00> UNIQUE Registered

HOME <00> GROUP Registered

LAPTOP <20> UNIQUE Registered

HOME <1E> GROUP Registered

HOME <1D> UNIQUE Registered

..__MSBROWSE__.<01> GROUP Registered

[Dan]

Hello,

I can't see the nbtstat -n from the desktop; it's possible that there was an error. On the Desktop, can you please do the following:

• Press Start
• Select Run
• Type cmd and press OK
• In the new command prompt window, type nbtstat -n
• Right-click on the command prompt window, select Select All and then press the ENTER key on your keyboard; this will copy the text; you should now be able to paste it into your next response. Please do so.

It's strange, your desktop is still indicating that NetBIOS over TCP/IP is disabled. I'd like to see the results of the nbtstat command from your desktop

Thanks,
- Dan

[paysismom]

Yup, there was an error when I did your instructions earlier, here's the results again :

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
© Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Daniel Tan>nbtstat -n
Failed to access NetBT driver -- NetBT may not be loaded

C:\Documents and Settings\Daniel Tan>

[Dan]

That error usually happens for one of two reasons:
(1) It's been disabled in registry (I'll post some steps to correct that in a second); or
(2) You aren't logged in as an administrator account when you run it. Are you?

Will post the registry test in a second.

[EDIT]
Please do the following on both machines:

• Press Start
• Select Run
• Type cmd and press OK
• In the new command prompt window, type netsh int ip reset reset.log
• Once the above command completes, type netsh winsock reset catalog
• Restart your computer.
• Once it reboots, try to view the other computers again; can you? Also try the run commands again.

Also, goto Start --> Select Run --> Type services.msc and press OK --> in this new window, please make sure all of the following services have a status of Started:
Computer Browser
DHCP Client
DNS Client
Network Connections
Network Location Awareness
Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
Server
TCP/IP Netbios helper
Wireless Zero Configuration (only on your laptop)
Workstation

Edited by Dan, 19 February 2009 - 01:30 AM.

[paysismom]

There is only one user account on the desktop and it is "computer administrator" status.

I tried it on the laptop and it said it was successful, but when I try to view the workgroup, the desktop is still not there.

I tried the instructions already. This is the error that came out (desktop only):


Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
© Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Daniel Tan>netsh int ip reset reset.log


C:\Documents and Settings\Daniel Tan>netsh winsock reset catalog
The following command was not found: winsock reset catalog.

C:\Documents and Settings\Daniel Tan>

Edited by paysismom, 19 February 2009 - 01:44 AM.