HELP PLEASE

[Clive]

i am having problems with my home network, i have 3 PCs
My main PC has access to the net the other 2 can access the net but
not access the main PC to share files...

I have enabled all the options for sharing files but no luck i am
reasonably competent with PCs but this has me stumped please help

[Barry]

Clive,
hang in there,
keep tryin'.....
quitters never win...


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[purplehaz]

Try putting identical user name and password accounts on the main pc that
matches the user/password on the other two computers. XP needs an account to
"log into" another computer and view it shares. If you set up user on the
main computer that match the other computers then xp uses that to log into
the main computer to access its shares.

Clive wrote:
> i am having problems with my home network, i have 3 PCs
> My main PC has access to the net the other 2 can access the net
> but not access the main PC to share files...
>
> I have enabled all the options for sharing files but no luck i am
> reasonably competent with PCs but this has me stumped please help

[wojo]

I had the same problem and it took a lot of investigation between the PC's
to find the answer.
From the Run box type services.msc /s
Look or services pertaining to networking that are different between the
machines. For instance my problem ended up being that I had "Simple
Networking" enabled on one box but not on the other two. I disabled it and
all has been fine ever since.

"Clive" > wrote in message
...
> i am having problems with my home network, i have 3 PCs
> My main PC has access to the net the other 2 can access the net but
> not access the main PC to share files...
>
> I have enabled all the options for sharing files but no luck i am
> reasonably competent with PCs but this has me stumped please help
>
>
>
>

[wojo]

Hey purplehaz,
Not trying to start a 900 post arguement in this thread or anything like
that (they are amusing but annoying) but you recommended that to me too when
I set mine up and I tried it. It takes a whle to set up and it did no good.
I since deleted all those extra unneeded users and simply chcked my services
for differences. I found that if Simple Networking is running on one machine
but not on all of them then it doesn't work. I disabled it on the machine it
was running on and now it works fine. I have 1 user account on each system
and they are each unique in name and password. The only thing as far as I
can see that needs to be the same in that regard is, obviously, the
workgroup name. Is there a point I am missing or is it information MS put
out that is incorrect?

"purplehaz" > wrote in message
...
> Try putting identical user name and password accounts on the main pc that
> matches the user/password on the other two computers. XP needs an account
to
> "log into" another computer and view it shares. If you set up user on the
> main computer that match the other computers then xp uses that to log into
> the main computer to access its shares.
>
> Clive wrote:
> > i am having problems with my home network, i have 3 PCs
> > My main PC has access to the net the other 2 can access the net
> > but not access the main PC to share files...
> >
> > I have enabled all the options for sharing files but no luck i am
> > reasonably competent with PCs but this has me stumped please help
>
>

[purplehaz]

Well there are different ways to set it up. Depends on if your using NTFS or
fat32 or both, if the guest account is enabled or disabled, if simple file
sharing is enabled or disabled, if your using a domain or not,
routers/switches, or two nic, whether you use the my shared docs folder or
not, etc. Without knowing all the specifics of the network I can only guess
and just give out a common answer to a common setup. In my setup(3
computers) I use one computer as a "server". This computer shares out the
F:\ partition. In order to access the shared F:\ drive I have to have
permission to do so. So on the server I have user accounts that match the
other two computers users. Then in the permissions of the F:\ drive I allow
the user names that are on the other computer. So now when I boot or try to
access the shared drive it sees someone trying to connect and says, "who is
this, oh its the user from the other computer and look he is allowed access
cause he's setup and his permission are set to allow, so come on in". This
is a common "file server" network setup. Gives good security and control of
all shares and user permissions to those shares.

wojo wrote:
> Hey purplehaz,
> Not trying to start a 900 post arguement in this thread or
> anything like that (they are amusing but annoying) but you
> recommended that to me too when I set mine up and I tried it. It
> takes a whle to set up and it did no good. I since deleted all those
> extra unneeded users and simply chcked my services for differences. I
> found that if Simple Networking is running on one machine but not on
> all of them then it doesn't work. I disabled it on the machine it was
> running on and now it works fine. I have 1 user account on each
> system and they are each unique in name and password. The only thing
> as far as I can see that needs to be the same in that regard is,
> obviously, the workgroup name. Is there a point I am missing or is it
> information MS put out that is incorrect?
>
> "purplehaz" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Try putting identical user name and password accounts on the main pc
>> that matches the user/password on the other two computers. XP needs
>> an account to "log into" another computer and view it shares. If you
>> set up user on the main computer that match the other computers then
>> xp uses that to log into the main computer to access its shares.
>>
>> Clive wrote:
>>> i am having problems with my home network, i have 3 PCs
>>> My main PC has access to the net the other 2 can access the
>>> net but not access the main PC to share files...
>>>
>>> I have enabled all the options for sharing files but no luck i
>>> am reasonably competent with PCs but this has me stumped please
>>> help

[wojo]

Thank you for explaining. I should probably look at it a little closer for
security purposes.

"purplehaz" > wrote in message
...
> Well there are different ways to set it up. Depends on if your using NTFS
or
> fat32 or both, if the guest account is enabled or disabled, if simple file
> sharing is enabled or disabled, if your using a domain or not,
> routers/switches, or two nic, whether you use the my shared docs folder or
> not, etc. Without knowing all the specifics of the network I can only
guess
> and just give out a common answer to a common setup. In my setup(3
> computers) I use one computer as a "server". This computer shares out the
> F:\ partition. In order to access the shared F:\ drive I have to have
> permission to do so. So on the server I have user accounts that match the
> other two computers users. Then in the permissions of the F:\ drive I
allow
> the user names that are on the other computer. So now when I boot or try
to
> access the shared drive it sees someone trying to connect and says, "who
is
> this, oh its the user from the other computer and look he is allowed
access
> cause he's setup and his permission are set to allow, so come on in". This
> is a common "file server" network setup. Gives good security and control
of
> all shares and user permissions to those shares.
>
> wojo wrote:
> > Hey purplehaz,
> > Not trying to start a 900 post arguement in this thread or
> > anything like that (they are amusing but annoying) but you
> > recommended that to me too when I set mine up and I tried it. It
> > takes a whle to set up and it did no good. I since deleted all those
> > extra unneeded users and simply chcked my services for differences. I
> > found that if Simple Networking is running on one machine but not on
> > all of them then it doesn't work. I disabled it on the machine it was
> > running on and now it works fine. I have 1 user account on each
> > system and they are each unique in name and password. The only thing
> > as far as I can see that needs to be the same in that regard is,
> > obviously, the workgroup name. Is there a point I am missing or is it
> > information MS put out that is incorrect?
> >
> > "purplehaz" > wrote in message
> > ...
> >> Try putting identical user name and password accounts on the main pc
> >> that matches the user/password on the other two computers. XP needs
> >> an account to "log into" another computer and view it shares. If you
> >> set up user on the main computer that match the other computers then
> >> xp uses that to log into the main computer to access its shares.
> >>
> >> Clive wrote:
> >>> i am having problems with my home network, i have 3 PCs
> >>> My main PC has access to the net the other 2 can access the
> >>> net but not access the main PC to share files...
> >>>
> >>> I have enabled all the options for sharing files but no luck i
> >>> am reasonably competent with PCs but this has me stumped please
> >>> help
>
>

[purplehaz]

You're welcome.

wojo wrote:
> Thank you for explaining. I should probably look at it a little
> closer for security purposes.
>
> "purplehaz" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Well there are different ways to set it up. Depends on if your using
>> NTFS or fat32 or both, if the guest account is enabled or disabled,
>> if simple file sharing is enabled or disabled, if your using a
>> domain or not, routers/switches, or two nic, whether you use the my
>> shared docs folder or not, etc. Without knowing all the specifics of
>> the network I can only guess and just give out a common answer to a
>> common setup. In my setup(3 computers) I use one computer as a
>> "server". This computer shares out the F:\ partition. In order to
>> access the shared F:\ drive I have to have permission to do so. So
>> on the server I have user accounts that match the other two
>> computers users. Then in the permissions of the F:\ drive I allow
>> the user names that are on the other computer. So now when I boot or
>> try to access the shared drive it sees someone trying to connect and
>> says, "who is this, oh its the user from the other computer and look
>> he is allowed access cause he's setup and his permission are set to
>> allow, so come on in". This is a common "file server" network setup.
>> Gives good security and control of all shares and user permissions
>> to those shares.
>>
>> wojo wrote:
>>> Hey purplehaz,
>>> Not trying to start a 900 post arguement in this thread or
>>> anything like that (they are amusing but annoying) but you
>>> recommended that to me too when I set mine up and I tried it. It
>>> takes a whle to set up and it did no good. I since deleted all those
>>> extra unneeded users and simply chcked my services for differences.
>>> I found that if Simple Networking is running on one machine but not
>>> on all of them then it doesn't work. I disabled it on the machine
>>> it was running on and now it works fine. I have 1 user account on
>>> each system and they are each unique in name and password. The only
>>> thing as far as I can see that needs to be the same in that regard
>>> is, obviously, the workgroup name. Is there a point I am missing or
>>> is it information MS put out that is incorrect?
>>>
>>> "purplehaz" > wrote in message
>>> ...
>>>> Try putting identical user name and password accounts on the main
>>>> pc that matches the user/password on the other two computers. XP
>>>> needs an account to "log into" another computer and view it
>>>> shares. If you set up user on the main computer that match the
>>>> other computers then xp uses that to log into the main computer to
>>>> access its shares.
>>>>
>>>> Clive wrote:
>>>>> i am having problems with my home network, i have 3 PCs
>>>>> My main PC has access to the net the other 2 can access the
>>>>> net but not access the main PC to share files...
>>>>>
>>>>> I have enabled all the options for sharing files but no luck i
>>>>> am reasonably competent with PCs but this has me stumped please
>>>>> help

[wojo]

XP Home on 3 boxes with a SMC Router and my Westell modem on WAN.

"Harry Plumtree" > wrote in message
...
> On Wed, 17 Mar 2004 18:51:36 -0500, purplehaz wrote:
>
> > Well there are different ways to set it up. Depends on if your using
NTFS or
> > fat32 or both, if the guest account is enabled or disabled, if simple
file
> > sharing is enabled or disabled, if your using a domain or not,
> > routers/switches, or two nic, whether you use the my shared docs folder
or
> > not, etc. Without knowing all the specifics of the network I can only
guess
> > and just give out a common answer to a common setup. In my setup(3
> > computers) I use one computer as a "server". This computer shares out
the
> > F:\ partition. In order to access the shared F:\ drive I have to have
> > permission to do so. So on the server I have user accounts that match
the
> > other two computers users. Then in the permissions of the F:\ drive I
allow
> > the user names that are on the other computer. So now when I boot or try
to
> > access the shared drive it sees someone trying to connect and says, "who
is
> > this, oh its the user from the other computer and look he is allowed
access
> > cause he's setup and his permission are set to allow, so come on in".
This
> > is a common "file server" network setup. Gives good security and control
of
> > all shares and user permissions to those shares.
> >
> > wojo wrote:
> >> Hey purplehaz,
> >> Not trying to start a 900 post arguement in this thread or
> >> anything like that (they are amusing but annoying) but you
> >> recommended that to me too when I set mine up and I tried it. It
> >> takes a whle to set up and it did no good. I since deleted all those
> >> extra unneeded users and simply chcked my services for differences. I
> >> found that if Simple Networking is running on one machine but not on
> >> all of them then it doesn't work. I disabled it on the machine it was
> >> running on and now it works fine. I have 1 user account on each
> >> system and they are each unique in name and password. The only thing
> >> as far as I can see that needs to be the same in that regard is,
> >> obviously, the workgroup name. Is there a point I am missing or is it
> >> information MS put out that is incorrect?
> >>
> >> "purplehaz" > wrote in message
> >> ...
> >>> Try putting identical user name and password accounts on the main pc
> >>> that matches the user/password on the other two computers. XP needs
> >>> an account to "log into" another computer and view it shares. If you
> >>> set up user on the main computer that match the other computers then
> >>> xp uses that to log into the main computer to access its shares.
> >>>
> >>> Clive wrote:
> >>>> i am having problems with my home network, i have 3 PCs
> >>>> My main PC has access to the net the other 2 can access the
> >>>> net but not access the main PC to share files...
> >>>>
> >>>> I have enabled all the options for sharing files but no luck i
> >>>> am reasonably competent with PCs but this has me stumped please
> >>>> help
>
> what server OS you running?

[Bruce J. Weiers]

This became an unnecessarily complex thread in a hurry! Is it my
imagination, or did it just go off on a crazy tangent?

Run the network setup wizard (from the common task pane in Network
Connections or My Network Places, "setup up a home or small office
network") on all three computers, choosing an identical workgroup name
for all three computers. (You can skip the network setup disk thing at
the end of the wizard.)

That should be enough to cover all of the bases. After running the
network setup wizard, give the PCs a couple of minutes to negotiate
among themselves. (One of the really annoying things about setting up a
Windows peer-to-peer network is that it doesn't respond instantly to
changes in settings; if you are not patient, you can end up chasing your
tail right past the point where it would have all worked.)

What follows is just assurance, but it does give you something useful to
do, while waiting for the PCs to work out their networking among
themselves.

After running the wizard, on each PC, go to Network Connections in
Control Panel. Remove any bridge connections, which might have been
accidentally created by the wizard. (It is not uncommon to end up
bridging 1394 and ethernet, which is silly!) (You can also remove any
virtual connections, which might be left over from a previous life with
DSL or AOL or whatever.) Then, check the properties of the active
Ethernet Connection to your network.

You should have, in each case, Client for Microsoft Networks, File and
Print Sharing, and TCP/IP, and maybe, QoS. Remove any other network
protocols. Check the properties of TCP/IP. (You might want to specify
the DNS servers prescribed by your ISP on the general tab, though this
is purely optional and irrelevant to your immediate problem.) Click on
the Advanced... button under the General tab, and then find the WINS
tab, and check Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP.

While still in the properties of the Ethernet connection, go to the
Advanced tab, and make sure the Firewall is turned off (clear the
checkbox).

If you have a third-party firewall program (e.g. Norton Firewall in
Norton Internet Security, McAfee, Zone Alarm, etc., then you must
configure that program to allow access to the network address range of
your local network.

Go to Start, then Run. Type cmd and press enter, to open a DOS box. On
the DOS command line, type
ipconfig /all
The result should include the ip addresses of your PCs. I would expect
an address such as 192.168.2.101, as assigned by the SMC router, with a
gateway (i.e. the local ip address of the SMC router) such as
192.168.2.1

By now, you should be exhausted, but happy.


"wojo" > wrote in message
...
> XP Home on 3 boxes with a SMC Router and my Westell modem on WAN.
>
> > >>>> i am having problems with my home network, i have 3 PCs
> > >>>> My main PC has access to the net the other 2 can access
the
> > >>>> net but not access the main PC to share files...
> > >>>>
> > >>>> I have enabled all the options for sharing files but no luck
i
> > >>>> am reasonably competent with PCs but this has me stumped
please
> > >>>> help

[wojo]

I did everything you outlined on my network six or seven times and one PC
didn't communicate with the other 2 but could see them. The other 2 worked
perfectly with each other but couldn't even see the 1st one. All 3 cnnected
to WAN and the internet just fine. That's why I suggested lookng at the
services on each box. I had to do exactly that before I got my system
running correctly.

"Bruce J. Weiers" > wrote in message
...
> This became an unnecessarily complex thread in a hurry! Is it my
> imagination, or did it just go off on a crazy tangent?
>
> Run the network setup wizard (from the common task pane in Network
> Connections or My Network Places, "setup up a home or small office
> network") on all three computers, choosing an identical workgroup name
> for all three computers. (You can skip the network setup disk thing at
> the end of the wizard.)
>
> That should be enough to cover all of the bases. After running the
> network setup wizard, give the PCs a couple of minutes to negotiate
> among themselves. (One of the really annoying things about setting up a
> Windows peer-to-peer network is that it doesn't respond instantly to
> changes in settings; if you are not patient, you can end up chasing your
> tail right past the point where it would have all worked.)
>
> What follows is just assurance, but it does give you something useful to
> do, while waiting for the PCs to work out their networking among
> themselves.
>
> After running the wizard, on each PC, go to Network Connections in
> Control Panel. Remove any bridge connections, which might have been
> accidentally created by the wizard. (It is not uncommon to end up
> bridging 1394 and ethernet, which is silly!) (You can also remove any
> virtual connections, which might be left over from a previous life with
> DSL or AOL or whatever.) Then, check the properties of the active
> Ethernet Connection to your network.
>
> You should have, in each case, Client for Microsoft Networks, File and
> Print Sharing, and TCP/IP, and maybe, QoS. Remove any other network
> protocols. Check the properties of TCP/IP. (You might want to specify
> the DNS servers prescribed by your ISP on the general tab, though this
> is purely optional and irrelevant to your immediate problem.) Click on
> the Advanced... button under the General tab, and then find the WINS
> tab, and check Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP.
>
> While still in the properties of the Ethernet connection, go to the
> Advanced tab, and make sure the Firewall is turned off (clear the
> checkbox).
>
> If you have a third-party firewall program (e.g. Norton Firewall in
> Norton Internet Security, McAfee, Zone Alarm, etc., then you must
> configure that program to allow access to the network address range of
> your local network.
>
> Go to Start, then Run. Type cmd and press enter, to open a DOS box. On
> the DOS command line, type
> ipconfig /all
> The result should include the ip addresses of your PCs. I would expect
> an address such as 192.168.2.101, as assigned by the SMC router, with a
> gateway (i.e. the local ip address of the SMC router) such as
> 192.168.2.1
>
> By now, you should be exhausted, but happy.
>
>
> "wojo" > wrote in message
> ...
> > XP Home on 3 boxes with a SMC Router and my Westell modem on WAN.
> >
> > > >>>> i am having problems with my home network, i have 3 PCs
> > > >>>> My main PC has access to the net the other 2 can access
> the
> > > >>>> net but not access the main PC to share files...
> > > >>>>
> > > >>>> I have enabled all the options for sharing files but no luck
> i
> > > >>>> am reasonably competent with PCs but this has me stumped
> please
> > > >>>> help
>
>

[Harry Plumtree]

On Wed, 17 Mar 2004 18:51:36 -0500, purplehaz wrote:

> Well there are different ways to set it up. Depends on if your using NTFS or
> fat32 or both, if the guest account is enabled or disabled, if simple file
> sharing is enabled or disabled, if your using a domain or not,
> routers/switches, or two nic, whether you use the my shared docs folder or
> not, etc. Without knowing all the specifics of the network I can only guess
> and just give out a common answer to a common setup. In my setup(3
> computers) I use one computer as a "server". This computer shares out the
> F:\ partition. In order to access the shared F:\ drive I have to have
> permission to do so. So on the server I have user accounts that match the
> other two computers users. Then in the permissions of the F:\ drive I allow
> the user names that are on the other computer. So now when I boot or try to
> access the shared drive it sees someone trying to connect and says, "who is
> this, oh its the user from the other computer and look he is allowed access
> cause he's setup and his permission are set to allow, so come on in". This
> is a common "file server" network setup. Gives good security and control of
> all shares and user permissions to those shares.
>
> wojo wrote:
>> Hey purplehaz,
>> Not trying to start a 900 post arguement in this thread or
>> anything like that (they are amusing but annoying) but you
>> recommended that to me too when I set mine up and I tried it. It
>> takes a whle to set up and it did no good. I since deleted all those
>> extra unneeded users and simply chcked my services for differences. I
>> found that if Simple Networking is running on one machine but not on
>> all of them then it doesn't work. I disabled it on the machine it was
>> running on and now it works fine. I have 1 user account on each
>> system and they are each unique in name and password. The only thing
>> as far as I can see that needs to be the same in that regard is,
>> obviously, the workgroup name. Is there a point I am missing or is it
>> information MS put out that is incorrect?
>>
>> "purplehaz" > wrote in message
>> ...
>>> Try putting identical user name and password accounts on the main pc
>>> that matches the user/password on the other two computers. XP needs
>>> an account to "log into" another computer and view it shares. If you
>>> set up user on the main computer that match the other computers then
>>> xp uses that to log into the main computer to access its shares.
>>>
>>> Clive wrote:
>>>> i am having problems with my home network, i have 3 PCs
>>>> My main PC has access to the net the other 2 can access the
>>>> net but not access the main PC to share files...
>>>>
>>>> I have enabled all the options for sharing files but no luck i
>>>> am reasonably competent with PCs but this has me stumped please
>>>> help

what server OS you running?