Almost got it - just a little wireless help please

Hello: I have a router connected to the internet and by ethernet cable to my
desktop computer. I have a pcmcia wireless network card in my laptop that
will connect to the internet via the router (it's wireless capable) and it
will share the printer connected to the desktop. However I can't see any of
the shared folders on one computer from the other. The laptop can ping the
desktop but the desktop gets no response from the laptop if I ping it from
there. Both comps will ping themselves of course. Can someone tell me where
I'm causing the block, please?
thanx a 1,000,000
brian

Got a firewall on either PC? If so, remove or disable it.

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"brian" wrote in message
...
Hello: I have a router connected to the internet and by ethernet cable to
my desktop computer. I have a pcmcia wireless network card in my laptop
that will connect to the internet via the router (it's wireless capable)
and it will share the printer connected to the desktop. However I can't
see any of the shared folders on one computer from the other. The laptop
can ping the desktop but the desktop gets no response from the laptop if I
ping it from there. Both comps will ping themselves of course. Can
someone tell me where I'm causing the block, please?
thanx a 1,000,000
brian

brian wrote:

Hello: I have a router connected to the internet and by ethernet cable
to my desktop computer. I have a pcmcia wireless network card in my
laptop that will connect to the internet via the router (it's wireless
capable) and it will share the printer connected to the desktop.
However I can't see any of the shared folders on one computer from the
other. The laptop can ping the desktop but the desktop gets no
response from the laptop if I ping it from
there. Both comps will ping themselves of course. Can someone tell me
where I'm causing the block, please?
thanx a 1,000,000
brian

What version of XP are you running on both computers? Here are some
things to check:

1. XP Home uses simple sharing only. If one of your machines is XP Pro,
make sure simple sharing is not disabled.

2. For ease of use, make sure both computers are in the same Workgroup
and you've created identical user accounts/passwords on both machines.

3. Make sure you've shared out desired resources and permissions are set
correctly.

4. If you have SP1 and are using the ICS firewall, make sure the
firewall is only on the connection to the Internet and not to the lan.
If you have SP2 and are using the Windows Firewall, add the lan to the
exceptions as Trusted. If you have a third-party firewall on the
computers, add the lan IP range as Trusted.

5. Both computers need unique machine names. Do not name your machines
the same as a user account. IOW, if you have a user account "Brian",
don't name either machine "Brian".

You can also run through MVP Hans-Georg Michna's network troubleshooter
to help narrow down the cause of the problem:

http://www.michna.com/kb/wxnet.htm

Malke
--
MS MVP - Windows Shell/User
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"

Thank you - both run xpPro, both firewalls disabled. I'm looking at that
link now Malke, will post back with results.
b

Ok, done the questionnaire on that web site and I've re-enabled the firewall
(sp2 firewall) on both comps, and I can still see the desktop from the
laptop but not vise-versa. I can ping desktop from laptop but not the other
way around either (logical I suppose) I can also share the printer connected
to the desktop's parallel port. The laptop is on the internet via a wireless
pcmcia card (Belkin) through the router that's connected to the desktop's
network card.
Any more suggestions please?
thanx
b

brian wrote:

Ok, done the questionnaire on that web site and I've re-enabled the
firewall (sp2 firewall) on both comps, and I can still see the desktop
from the laptop but not vise-versa. I can ping desktop from laptop but
not the other way around either (logical I suppose) I can also share
the printer connected to the desktop's parallel port. The laptop is on
the internet via a wireless pcmcia card (Belkin) through the router
that's connected to the desktop's network card.
Any more suggestions please?
thanx
b

Let's go through this again:

1. Are both computers in the same Workgroup?
2. Did you make identical user accounts/passwords on both computers?
3. Did you share out anything on the desktop besides the printer?
4. Did you put the lan IP range as Trusted in firewalls' Exceptions?
5. Do you have any third-party software that could be acting as a
firewall, such as Norton Internet Security?
6. Are these both XP Home machines? If so, you can't share the My
Documents folder. Put something in the Shared Documents folder and see
if it shows up.
7. I don't have any XP Home machines to test this with, but if you
right-click on a share you made and look at the Sharing tab (assuming
Home has one), are the permissions (Everyone full access) correct?

Here are a few more links to help with networking:

http://www.practicallynetworked.com/...ilesharing.htm (Home)
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/...ring/index.htm
(Pro)
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/...hoot_index.htm
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/howto/

Malke
--
MS MVP - Windows Shell/User
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"

Ok I'll try and be more helpful:
1. Yes - home
2. No, the desktop has the same user, brian, but no password. Laptop has
user, and password.
3. Yes, I've got a couple of folders on both comps shared
4. Not sure what you mean - 'File and Printer Sharing' is checked there,
don't know how to add 'IP range', or even what it is to be honest.
5. No 3rd party software.
6. Both are xpPro
7. See above.

Thanks for the time - I'll check those links mean time.
b

brian wrote:

See comments inline:

Ok I'll try and be more helpful:
1. Yes - home
2. No, the desktop has the same user, brian, but no password. Laptop
has user, and password.

Make an identical account with password on the desktop to match that on
the laptop. Do this from the User Accounts applet in Control Panel.

3. Yes, I've got a couple of folders on both comps shared
4. Not sure what you mean - 'File and Printer Sharing' is checked
there, don't know how to add 'IP range', or even what it is to be
honest. 5. No 3rd party software.

You have to tell your firewall that the lan traffic is allowed. You're
using the Windows Firewall, right? Go to its applet in Control Panel
and open it. There will be a tab there for Exceptions. You have an
subnet range for your lan, based on what your router is using. If you
don't know it, do this on the desktop:

StartRun and type (without quotes) "cmd" [enter]
This will bring up the commandline box. Type:

ipconfig /all [enter]

This should show you the desktop's IP address, which will be something
like 192.168.x.xxx (where "x" and "xxx" are some numbers specific to
*your* network).

Then, on the Exceptions tab there will be a place for you to add an
exception of the IP range of your lan. I don't have a Windows Firewall
running (I use third-party software on my Windows boxen) so I can't
tell you exactly where it is, but it will be obvious or you can look in
the Windows Firewall Help. The IP range to enter will be:

192.168.x.0-192.168.x.254

Obviously, you have to enter the numbers instead of "x" that match your
very own network, which you will have seen using the ipconfig command.

6. Both are xpPro

Make sure Simple Sharing is Off on both machines (or On). They need to
match. Find the Simple Sharing box to tick or untick in the Folder
Options applet in Control Panel.

Now see where this gets you and post back if you need more help.

Malke
--
MS MVP - Windows Shell/User
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"

Thanks again Malke. So now I have identical accounts on both computers, same
name & password. I also have Simple File Sharing enabled on both. The
firewall is a bit iffy though. I went to Control Panel's applet, Exceptions
tab, clicked on File and Printer Sharing and chose Edit; there are 4
services listed there, TCP139, YCP445, UDP137 and UDP138. I chose TCP139 and
chose Change Scope. The radio button Custom list is where I put the ip
address of the desktop. It won't let me put a list, the ok button won't do
anything. When I try a list of ip addresses it just won't accept them. If I
put just one in there it accepts it (I put the laptop's) but the desktop
still can't ping it, so I took it out. So I'd appreciate some more ideas,
please.

brian wrote:

Thanks again Malke. So now I have identical accounts on both
computers, same name & password. I also have Simple File Sharing
enabled on both. The firewall is a bit iffy though. I went to Control
Panel's applet, Exceptions tab, clicked on File and Printer Sharing
and chose Edit; there are 4 services listed there, TCP139, YCP445,
UDP137 and UDP138. I chose TCP139 and chose Change Scope. The radio
button Custom list is where I put the ip address of the desktop. It
won't let me put a list, the ok button won't do anything. When I try a
list of ip addresses it just won't accept them. If I put just one in
there it accepts it (I put the laptop's) but the desktop still can't
ping it, so I took it out. So I'd appreciate some more ideas, please.

Since I don't have Windows Firewall running, I can't check for you, but
I think you don't need to edit anything. Undo your editing changes and
just enable File and Printer Sharing. Here are some links to help you
with Windows Firewall (start with the first one):

Manually Configuring Windows Firewall in Windows XP Service Pack 2
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/com...uy/cg0204.mspx

Troubleshooting Windows Firewall in Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2
http://tinyurl.com/3tnkt

Malke
--
MS MVP - Windows Shell/User
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"

I'm finding that this whole thing is taking too much of my time right now. I
can connect and transfer from and to the laptop - so that's the way I'm
leaving it for now. I have disabled the xp firewall and I'm using Panda
AntiVirus' one. I still can't ping the laptop from the desktop. Thanks for
your help - I'll go back to studying this thing after a couple of weeks. You
may see some more questions from me then!
b