File and Printer Sharing – Machines can’t see

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What setting am I missing?

Desktop:
Win XP Pro
wired to wireless router (802.11G) which is wired to cable modem
File and Print Sharing is enabled on Nic card properties
internet and email work fine

Laptop:
Win XP Pro
integrated 54g wireless that sees the wireless router
internet and email work fine
File and Printer Sharing turned on for the wireless connection

But they can’t see each other in Network Neighborhood. Both are member of the same workgroup.
When viewing the workgroup in Network Neighborhood on the laptop, the laptop machine shows up but not the desktop.
When viewing the workgroup in Network Neighborhood on the desktop, neither shows up. Error says something about no permissions….
One folder on each machine is shared, the default ‘Shared Documents’ folder.

What am I missing?

Sarah

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Replies

Do you have the same username and password on both PCs?
Or an enabled Guest account? (but I wouldn’t recommend this)

StuartR

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I do have the guest accounts enabled on both machines, but I had tried it with both guest accounts disabled and it still didn’t work.

There is no password on the user accounts. and they have the same user name.

What about enabling Remote Desktop? (Remote tab of the system properties…) Does that make any difference? They are turned off on both machines.

Sarah

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Have you turned OFF the Windows XP Firewall? This will be the problem most of the time.

But you need to add a third part firewall in it’s place.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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I don’t have the Windows XP firewall turned on. On the desktop I use the McAfee Guardian Firewall and I don’t have a firewall on the laptop, although I’m going to install ZoneAlarm tonight…

Sarah

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Remember that the XP Firewall is ON by default, did you turn it off?

Also have made the correct settings in your McAfee Firewall to allow the other computers to see it?

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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I will double check, but yes, I have XP firewall turned off on both the laptop and desktop.

I’ve read some information on the McAfee site and yes, I think I need to make some adjustments on my McAfee firewall. That may be the culprit. I’ll post if this works or not.

sarah

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I will double check, but yes, I have XP firewall turned off on both the laptop and desktop.

I’ve read some information on the McAfee site and yes, I think I need to make some adjustments on my McAfee firewall. That may be the culprit. I’ll post if this works or not.

sarah

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Dave

I think the XP Firewall is OFF by default – that’s why so many people were hit by recent viruses like MSBlaster! Microsoft have been advertising heavily (in UK newspapers, at least) the Protect your PC message, the first of which (for XP) is to activate the firewall, with a link marked “Let us do it for you”, indeed!

I think SP2 will have a “both ways” Firewall — turned ON by default — MS having learned their lesson, at last…!

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NO, the MS firewall is ON by default and is not worth having, That is why there are so many network startup problems. Besides this firewall blocks all incoming but NOT out going. Every new machine and install of XP I have had to trun OFF this thing.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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NO, the MS firewall is ON by default and is not worth having, That is why there are so many network startup problems. Besides this firewall blocks all incoming but NOT out going. Every new machine and install of XP I have had to trun OFF this thing.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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Dave

I think the XP Firewall is OFF by default – that’s why so many people were hit by recent viruses like MSBlaster! Microsoft have been advertising heavily (in UK newspapers, at least) the Protect your PC message, the first of which (for XP) is to activate the firewall, with a link marked “Let us do it for you”, indeed!

I think SP2 will have a “both ways” Firewall — turned ON by default — MS having learned their lesson, at last…!

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I made adjustments to my McAfee firewall and now the laptop can see the desktop and the desktop can see the laptop. I can share files between the two.

But my printer is another issue. The printer is attached to my desktop, just a regular parallel port. The printer is shared, but I can’t make my laptop see it. I go through the Add Printer wizard, and choose network printer, then I want to browse for it. The desktop machine shows up in the screen, but the printer doesn’t appear for me to select. Does the name of the printer share matter? I have a space in the share name, ‘Canon S400’.

I haven’t added a password to my user account yet, and am still able to share files.

Any ideas?

Sarah

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Since it appears that there are no other computers involved, go to the computer with the printer and remove the sharing of the printer, reboot, then redefine the share.

You still have NOT answered my one question, did YOU turn off the XP Firewall? You stated it was not on, but you did NOT state as to how you know that it is NOT on.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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YES I MADE SURE THE MS FIREWALL WAS OFF. I checked in Network Connections, Right clicked on my local area connection, checked the Advanced tab, and yes there is no check mark in Internet Connection Firewall. I did this on both pc’s.

When I installed the WinXP OS on my desktop it was not enabled by default. When I received my laptop, with Windows XP preinstalled, I checked the settings and the firewall was not turned on by default.

Sarah

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YES I MADE SURE THE MS FIREWALL WAS OFF. I checked in Network Connections, Right clicked on my local area connection, checked the Advanced tab, and yes there is no check mark in Internet Connection Firewall. I did this on both pc’s.

When I installed the WinXP OS on my desktop it was not enabled by default. When I received my laptop, with Windows XP preinstalled, I checked the settings and the firewall was not turned on by default.

Sarah

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All is better. The laptop is seeing the desktop’s printer now. I had to add the laptop in the McAfee Firewall as a safe computer. I had forgot to try that again after I enabled NetBIOS over Tcp/IP. It’s can’t find the driver to install but I can get past that, I think.

Thanks to all that helped!!

Sarah

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All is better. The laptop is seeing the desktop’s printer now. I had to add the laptop in the McAfee Firewall as a safe computer. I had forgot to try that again after I enabled NetBIOS over Tcp/IP. It’s can’t find the driver to install but I can get past that, I think.

Thanks to all that helped!!

Sarah

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I went to the appropriate place and made sure the box was unchecked. After shutting off both computers — and my own brain (by sleep) — when I got up this morning it seemed to be working. I’m still concerned about having no firewall between me and the outside world. You replied to me on a separate thread about this, and I really appreciate your help! If you know any way for me to configure Norton to be enabled but to make an exception for internal network stuff, I’d love to hear it!

Sheryl King

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I went to the appropriate place and made sure the box was unchecked. After shutting off both computers — and my own brain (by sleep) — when I got up this morning it seemed to be working. I’m still concerned about having no firewall between me and the outside world. You replied to me on a separate thread about this, and I really appreciate your help! If you know any way for me to configure Norton to be enabled but to make an exception for internal network stuff, I’d love to hear it!

Sheryl King

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Since it appears that there are no other computers involved, go to the computer with the printer and remove the sharing of the printer, reboot, then redefine the share.

You still have NOT answered my one question, did YOU turn off the XP Firewall? You stated it was not on, but you did NOT state as to how you know that it is NOT on.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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Sharing is working now. So just righclick the printer and choose share on the machine it is hooked to. Pick the same port it is on normally. The printer will come up on the other machine when you need to print. You don’t have to do anything on the second machine it will show up as installed. I’m using pro on all my machines and only one has the printers(shared). I have never had to install them on the other machines.

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Yeah, I wish it were that easy. The printer doesn’t appear in the Printers window at all. I do have the printer shared and I didn’t change the port at all. Not sure, what’s wrong….

Maybe I have to check my McAfee Firewall settings again to allow printers…

Sarah

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Yeah, I wish it were that easy. The printer doesn’t appear in the Printers window at all. I do have the printer shared and I didn’t change the port at all. Not sure, what’s wrong….

Maybe I have to check my McAfee Firewall settings again to allow printers…

Sarah

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Sharing is working now. So just righclick the printer and choose share on the machine it is hooked to. Pick the same port it is on normally. The printer will come up on the other machine when you need to print. You don’t have to do anything on the second machine it will show up as installed. I’m using pro on all my machines and only one has the printers(shared). I have never had to install them on the other machines.

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Make sure the firewall is set to allow the printer too. I had Norton Firewall (2001 version) block all networked printers. That is, the PC that had Norton and was sharing a printer did not allow anyone else to use it until I reconfigured the software. It also would not print across the network to another shared printer for the same reason.

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I’ll check my McAfee Firewall settings again… Although I didn’t see anything specifically allowing or disallowing shared printer traffic….

I enabled the NetBios over TCP/IP traffic and that allowed me to do the file sharing… I thought that it would allow printers as well. I’ll check when I get home and post back what I find.

Sarah

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I use Zone Alarm and just put my whole network in the Trusted Zone. 192.168.1.1-192.168.1.4 Plus my wireless card needed to go in there. MacAffee is probably more complicated.

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I use Zone Alarm and just put my whole network in the Trusted Zone. 192.168.1.1-192.168.1.4 Plus my wireless card needed to go in there. MacAffee is probably more complicated.

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I’ll check my McAfee Firewall settings again… Although I didn’t see anything specifically allowing or disallowing shared printer traffic….

I enabled the NetBios over TCP/IP traffic and that allowed me to do the file sharing… I thought that it would allow printers as well. I’ll check when I get home and post back what I find.

Sarah

Reply | Quote

Make sure the firewall is set to allow the printer too. I had Norton Firewall (2001 version) block all networked printers. That is, the PC that had Norton and was sharing a printer did not allow anyone else to use it until I reconfigured the software. It also would not print across the network to another shared printer for the same reason.

Reply | Quote

I made adjustments to my McAfee firewall and now the laptop can see the desktop and the desktop can see the laptop. I can share files between the two.

But my printer is another issue. The printer is attached to my desktop, just a regular parallel port. The printer is shared, but I can’t make my laptop see it. I go through the Add Printer wizard, and choose network printer, then I want to browse for it. The desktop machine shows up in the screen, but the printer doesn’t appear for me to select. Does the name of the printer share matter? I have a space in the share name, ‘Canon S400’.

I haven’t added a password to my user account yet, and am still able to share files.

Any ideas?

Sarah

Reply | Quote

Remember that the XP Firewall is ON by default, did you turn it off?

Also have made the correct settings in your McAfee Firewall to allow the other computers to see it?

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

Reply | Quote

I don’t have the Windows XP firewall turned on. On the desktop I use the McAfee Guardian Firewall and I don’t have a firewall on the laptop, although I’m going to install ZoneAlarm tonight…

Sarah

Reply | Quote

Have you turned OFF the Windows XP Firewall? This will be the problem most of the time.

But you need to add a third part firewall in it’s place.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

Reply | Quote

I think you’ll find that XP doesn’t like having NO passwords. You should probably get used to using ’em for your own security. But, if you’ve a mind to try something, see the attachment from Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Local Security Policy.

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Okay, so I’ll put on a password…

Do you really think this is why the computers can’t see each other?

Sarah

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Okay, so I’ll put on a password…

Do you really think this is why the computers can’t see each other?

Sarah

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I think you’ll find that XP doesn’t like having NO passwords. You should probably get used to using ’em for your own security. But, if you’ve a mind to try something, see the attachment from Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Local Security Policy.

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I do have the guest accounts enabled on both machines, but I had tried it with both guest accounts disabled and it still didn’t work.

There is no password on the user accounts. and they have the same user name.

What about enabling Remote Desktop? (Remote tab of the system properties…) Does that make any difference? They are turned off on both machines.

Sarah

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Sarah,

I have a similar issue that is driving me crazy: My desktop is Windows XP home and my laptop is Windows XP Pro. The desktop is attached to a D-Link 802.11b wireless router. I have run the network wizard on both machines and used all of the default settings. The laptop has no problem with e-mail, Internet, in viewing the shared desktop files/folders. But no matter what I do, I can not get the desktop to see the shared files/folders on the laptop. My firewall on the XP Pro laptop is turned off.

I wish I could find the one or multiple settings that are apparently not correct and are preventing any other machine to see the files on the XP Pro laptop.

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Can you see both computers in “Network neighborhood” on both machine?
Have you turned OFF the Windows Firewall on both machines?
Have shared any thing on the laptop?

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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Dave,

Thanks for the suggestions. I finally figured that it was my laptop firewall (PANDA) and now both PCs can see each other’s files/folders. Some bright networking guru would make much money if he/she could develop a fool-proof set-up routine for home networks that woild catch of of the possible settings that need to be managed. MS’ network wizard isn’t smart enough (yet) to detect that a firewall needs to be configued to let trusted PCs through.

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Dave,

Thanks for the suggestions. I finally figured that it was my laptop firewall (PANDA) and now both PCs can see each other’s files/folders. Some bright networking guru would make much money if he/she could develop a fool-proof set-up routine for home networks that woild catch of of the possible settings that need to be managed. MS’ network wizard isn’t smart enough (yet) to detect that a firewall needs to be configued to let trusted PCs through.

Reply | Quote

Can you see both computers in “Network neighborhood” on both machine?
Have you turned OFF the Windows Firewall on both machines?
Have shared any thing on the laptop?

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

Reply | Quote

Sarah,

I have a similar issue that is driving me crazy: My desktop is Windows XP home and my laptop is Windows XP Pro. The desktop is attached to a D-Link 802.11b wireless router. I have run the network wizard on both machines and used all of the default settings. The laptop has no problem with e-mail, Internet, in viewing the shared desktop files/folders. But no matter what I do, I can not get the desktop to see the shared files/folders on the laptop. My firewall on the XP Pro laptop is turned off.

I wish I could find the one or multiple settings that are apparently not correct and are preventing any other machine to see the files on the XP Pro laptop.

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I have always had the problem that my desktop and wireless linked desktop and laptop cannot see each other, if the others are started after the desktop, until the desktop is restarted, then it detects the others. It seems like the computer checks for links via the router, then never checks again. I fiddled with some things and made it work, but going to the links in Explorer may or may not show the second or third computer, it seems to depend upon whether they were turned on before my desktop. I may be missing a setting somewhere.

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This entire thread is very interesting to me. I have just acquired a new laptop and I’m having many of the same problems the folks above have been having. I’ve been using Norton for my internet protection and Norton Anti Virus for my virus protection. Based on info received above, I’ve turned everything off and now I can see parts of things on each other computer. But I still can’t get my laptop to see the printer on my desktop. And I’m nervous having none of my usual protections enabled. Can anyone make a suggestion?

Sheryl King
La Jolla

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Have you “Shared” the printer on your desktop, to make it accessible over the network?

To do this open “Printers and Faxes”, right click the printer, choose “Sharing” and enable “Share this printer”.

StuartR

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Have you “Shared” the printer on your desktop, to make it accessible over the network?

To do this open “Printers and Faxes”, right click the printer, choose “Sharing” and enable “Share this printer”.

StuartR

Reply | Quote

This entire thread is very interesting to me. I have just acquired a new laptop and I’m having many of the same problems the folks above have been having. I’ve been using Norton for my internet protection and Norton Anti Virus for my virus protection. Based on info received above, I’ve turned everything off and now I can see parts of things on each other computer. But I still can’t get my laptop to see the printer on my desktop. And I’m nervous having none of my usual protections enabled. Can anyone make a suggestion?

Sheryl King
La Jolla

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I have always had the problem that my desktop and wireless linked desktop and laptop cannot see each other, if the others are started after the desktop, until the desktop is restarted, then it detects the others. It seems like the computer checks for links via the router, then never checks again. I fiddled with some things and made it work, but going to the links in Explorer may or may not show the second or third computer, it seems to depend upon whether they were turned on before my desktop. I may be missing a setting somewhere.

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