New XP Pro Notebook can't access my other computers and vice versa

Hi,
My company just sent me a new Dell notebook computer running XP Pro. It has a built in wireless card which I've managed to connect to my Linksys wireless network. I can surf the net fine. But I can't connect to the hard drives on other computers to move files and they can't connect to the new one. If I ping the XP Pro's ip address from the others they see it. So the issue is how to get them set up where I can move large files back and forth and share a printer that is hooked into my home computer.

Thanks .... Don

 

ok make sure they are on the same workgroup also make sure you have matching account on both computers and that file and print sharing is on and turn off any firewall on still everything is working

 

My new computer is part of a domain. However none of my other three connected computers are on the same workgroup. Nor have I ever had to add a user to make the connections work. Is this just an xp pro issue?

 

your other 3 boxes can see each other because the ARE in the same workgroup. You can use the NET USE command to attach to shared resources in another domain or workgroup.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308582 describes how to use NET USE to map a drive; there are other KB articles on using NET USE to attach to a shared printer.

The easiest solution might be to change the workgroup name on the other 3 machines to match the domain name on your laptop. I have my home computer in a workgroup of the same name as my network domain at the office for the same reason, more or less. When I attach to the office network via RAS or VPN, I can use NET USE to map a drive to a shared folder on the network.

 

I changed the workgroup of one of my home computers to match the domain on my new office notebook. So far it can't even see it. I checked the workgroup names on my three computers that connect just fine and they are attbi, objy643 and mshome. They aren't the same name. So I changed the attbi computer to my new notebook domain. Now it isn't finding it.

 

all 3 computers at home need to have the same workgroup name. presumably, they all already are in the same subnet (same series of IP addresses). Can they ping each other by IP address? If they all have the same workgroup name and are in the same subnet, AND have file/printer sharing enabled in network properties, then you should be able to see them in Network Neighborhood/Places.

even assuming the workgroup name is the same as the domain name at your office, you will not be able to "browse" that network even if you have a RAS or VPN connection to that network. Do you have a RAS or VPN connection to your office? If you do, then you should be able to ping IP addresses on that network, and use the NET USE command to access shared resources. But you won't see them in Network Neighborhood/Places.

 

Maybe I don't know what a workgroup name is then. I know on the one running win98se it used to say attbi. I changed that to my notebook domain name but still no luck. I know that my company uses rsa secure id cards to get into their network. Maybe that's the problem.

 

Making some progress. The computer I changed the attbi workgroup name on to match my work notebook computer is now starting to show the hard drive. But it seems intermitant. Also when I tried to copy it said could not read source file.

 

All machines are must be in the same subnet, i.e. 192.168.0.x where x is any number. The subnet mask should be 255.255.255.0 for most small networks.

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.

PING each computer by IP address, and if successful, PING by name. You can obtain the IP address of a computer by opening a command prompt (DOS window) and typing IPCONFIG. This should work for any Windows version.

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.

 

Well my frustration level is high now. I used the XP Pro's network identification wizard. So rather than say I'm on a business network which is where it was set at I said I'm on a home network. Needless to say now I can't get anything to connect except the internet still works. When I booted up before I was prompted for a password and below that was a drop down box of computer names (I think it was computer names). Anyway I can't seem to get back to that. My IT dept. will ***** non stop tomorrow about this.

 

You switched from a domain login to a workgroup login. I'm not sure if XP remembers the domain server info, but it's easy for your IT folks to put it back.

 

Yes I think you hit the nail on the head. I just wish it wasn't so hard to get this thing talking to my other computers. I did it once today but not since then.

 

I spoke to someone at my company today who said XP Pro is much more picky about connecting to non XP Pro machines than other OS's. So the way we got around it is to simply click on start, run, cmd

\\ip address of the machine I want to connect to.

This has solved the problem in terms of moving files back and forth. What is weird (just left a post on this) is that I can't seem to connect to my wife's printers from the XP Pro machine but all other machines in the house have no problem printing on her printers. Hopefully I'll get this figured out soon.

Thanks for the help.
Don

 

That's total nonsense, I've had no more issues connecting the XP-Pro machines in my network than any other version of Windows. You obviously have some sort of name resolution issue.

 

All workgroup names are identical. Believe me I'd rather not have to type in
//ip address to make the connections from xp pro to the other machines. Still open to suggestions.