Solved: XP Peer to Peer networking stopped working

Hi

I have 2 desktops and a laptop connected to a router. All with fixed IP addresses and all with the same subnet mask and default gateway. All can connect to the internet.

I have had a peer to peer network running for over a year without problems. Suddenly the laptop has stopped being visible on the Mshome network.

I have checked and the Computer browser and Server services are running. The firewall is OK with exceptions allowed and the file and print sharing is one of those enabled exceptions.

I have checked Ipconfig and the settings are the same on all three machines other than the fixed IP addresses.

Does anyone have any ideas please?

TIA

Colin

 

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. Note that some firewalls must be completely uninstalled to stop them from affecting your networking.

Hold the Windows key and press R, then type CMD to open a command prompt.

In the command prompt window that opens, type type the following commands:

PING each remote computer by IP address, and if successful, PING by name. Open a command prompt as described above and type.

PING <ip address>
or
PING <computer name>

Where:
<ip address> - is the x.x.x.x IP address
<computer name> - is the computer name

A failure to PING is almost always a firewall configuration issue. Any failure to PING needs to be corrected before you go any farther.

Note: You can obtain the IP address and computer name of a computer by opening a command prompt (DOS window) and typing IPCONFIG /ALL. This should work for any Windows version. The IPCONFIG /ALL display will provide a wealth of useful information for debugging your network connection.

Check your Services are Started on all PCs:

• Computer Browser
• DHCP Client
• DNS Client
• Network Connections
• Network Location Awareness
• Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
• Server
• TCP/IP Netbios helper
• Workstation

Note: You can check the services in Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Services.

All of these services should be started, and their startup type should be automatic.

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.

 

John

Thank you for the things to check.

I should have said in my original post that all computers can be pinged by each other so I don't think there are any firewall problems. All services mentioned are running and are set to start automatically. All 3 machines have some resources (drives and printers) with sharing enabled and the hand is shown on the shared resources. All three machines are in the same workgroup. The laptops shared resources are not visible even to itself in 'My Network Places'.

However your last suggestion sorted it. I don't know why the setting should have changed but Netbios was set to disabled bearing in mind this had been working successfully for about 12 months. I suspect it was one of the M$ updates!!

Thanks once again.

Colin

 

Who knows, that's why I have people check it, because sometimes it comes unglued for no apparent reason.

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