Home Networking Problem

Question

I'm trying to set up a home network between my desktop computer running Windows XP Pro and my laptop running Windows XP Home. (The laptop was originally installed with XP Home.) I ran the Network Setup Wizard on both the desktop and the laptop, putting both computers in the 'HOME' workgroup. However, I can't connect to the laptop from the desktop, and I can't connect to the network, period, from the laptop. When I try to connect to the laptop from the desktop, I get the following error message: \Laptop is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of this server to find out if you have access permissions.   The network path was not found.   On the laptop, when I'm in My Network Places and click on 'View network computers' I get the following error message:   Home is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of this server to find out if you have access permissions.   The network path was not found.   Anybody know what's going on?   Thanks.

vmansd · Answer

First, make sure your firewall, if any, on the laptop is configured to allow network traffic through.

Can you ping either machine from the other?

Have you set correct values for IP address, gateway, dns, etc?

Please provide a bit more info on how you're networked, and the output of command "ipconfig /all" run on the laptop (don't include the quotes"

Val

jmwills · Answer

What Service Packs are involved? http://www.practicallynetworked.com/howto/http://www.theeldergeek.com/quick_guide_to_simple_file_sharing.htm   Message Edited by jmwills on 08-15-2005 08:44 AM

Rem3006 · Answer

Be sure 'Sharing' is installed on the XP Home edition PC.  It normally does not come already installed but should be available on your Windows CD under Other Features.

kempshall · Answer

Thanks, everybody, for your help. I finally figured it out: It turns out that Sygate Personal Firewall can block file sharing traffic while letting everything else through. The solution is to go to Tools -> Options... -> Network Neighborhood and click on 'Allow others to share my files and printer(s)'. Granted, this doesn't explain why one computer could find the workgroup and one couldn't, but that's moot by now anyway.

Networking, Internet, & Bluetooth

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