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Workgroup failure

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by eansor 1 view

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This is a problem I have seen posted several places around the internet. Several WinXP (Home) SP2 machines in a small office environment connected via switch to a DSL modem/router. Straightforward little network with DHCP being provided by the router. The XP machines will not stay bound to the workgroup. If I try to browse the workgroup through My Network Places I get the following confounded error message:

is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator (that would be me!) of this server to find out if you have access permissions. The list of servers for this workgroup is not currently available.

Now remember, this is strictly a peer to peer network. No server, other than the aforementioned DHCP router. No Local or Domain Security Policies in force. Nada. I am pulling my hair out over this one. I hate being stumped. I have disabled the Firewall through the Control Panel applet. I have disable the Firewal and Internet Connection Sharing Service through Services applet.

What am I missing? Your comments admonishments and suggestions are welcome.

Eansor

6 replies

by eansor

This is the part that really fries my bacon. I can ping all of the network devices on the network. They are all on the same subnet 192.168.1.x

To me this means that a low level protocol like ICMP is allowed to pass through, but the higher level protocols are not getting through. This is a firewall issues?

by awfernald

You are using the home version of Win XP.

I can think of several other reasons why this might be happening, however, I've never done a peer-to-peer network utilizing the "home" version, only the "pro" version.

Actually, I never even looked at the home version for this ;p~

by eansor

I believe the major difference between the two versions is that Pro will join a domain and Home will not. If this is indeed the case, then it would seem to me that Home is THE solution for a peer to peer workgroup. Why pay extra for the Pro version if you won't be using it's key feature?

Interestingly, I've noticed that the designation for Professional and Home goes away from the Microsoft splash screen during boot up after you install Service Pack 2.

Actually, an upgrade of these machines to Pro is an option for resolution of this issue. It will just take time and money that the client is hoping not to have to spend unless necessary. It is a young startup business and they are trying to limit their upfront IT costs. Can't say I blame them for that.

Eansor

by advancedgeek

I had the same issue, but i fixed mine in 15 minutes (*dont hate :)) ... what i did was run the networking wizard on the home pc's...which you've probably already done...but there is a setting that is obviously messing up the entire workgroup. One fix that I would try would be to re-run that, and change the name of the workgroup. Then re-add all of them to the new workgroup. It is not the fault of the pro machines...I helped with a network (that is still running) that has sp2 home pcs, and sp1&sp2 xp pro pcs. You simply have a problem with the workgroup...so dont upgrade! :) *sorry for the messy post

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