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XP Network browsing

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8 replies

by razorren

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I have a Windows XP Professional pc and a Windows 2000 pc, both on the same IP subnet, Netbios over IP is enabled, same workgroup and both have several shares setup. However, I am unable to access each of the other pc's file shares or even see the other pc in the network neighborhood.

I can ping each pc from the other, but can't access the shared folders.

Any suggestions?

Renrick

8 replies

by maxwell edison

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In addition:

If one or more computers is not showing up in your My Network Places/Network Neighborhood folder, one of the computers is not configured properly. Here are some things to look for:

Make sure none of the computers are set upto use a "Windows NT Domain" or a "Business Domain."

All of the computers should have the same setting for "Workgroup."

All computer should have the same protocol, clients, and services installed (e.g. TCP/IP, File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks, and Client for Microsoft Networks).

Note that these protocols you have slightly different names in different versions of Windows. If you're using Internet Connection Sharing, the NetBEUI protocol should not be used; otherwise, you may need NetBEUI in order to access other computers on your network.

No two computers should have the same computer name.

Some computer names supported by Windows 2000 and Windows XP are not compatible with Windows 9x/Me, such as names with spaces. Simplify all your computer names and try again.

Don't discount the possibility of a hardware malfunction or a bad network cable. New network adapters (NICs) are cheap and easily replaced.

Good luck,

Maxwell

by joseph moore

Well, eventhough XP and Win2K both use DNS as the primary method of finding other systems, they also use WINS and LMHOSTS files.
So, an easy way to take care of this is to put entries in the LMHOSTS files of both system, pointing to the other. That should help with browsing.
Here is a Technet article Q180094 on how to set up LMHOSTS:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q180094
(please remove any spaces)

Now, as to access the shares on each machine, since they are both in a Workgroup, your login accounts are not shared between both machines. So, one way to help out is to make the same login/passwords on both machines. Then, once you can see the other machine and you double-click it, its shares are visible. Then you double-click the share and you might get lucky and it will let you in. Maybe.
Probably not, actually. You would have to log into the share using an account that is valid on the other machine. But, since you built account names and passwords that are the same on both, it will be easy to enter this in.

Hope this helps.

by haywood_rick

One thing I am assuming is that you do not have a Server on this network. If that is the case just leave everything in a workgroup not a domain and make sure there are no spaces in the workgroup name. For file sharing make sure you have the appropriate permissions on those shares for the other machines.

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