hate networking and can't set it up - help!

neologan

neologan

neologan

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Hertfordshire
just bought a linksys WRT54GL cable router and have managed to set up the net to work on both my laptop (wireless) and main PC (wired) and put tomato on it.

My problem is i have no idea how to get these two machines to see each others drives. The laptop is on Vista 32, the PC is on XP.

Can anyone run me through what to do so i can get the damn things to share files, etc?

Thanks!
 
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What are you doing that's not working?
Unless you've got some firewall blocking Windows file sharing, the two machines should just see each other and work fine.
 
i think i need a walk through of some sorts to see if i've missed something really :(

if i look under Network in vista, all i see is my router.
 
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There's no real walkthrough:
1. Start OS.
2. Open Network.
3. Done.

Tried disabling firewall(s); start, run, \\[machine's IP]?
 
set the workgroup the same, don't use the defaults, they are different form vista and XP.

edit i remember when i setup my network i had to install something called "Link-Layer Topology Discovery (LLTD)" on my XP laptop, was about a year ago so cant remember. try the workgroup first.
 
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tried accessing the machines through start / run, i get this error:

notworkinguy9.gif
 
The error message above means that the user account you are using currently has no password. Post SP2 on XP, Microsoft disabled the ability to connect to another machine if you have a blank password.

The solution is to either have same user account on both machines with the same password, or disable the setting

Open Run
Type gpedit.msc
Computer Configuration
Windows Settings
Security Settings
Local Policies
Security options
Then in the right column, third one down is > "Account: limit local account use............."
Disable that

Then try again :)


Also make sure windows firewall is allowing file sharing (stops it by default)

Are they both on the same workgroup?

Have you actually shared any folders on either machine?
 
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i've now set passwords for the accounts, its half working - i can see my laptop from the pc now, but not the other way round.

Maybe it's just me, but why is this so damn fiddly to do...
 
Vista laptop can't see the XP machine?

Click start
type \\name of your xp pc here
hit enter

Any message?

Can you ping the XP machine from your laptop by the name? What about pinging it via I.P. address?

Got any crazy norton / mcaffee internet security products?
 
pings worked fine both ways, i do get an error message for what you asked:

error code 0x800704b3, but it sems to be pretty generic.
 
on both machines, create a folder C:\shared\ and share it (so do that on james-laptop)

now on mainframe

start, run

\\james-laptop

should show up the shared folder


what is the device as .109? doesn't have a proper name..
 
i don't have a clue what .109 is, how would i check?

*EDIT* hmmmm that one seems to have disappeared when i turned the router off and back on.
 
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neologan said:
i don't have a clue what .109 is, how would i check?
Click to expand...

Well it's a wired device attached to the router, it's been assigned an IP (obviously). So I gather you must have another machine or perhaps a printer or NAS attached to the network? ...or did you conenct your laptop using an ethernet cable at some point, before you reset the router?
 
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Silly question, but have you actually set up file sharing? As in shared a drive? I see people offering advice about how to connect to a mapped drive, but nothing that says you actually shared one?

- Pea0n
 
tried what you have suggested. The shared folder from the laptop shows for the XP machine (PC), but still can't get a folder from XP (PC) to show on Vista (Laptop).

I've setup file sharing for a drive on each machine, so i don't think there is a problem there.

This is really starting to get on my nerves now grrrr.
 
*SOLVED*

Turns out it was all my own damn fault. I used the Vista tweak guide on my laptop from notebookreview and disabled the service "Workstation", which is a tweak to help start up times in vista (its tweak 4 in the guide), but it disables some functionality in network environments. Now i've enabled it again all is fine. That will teach me to do these things at 2am in the morning!

Thanks for everyone that tried to help, it was really appreciated :)
 
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