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J_Rodman
03-19-2004, 09:13 PM
I could really use some help. We have cable connected to a Linksys WRT54G wireless router. There are 2 desktops connected to the router via cat 5 cables. My wife has a Compaq laptop with a built in HP wireless card. I have an ABS laptop with a built in engenius wireless card. WEP is enabled with 128 bit encryption and Zonealarm is active on all of the machines. All of the machines are able to surf the net perfectly. The problem is with my laptop accessing the other computers. The two desktops and my wife's laptop can all see each other and share files via the network. My laptop however can neither see, nor be seen by, the other computers on our network. Everything is running Windows XP. The laptops are using the wireless card utilities and not the built XP controls.
Let me know what additional information I can provide. Thanks inadvance.
It sure sounds like you know how to setup file and printer sharing, but I thought I would just add this link as a reference:
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/xp/filesharing.htm
I was wondering if your notebook is used on any other networks, like at work? Where it might have a different configuration or be setup to use a domain instead of a workgroup. Also could it be that you are using a different username and password. XP requires the user asking to share a file to be an authorized user on the computer sharing the file. It might be that you are not that on the other computers. Or it could be that you have the username/password enabled and it is not on the others.
Have you tried the sharing with the Zone Alarm turned off on your notebook? Or maybe is the XP firewall enabled on yours and not the others? I will let you check these few thoughts out and wait for your opinion.
J_Rodman
03-19-2004, 10:31 PM
One thing I should say is that I have not set up any folders on my laptop for sharing. I would think though that I should be able to see the other computers shared folders, whether my lap top is sharing any folders or not.
This laptop is used only for home. I have run the network set up disk that I made from one of the desktops on the laptop. One question, can I just run the setup wizard on XP without using the network CD? I do not think I have the passwords enabled on the other computers. If I have it only on this laptop, will that prevent me from accessing the other computers? I did find the XP firewall enabled on the laptop. I disabled it but still can't see the other computers. I've opened up access on ZoneAlarm through the Trusted zones. I supposed I could turn it off on one of the desktops and see what happens. I just ran IP config to check the details and the first thing that shows is the Network Bridge. I saw on one of the other threads that the bridge may the source of some internet access issues. Should I disable this?
I appreciate the help.
You might be wrong, if you do not have file and printer sharing enabled on your computer. As long as you have that turned on and are using the same workgroup name the sharing should work. One initial test is to ping the other computers to see if they are visible to each other. Or can you see the other computers in the Network Places? I would disable the bridge as you are not using it for anything in this network. The router should be controlling the network. Check these points out, maybe glance at the link I posted earlier, and hopefully it will be solved.