Unable to browse network from "Network Neighborhood>Entire Network"

i am unable to browse my network when clicking on the Network Neighborhood>Entire Network. The error message is "Unable to browse the network. The Network is not accessable. For more information, look in the help index at the topic 'Network Troubleshooter'. "

 

Do you have a firewall installed? If so, it will probably need to be configured to give you access to your network. To find out if it's the firewall, temporarily turn it off and see if you can then browse the network.

Are the other computers you're trying to access turned on?

Do any of the other computers on your network have trouble accessing your computer?

 

i have no firewall, and the other system is a windows xp that can access the 98's files. Thank You all.

 

Please tell us more about your network.
- is it a small home PC network with a couple of PCs ?
- what are the makes of the adapter cards on each PC ?
- what protocols are you using on the PCs
- did the network function OK before ?

Have you tried this ...
- disconnect (unplug) all network adapter connections
- reboot all PCs
- reconnect all adapter connections
- reboot all PCs
regards

 

If the XP system is using NTFS, the "setup disk" you're prompted to make when you run the Network wizard on the XP computer will have to be made and then run on the Win98 computer.

Win98's FAT32 format can't read XP's NTFS format without running that setup disk.

 

One thing that catches me when setting up a small network is to "allow file and printer sharing ". You also need to go to the Drive's (the drives you want to share) properties and enable "sharing ". These can be found in the Help menu (under "Sharing ").

Have you done your pinging (are the network cards "visible ")?

If you are stuck:
www.homenethelp.com and www.practicallynetworked.com
they have great tutorials.

Matt

 

i have ping'ed all the ip addresses on the network, and all ping successfully.
I use a wired connection for the XP Desktop, and a wireless for the 98 desktop. The model # for the router is : DI-524; the wireless card is:
GWL-G510.

 

I believe your problem is not 98, but what is not installed on XP, the Netbeui protocol. XP by default does not have it, and wouldn't need it except to network with a 98 machine.
How to Install NetBEUI on Windows XP

 

i have no problem accessing the 98's files... i can get to any thing on the c:\ drive so i dont know if i even need that, but if i do anyway, please let me know. Also, i bought the system refurbished so i dont have the windows xp disk.

 

I am moving this over to Networking, where some folks may be able to help you.
I believe you will need Netbeui installed, as the 98 doesn't seem to recognize XP's protocols. But, wait for some more ideas.

 

Hi kameronk.

You have run into the fact that all the NT based systems (NT4/2K/XP/etc) do security very differently than ME/9X did. The XP system will demand to know who wants to connect before it will allow sharing.

If you can ping both ways and XP can get to shares on 98 then that is likely the only problem. Two things you'll need to do.

- On the XP PC you need to make sure the Guest user account is enabled. It is by default at install time on XP-home and is not by default on XP-pro. Right-click on My Computer, left-click on Manage, open up Local Users and Groups the Users and check the account named Guest.

- On the 98 PC you need to be logging in with a username and a non-blank password. Easiest way I know of to ensure that is to locate any files on the PC that end in .pwd and change or delete them. For safety, renaming the file from something.pwd to something.pwd-old will do it and you could always recover the file if needed. Then log off and when you try to log back on it should prompt you for a username and for a password. Anything is fine except leaving the block(s) blank.

Assuming you have file & printer sharing enabled on both PCs and have something shared on both, you should be good to go. If not, post back and we'll dig around a little.

markp62 - Win95 and newer OS versions will all work fine with TCP/IP unless you are on a really large network (1000 PCs or more) and then 95 will begin to choke from too much data.

NetBEUI is nice because it is so simple to set up and works well but the same security tweaks are required. From the least secure option (for an all adult household and no visitors) to the most secure (you got kids who like to mess around), this can be done by

- the Guest account method detailed above
- using the exact same username/password on all PCs
- using different usernames & passwords on all PCs and putting each username/password on all NT4/2K/XP/2K3 systems

 

i have now enabled the guest account and enabled a password on the 98 system. i have also discovered that when i am not connected to the router and have a different workgroup name, that there is no error, and i can see the local system, but when i am connected and use Mshome (my home workgroup) i get the error. also, i do not know where netbeaui can be found online (i dont have a winxp disk...)

 

im not sure, but it may have sounded as if i solved my problem. I did NOT.

 

Not sure if I understood your previous post correctly, but workgroup "names" have to be the same on all computers on the network you are trying to connect to. Win98 default workgroup name is "workgroup" while WinXP default is "Mshome ". Make sure that ALL the computers on that network have the same workgroup name. Joe.

 

yes, i am aware all systems must share the same workgroup name.

 

Need more information please.

Provide the following from the XP PC when it is and when it is not connected to the router. Please edit the two text files you'll be creating to specify which is connected to router and which is not.

From a cmd prompt (so start => run => cmd and OK)

Code:

ipconfig /all > c:\config.txt
ipconfig /all >> c:\config.txt

The > and the >> will cause the first command to create a text file and place the results there. The second will append the new stuff. No matter in which order as long as we can tell which data was while connected and which was while not connected.

98 won't allow the ipconfig and creating a text file so you will need to go back to the start=>run line and enter winipcfg. When the window pops up with the results, click the button to get details and then get a screen print of the results - again, connected and not connected.

You won't be able to post the pictures here directly so you can either place them on the web and post a link or else email them to me and I'll post them for you.