Sharing files at home.

Hi, I'm a newbie, so please forgive me for the (perhaps) simple questions. I don't know what I'm doing.

I have two computers at home (both running XP). I got DSL and wanted to get it on both computers, so I bought a little 4-port Linksys box and some Cat5 and got the DSL working on both of them.

Now, I'd like to share files between the two, but don't really know how. What now?

I went to My Network Places and ran the "Set up a home or small office network" wizard but that didn't seem to work. It set up a workgroup, but I can't see the computers in the workgroup. On one computer I just see that computer (itself) and on the other computer I see nothing.

Any thoughts? I need help.

Thanks,
JC

 

Install file and print sharing on both computers. It's in networking properties.
Open Explorer, and right click on the files/folders/drives you want to share, select Sharing and Security and share them, usually without a password and with all r/w permissions.

 

How do I install file and print sharing? Where is "networking properties "? Sorry for the dumb questions.

 

Right click My Network Places (on desktop), select Properties.
Right click your connection, select Properties.
Install, Service, File and Printer Sharing (if it's not already there).
Now open Explorer, right click on what you want to share, select Sharing and Security.

 

Ok, thanks for the step-bystep.
File and print sharing is already installed on both computers. I clicked on a folder and shared it. Now, how do I get to it from the other computer? I still don't see anything.

Thanks.

 

Open Explorer, scroll down to My Network Places, click the +, click the My Network Places +, click the Workgroup name +, click the computer name +, click the shared folder or drive.
You can right click it and select Map Network drive if you like, and as long as that computer is on, it will show up in your list of drives.
The default is drive "Z ", but you can make it any drive letter you want, as long as it's not already in use on the host computer.

 

Ok, I went to Explorer, clicked on My Network Places, clicked on Entire Network, clicked on Microsoft Windows Network, clicked on the Workgroup name, and nothing is there.

The workgroup is there, but there's no + next to it and there's nothing in it. No computers show up. Not even the computer I'm using.

Why aren't the computers there?

Thanks.

 

You'll have to disable the firewall, and enable the Guest account in XP.

 

I don't think the firewall is enabled. I went to Local Area Connection properties, clicked the Advanced tab, and Internet Connection Firewall was not checked on either computer. Is there something else I have to do?

Ok, how do I go about enabling the Guest account?

Thanks again!

 

Nevermind, I figured out the guest account. Ok, I turned on the guest account on both computers. But, I still see nothing in the workgroup. It's the same thing....

Computer A: I see nothing.
Computer B: I see the icon for Computer B only.

Any thoughts?

 

Yup. XP has so much security, it's hard to bypass.
The easy way:
Install NetBEUI on both computers.
The hard way:
Set up an account on each computer that corresponds to the login account on the other computer.
To install NetBEUI
Right click My Network Places (on desktop), select Properties.
Right click your connection, select Properties.
Install, Protocall, Add, Have Disk.
Insert the XP CD.
Browse to x:\VALUEADD\MSFT\NET\NETBEUI
Select NETBEUI, and install it.
That will allow super easy file sharing on both computers, and will NOT compromise security on the internet.
The NETBEUI protocall is NOT routable. That is, it's invisible to the internet and TCP/IP, yet is the easiest way to set up a small (less than 5 computer) LAN.

More on this at http://www.homenethelp.com/web/howto/HomeNet-start.asp

 

Well, I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but when I ran the "Set up a home or small office network" wizard on Computer B it worked fine, and the workgroup seems to be working (because I can see the icon for Computer B), but when I ran the wizard on computer A, and every time I try to run it since, during the "please wait while the wizard configures this computer...." screen, I get an error message that pops up.

"Spooler SubSystem App has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience. "

When I click on the data that the error report contains:
Error Signature
szAppName : SPOOLSV.EXE szAppVer : 5.1.2600.0 szModName : ntdll.dll
szModVer : 5.1.2600.1106 offset : 0001aa5f

Then it just goes on to the next screen in the wizard like it finished correctly, but it didn't.

This might be the source of a problem.

Thanks!

 

Seems like the spool service isn't starting. It may be disabled.
Not to worry, just install NETBEUI and forget it.
It's much easier to configure (there's nothing to do!), and you don't have to worry about stupid windows errors, or how to solve them.
Option: run the wizard on computer B (the one that works), make the diskette and see if it will run on computer A.

 

Couple of additional thoughts on your home network.

General comments

1. The wizard is nice but is also an idiot and if anything isn't just exactly right, it bombs. Great idea but not so wonderful in real life. I'd avoid it and set things up by hand.

2. NetBeui is a great idea for your internal stuff with only a couple of machines. And Reboot has it correct that there is less to setting it up. That's good. But also not any diagnostic tools if things aren't working well. That's bad. TCP/IP is more complicated to set up but has lots of features NetBeui doesn't.

Specific items

1. XP PCs demand to know who wants to connect. In a small peer-to-peer LAN (local area network) where there is no controller server and only a group of equal PCs, this is done with a login using username & password. And all your PCs must know about each username & password.
a. The guest account will take care of this since it says in effect, "I don't care who is trying as long as it is someone ". But the things a guest account can do are limited and it would be my last choice.
b. Log in to each PC using the exact same username & password (case sensitive). This works perfectly unless you have some security concerns.
c. In the users section of Local Users & Groups, put in each account that will be connecting to the PC and do this on each of your PCs.

2. You must have something shared on a PC for it to show up in Network Neighborhood. Folder or printer or similar.

3. Double check the workgroup names. Must be the exact same on both PCs. Doesn't matter for internet so it could be wrong and you'd not notice. Best if 15 or fewer characters and only alpha-numerics. No spaces and no symbols.

4. Double check the PC names. Must be different for each PC and use the same criteria as in #3.

Get the PCs talking to each other and then we'll attack any printer issues you still have.

 

Workgroup name is the same on both computers, and meets your criteria. Computer names are different, and meet your criteria. No problems there.

The problem seems to be with computer A. When I explore the workgroup on Computer A, I see nothing. No icons, no computers, not even itself. When I explore the workgroup on Computer B, I see the icon for Computer B (itslef) only. And then I can explore computer B in the workgroup and I see the folders I shared, etc.

It's computer A that doesn't seem to be talking.

 

How about the bit about making sure both computers recognize the username/password from the other PC? And BTW - for it to work properly, the password can't be blank.

If that doesn't seem to be the problem, lets try a little diagnostics.

On ComputerA, share a folder. Lets assume your PC is named PC_A and the share is named Share1.

On computer B, start~run~\\PC_A\share1

It will either open that folder in a Windows Explorer window or give you an error. If if works, then we attack one problem. If it gives an error, please post the exact, entire error and we attack another problem.

 

Ok, as for the username/password bit, I don't use usernames or passwords (at least not passwords). When I start up the computer, after windows XP starts loading I just takes me to the blue screen where it says "To begin, click your username ", then off to the right of that are all the usernames with the little pictures next to them. I just chose my name and never have to put in a password. Then it takes me to my desktop and I work away.

I tried sharing the folder on A, then start~run~\\PC_A\share1 on B, and got this error:

\\PC_A\share1
The network path was not found.

Yes, I changed the names to represent the computer name and shar folder name.

Any thoughts?

 

Yup. I think you gotta use username/password logons for each PC if you want the thing to work right. You can have them put in automatically so no one has to actually do a manual logon but on a peer network (like yours is), you need em.

 

Hmmm, OK. Thanks for the info.

How do I do that?

 

How to Enable Automatic Logon in Windows XP