Resolved File sharing works wirelessly, but not wired

I have three computers that I want to share files between. These are all Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit systems. I select the folders to share and set up the Homegroup. With a wired connection, which I prefer in the house, I can not see any of the other computers and the shared folders from either computer except mine. I can see the other 2 systems from my wired computer with no problems. The shared folders are on my system. Now, if I switch the 2 to wireless connections, I can see all the computers and the shared folders on my computer. The shared printer works the same way. No printing when wire, but will print when wireless. Now I know the connection is going through because I can access the Internet from any computer whether I'm wireless or wired.

It shouldn't be this hard to share files and the printer while wired. I also have a couple XP systems on the network and they have no problems seeing each other and the shared files from the other XP. No Win7 system shows up on them, but I gave up a long time ago trying to get XP and 7 to play nice.

So, this is the setup I have. Cable service into my Motorola cable modem. The cable modem then connects to my Linksys router. A connection is then made to my Netgear 3500L router from the Linksys router. I have the Netgear router because I am working with the FCC and SamKnows to gauge connection speeds. The Netgear router runs only one system so that it can get good reads, so my system runs through the Netgear. From the Linksys router, I have connections to two other rooms and to a Linksys switch for additional connections. The other desktop in question here is connected to that switch. Yes, it sounds like a mess, but everything worked until Win7 brought their "easy" OS to the table.

As I mentioned before, I prefer a wired connection with my systems, especially the desktops. There has to be something little that I am missing here. I would appreciate any thoughts or suggestions. It shouldn't be this hard to share folders in Win7. After all, it was a piece of cake in XP. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Mike

 

Check your firewalls. 1st step in any networking issue is disable all firewalls. I'd be looking for a setting in the firewall that blocks the network adapter. I know F-Secure uses what they call "Trusted Adapters" and basically it allows connection through one adapter or the other but not both. To allow both, you need to go into the advanced configuration. I'd start looking there.

 

Arie, thanks for the reply. I have visited that page before with no luck. At this time, I am not worried about file sharing with the XP systems as they are rarely used anymore. My concern is getting the Win7 systems to see each other and the shared folders. I left the HomeGroup on all computers and that did not help. I can no longer access any other, even wirelessly. I get the error message that Windows cannot access and that I don't have permission to access. Ugh.

dnmacleod, I have turned off all firewalls and checked any setting that I can find. No luck.

It seems that I am at a loss right now. Any thoughts besides going back to XP?

 

Ok. I'd next look at the advanced sharing settings in the network & sharing center. But first, double check that you aren't using a public profile in your network setup. I'm assuming that you've already eliminated this possibility. If not, you must be on a Home or Work network profile.

These are the settings I have on this computer here and I'm able to move files freely. I might add that this computer is in my home and I know exactly what's connected to this network. These settings will not be suitable for eveyone.

Network Discovery: On

File & Printer sharing : On

Public Folder Sharing: On

File Sharing Connections: 40 or 56 Bit encryption

Password Protected Sharing: Off

Homegroup connections: Allow user accounts and passwords to connect to other computers.

Hope that helps.....

 

The reason I have password protected sharing off is that I frequently take clients' computers here for repair and its a right pain in the .... when I need access to network drives and shared folders on this computer and then I need to either turn the password protection off or create another user account on the clients PC to connect to my shared resources. I just find it easier and simpler to have it switched off.

Like I said earlier, these settings will not be suitable for everyone - but they work for me.

 

The change in settings didn't help. Maybe what I need to do is eliminate some hardware. This weekend, I can hook the 2 systems into the same router and bypass the Linksys router and the switch I have. Not sure if it will help, but maybe worth a try. Unless you have another suggestion for me.

 

Its certainly worth a go. It seems that there's something fundamentally wrong with your setup because you shouldn't have this level of problems setting up a windows 7 network. Looking back at your OP, you seem to have setup the software correctly and since you can use wireless networking but not wired networking seems to point to a hardware setup issue.

 

OK, I should have stopped when I was behind. I disconnected both Win 7 systems and connected them to the Netgear router directly to see what would happen. Before that, I had noticed a new firmware update for the router, so I installed it. Then I connected the systems to the router. Nothing. No connection at all. The router seemed to be working, but no connection to the Internet or other systems.

I connected my system directly to the cable modem and received a connection to the Internet. So, thinking that the Netgear had been damaged by the firmware, I connected to my Linksys router. Only my system will connect to the Internet. No other system could find a connection. Great. Once again, thinking that the Linksys router may have been damaged, I connected the 2 systems to the Linksys switch. Same results. Even connecting my daughter's laptop to the switch gave me nothing. I tried using my cable, you know, just in case, and nothing with any computer but mine. At least before all this, I could connect to the Internet with any system.

This is insane. What could possibly be wrong now? How can moving cables create such havoc? At this point, I'd just be happy to get my Internet connection back to all the systems and forget about file sharing. I should have stayed with Win XP, never a problem with that OS.

At this point, I'll try any suggestion. Even if it includes a stick of dynamite!

 

If you go into network & sharing center, can you see the router / switch at the top of the screen? If so, can you click on the router / switch to see the network infrastructure in windows explorer?

Another alternative is to get a Linux live boot and see if that will see anything. I find most Linux distros good for checking hardware. At least with a live boot, you'll verify whether its a windows issue or a hardware issue because it seems to me that you have to go back to basics - start from the beginning and eliminate everything step by step.

 

On my system, I see the following. My-PC --- Network --- Internet.
If I click on Network (picture of a Home for the Home Network), I can see the other computer. When I click on "See full map ", it shows both systems to a switch to Gateway then to Internet. If I scroll over the computers, they show different IPv4, IPv6, and MAC Addresses. Clicking on the switch icon does nothing.

On my wife's computer, I see the following. Marie-PC --- Unidentified Network --- Internet. There is a red X over the line between Unident. Network and Internet. Full map shows nothing since it's an unidentified network.

I'll plug them back into the Linksys router and see if anything changes.

 

No change. If I click "troubleshoot problems ", I get to a screen that tells me that I don't have a valid IP configuration.

 

Then configure each computer's ip addresses manually in the TCP/IP settings. In particular, the Marie-PC computer. Since its showing as an Unidentified Network, AFAIK that means that windows doesn't recognize the router / switch therefore it doesn't trust it and won't connect to it, or more correctly, won't allow a network connection - and consequently an internet connection - through it. It could well be a DHCP issue. For some reason DHCP doesn't always work the way it should. Once you have Marie-PC identifying the network, both yours and hers should then see each other.

I had a similar problem with this computer at another location until I configured the IP address manually. You will need to get your ISPs DNS server settings to do the manual configuration though.

 

OK, what a fun day or so I've had. At one point, I lost my connection on any computer for most of a day. It's been hit and miss lately. But, I do have some good news. After contacting Netgear and SamKnows about the router problem, I did get a couple replies today. Basically, Netgear's suggestion of cloning the MAC fixed the problem. I once again have Internet connections on all systems, both wired and wirelessly. That is a good thing.

That being said, I still want to be able to share folders while wired. But, after all this mess the last couple of days, I am going to take a couple day break from this and try to regain the little sanity that I had before. I'll return to this thread then and see if we can work through the process of sharing the folders.

Thanks for all the suggestions and help so far. To be continued...

Mike

 

Hi Tony,

I did go through that process in one of my many attempts to correct the issue. It had no effect on things. The MAC cloning is the only thing that worked for me. I will admit, it's the first time I've used it or even heard of it. But, at this point, whatever works.

As far as my setup right now, this is what I have. Motorola Surfboard SB5101 cable modem. From there, I go to the Netgear WNR3500L wireless gigabit router with 4 Ethernet ports. I then have 3 computers connected to the router. I'm not sure how to determine the cable modem's IP, but the modem's IP is 192.168.1.1.

 

Google What is my IP and it will tell you.

 

xx.xx.xx.xx