Existing Network and Windows XP Pro

[Moraga Mike]

I've had a wired home network for several years now. The original network had one Windows 98 PC, one Windows ME PC and one Windows 2000 PC. I had a Netgear router and the everything worked fine. I accessed the Internet through the router.

I upgraded the Windows ME PC to Windows XP Pro. I purchased a fourth computer to eventually replace the Windows 98 PC. I can't detect or connect from either Windows XP Pro PC to any other PC (even the other XP Pro PC), although I can still detect and connect between the Windows 98 PC and Windows 2000 PC (either direction works fine). All PCs can connect to the Internet without problems.

The upgraded (formerly ME) Windows XP Pro and the Windows 2000 PC both have Zone Alarm 5.0 firewall and Norton Anti-Virus 2005. The new Windows XP Pro has Norton Internet Security (which includes AV 2005).

I've tried the XP Pro Network Setup Wizard several times without success. I know it's some security setting that's keeping me from connecting the PCs together. As I said before, all the PCs can connect to the Internet and the Windows 98 PC can connect to Windows 2000 (and vice versa).

Any advice? Thanks in advance for your help! :)

[Rick]

Make sure the winxp systems match the settings on the win2K system.
Including the workgroup name

[Moraga Mike]

Workgroup name is the same.
From the Win2000 PC, I can see the new XPProPC in the Network Neighborhood ("Computers Near Me"). However, if I double click it, the pop up box says "\\XPPro is not accessible. The network path was not found."

Not sure what other "settings" you refer to....

[classicsoftware]

Disable the Windows firewall.

make sure the user name and password you log into the local PC with is the same as a user on the XP pro box.

[bassman]

As Classic said, disable the Windows firewall on the XP machines. In ZoneAlarm, click on the Firewall button on the left, then the Zones tab on top. Add the IP addresses of the other machines in the Trusted zone. As for the machines with Norton on them, I highly recommend you do your part to save the world and remove EVERYTHING NORTON from your network!

Sometimes it's the simple things. Do you have any shares in the XP machines? I found myself struggling furiously during my recent network setup (success ;) ), on the last machine only to realize I had not even shared it's printer yet :rolleyes:

Good luck
Frank

[jimmy5k]

another thing to check might be the ip of the xp machines. does the router have DHCP enabled? do the xp machines have static or dynamic ip addressing?

[Moraga Mike]

1. Windows firewall was/is disabled on both WinXP Pro PCs.
2. DHCP enabled... I think... It says DHCP "Client" when I log into the router. It always uses 192.168.0.1 (router) through 192.168.0.x for the other PCs. The other PCs always are the same addresses each time I look at it.
3. Re: classicsoftware's posting on passwords... Are you saying all the usernames have to be the same on the entire network? I'm not using passwords....
4. I have shared the drives (i.e., the little hand is underneath holding the drive icons).
5. Set the Trusted Zone in ZoneAlarm to cover my IP addresses.... (and in the hated Norton product).
6. I discovered I had one bad workgroup name on the upgraded Win XP Pro PC. I fixed and rebooted.

I can now see/map drives as follows:


The new XP Pro PC can see all PCs.
The Win2000 PC can see all PCs.
The old Win98 PC can see all PCs.
The upgraded XP Pro PC cannot see the new XP Pro PC. ????

Making great progress! Thanks!!! Now if I can just figure out that last connection.

[PrntRhd]

Same users/permissions set up on all the XP machines?

[Moraga Mike]

Correction... The OldWin98 PC "sees" the Upgraded XP Pro PC but it says it's not on the network if I double click it in Network Neighborhood.

[Moraga Mike]

PrntRhd.... All Users are set to full administrator permissions, I believe...

[PrntRhd]

I understand the answer.

[Moraga Mike]

I'm sorry.... I'm not sure I understand your answer.... ???

[PrntRhd]

Maybe I can help a little, can you ping the Upgraded XP Pro from the 98? Network Neighborhood is sometimes slow to recognize machines on the network, pinging and getting a response may speed up the Network Neighborhood recognitions?
So you are just not seeing the new XP Pro from the Upgraded XP Pro now?

[Moraga Mike]

Since my last posting, I can now attach between the two XP Pro PCs.

Now it looks like the last issue is just between the Win98 PC and the Upgraded XP Pro PC.... but I have to go to bed now..... I've gotta get up for work in 6 hours....

[bassman]

Glad to see we are making progress ;) Only thing I can offer at the moment is, if you are using ZoneAlarm, turn off Norton. You should not have two AV's running at the same time.
I will not go into my in-depth feelings and why I have them on Norton at this time :eek: Just know that if you have something better, you no longer need it ;)

[Moraga Mike]

Well, I'm really close... TODAY, I only have two connections not working.... I can ping from the Win98 PC to the upgraded WinXP Pro and the new WinXP Pro but cannot connect either of them. However, I can go the other way and connect from either XP Pro PC to the old Win98 PC. The XP Pro PCs show up on the Win98 Network Neighborhood, but if I double click either one of them, it says the computer is not on the network...

Other than being curious about why I can't connect, I think I have a workable solution (i.e., XP Pro ---> Win 98) since I'm going to eventually remove the old Win98 PC. As long as I can connect, I can transfer the needed files.... I hope.

So if anyone has a solution, I'd still like to hear it.

[classicsoftware]

If you would like to access a computer on a network that has Windows XP professional, you must:

1) Enable the guest account (bad idea)

2) Create a user name and password (PW can be blank) on the machine you are logging into (server) and the machine you are logging in from (client). So if your user name on the Windows 98 PC is Mike and the password is blank, you will need a user name on the XP pro pc with a user name of Mike and blank password.