I recently bought a new notebook (HP Pavilion DV5000) and want to put it on my wireless network at the house.  I have 2 XP Pro machines on a Wireless LAN now that are communicating just fine. My problem is I can't get the XP Home machine (notebook) to see the XP Pro machines.  The notebook is able to connect to the internet through the wireless LAN (Linksys router) but I can't seem to get it to find my XP machines, specifically my shared files so I can transfer some to my notebook.  

Any help is appreciated.  Maybe I am just overlooking something.

Nick

make sure you uninstall any software firewalls.   ex:

norton internet security
zonealarm
mcafee personal firewall

install service pack 2 on all machines.  sp1 has firewall turned on as default and blocks ports used for file sharing.

make sure the workgroup is the same on all systems

create a folder on each computer.    then right click on the folder and select sharing and security.  share it name it and allow either read only or full access.  your desicion

I believe you need to create a guest account on the XP Pro machine in order for the Home machine to access.

Quoted: I believe you need to create a guest account on the XP Pro machine in order for the Home machine to access.

That shouldn't be necessary.  When you connect to the other machine it will ask you the user name and password to log in with.  Just use names that are valid on the workstation you are connecting to.

Something else to try is to connect directly to the IP address of the remote host rather than try to get the name resolution to work.  In the address bar of windows explorer type in \\192.168.1.100 (or whatever the ip of the remote host is) and see if that works.  Windows can be aweful screwy with name resolution in a peer-to-peer network.

Dont forget, there is also a networking wizard as well... makes things easy.
Right click on the 'my computer' icon, and under the computer name tab, select the 'network ID' button. This will launch the set-up wizard, I have found it helpful for newbies.

i've tried to ping the laptop from the desktop but get no response, it times out.  Any thoughts on this?  

Both workgroups are the same on all machines.

I do not have user accounts set up on the laptop but do on the desktops.  

I have file and print sharing in place on the desktops.

Nick

Sounds like they arent even on the same subnet... do you have more than 1 router in place?
On each maching, hit start, run, then type CMD and enter "ping 127.0.0.1" and hit enter, this will make sure that your NIC is working.

If it is, and they are on the same subnet, you have a bad link in your LAN, or possibly need to flush all the network settings on both machines and start over.

I have setup a user account on the XP Home machine with the same log on as the desktop but this still does not help.  This shouldn't matter though correct?  My XP Pro machines don't have the same log on but are able to file share between the two.  Whats up with Home?

I've done the ping through by pinging 127.0.0.1 which works fine, no packet loss.  I have 1 router setup which has been working fine for both of my XP Pro machines for the past 4 or 5 months.  Something about the XP Home is preventing it from seeing the XP Pro machines.

Again, I can get internet through my Home which is getting an IP from my router, but I can not file share.  When I try to ping the IP address from the Home machine to the Pro machine it times out, and vice versa with Pro to ping Home.

I don't get it.  

Microsoft Knowledgebase Article

Nick, do you have any firewall software installed on your xp home machine?  This includes whether or not your xp firewall is on.  

This could be critical if it is set up to be in a stealth condition.  

It's virtually impossible to troubleshoot a wireless LAN in a forum thread.
Seriously, it's virtually impossible!

Find someone COMPETENT in Windows networking to come fix it; if you dont have a friend that knows what they are doing, email me and I will be happy to try and help. [email protected]

At this point, we have no idea whom the culprit may be... HP and Toshiba can load some NASTY Wireless LAN software onto thier notebooks, I suggest stripping it down to it's lowest common denominator and installing the Intel PRO+set software/driver package to get it on line.

The best thing to do is make sure that you have a workgroup that CAN file/print share. Once that is done, and the missing link turns out to be the notebook, then it can be troubleshot. Also, as Jorge pointed out, just because you are on the INTERNET w/your notebook, it does not mean that you are on the same subnet, you could be on your neighbors’ WAP and need to rule that out as well.

Chances are you could spend 10 hours posting, reading, etc... in this thread, and possibly not even get this resolved.

Find a competent MCSE, or CCNA, etc... And you could have your problem solved in 10 mins.
Chances are it's something simple, but overlooked.

ok, I narrowed it down to Norton, which was SUPPOSE to have been disabled, but wasn't.  Once I made sure it was disabled I still couldn't browse out to the other computers in the network. I was however able to finally connect to my file shares by directly mapping a drive to the network location.  I was able to connect to my printer by manually entering in the printer location.  

This works for me, but I find it wierd that it will not display the other machines on the workgroup.

I am able to ping the machines on the network now.