No file sharing on wifi network

Hi All,

I'm running a netgear wireless router, and two laptops, wireless. There is a printer and cable modem on the router.

I can print from both machines, and access the internet, no problems. I have not been able to connect the laptops to each other for file sharing. I've tried a number of things, none of which have worked, so I was hoping you could give me a procedure for setting up. Both laptops are XP Pro.

Suggestions?

Thomas.

Reply to
t_p_paterson
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What have you tried?

Have you got the XP firewall turned on at all?

Reply to
David Taylor

yup yup, as David said.... have a look at your firewalls.

I had this problem too..... and as soon as I switched off ZoneAlarm, filesharing worked great.

Reply to
ronkymac

I'm running Norten Internet Security (Antispyware) 2005 on both machines. I'm not keen on dropping the firewall permamently - did you turn it back on once they had connected? If so, what is the method of getting them talking?

I've tried Set Up A Home or Small Office Network, trying most of the paths through, I've tried searching under My Network Places, and generally thrashing around trying every check box there is.

Thomas.

Reply to
t_p_paterson

Turn it off, see if it works, if it does, that was your problem.

You then need to set up Norton to permit the traffic through for your file and print sharing although arguably once you do that, you've created the same hole for everyone else to have a go at so you'd also need to make sure you've configured security on the shares/files and are using strong paswords on the user accounts.

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That's all in the XP help.

David.

Reply to
David Taylor

This has nothing to do with your question, but might be useful later. I've had a hell of time cleaning up the mess left by Norton Anti-Virus

2004 and 2005 after they blow up. You might wanna print out the activation keys, serial numbers, customer ID's, and incantations on the "About NIS 2005" page and have the removal tools ready:

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When you disable Norton Firewall, it will ask for how long do you want to disable the firewall. I usually answer "until next reboot". Basically, long enough to do some testing.

- Have you tried pinging each machine to see if you have a connection?

- Do you have matching (i.e. identical) user accounts and workgroup names on both machines?

- Do you even have networking running? Try: Start -> Run -> cmd net view (list of machines and shares) net statistics client | more (look for failed operations)

- Can you connect to yourself? Try: Start -> Run -> cmd \\\\your_machines_NETBIOS_name or \\\\your_IP_Address You should see a window with the available shares.

- If you can ping the other machine, try: \\\\other_machine_NETBIOS_name or \\\\other_machine_IP_Address

If that doesn't do the trick, see:

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basic instructions on how to setup XP network shares and see if you missed something.

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

Thanks all, I ran through a few of the suggestions and it is now up and running. For some reason, one of the machines kept dumping the workgroup name. When I turned off the firewall, it retained it and that sorted the problem. The machines are talking to each other happily now.

I have to follow-up questions.

My central hard drive for all shared information is an external USB drive. Can I set it up so that shortcuts always find it whichever machine it is plugged in to? I want to do this as both laptops go out to meetings sometimes, but I don't want to have to buy a server.

Second question. Is it possible to share a USB scanner? I have an HP

4670 upright scanner. It isn't important, but if practical, it would be nice for both machines to be able to access it without plugging in to both of them.

Thanks again!

Thomas.

Reply to
t_p_paterson

Get a Linksys NSLU2, it's a 2 usb port to ethernet switch. It will connect your usb drives to your network. You can then map the drives. Its also allows you to access the drive from the internet, if you need files at a remote location. The only negative thing is you have to format the drives to IT'S format, so you can't unplug them from the unit and plug them into a pc and have access to the drives. I have 2 drives a 250 gb and an 120 gb...

Reply to
gene martinez

That's because it's a Linux EXT2 filesystem.

You can hack the NSLU2 (OpenSlug or UnSlung).

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Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

What does this do for me, if I do it???

Reply to
gene martinez

Amongst other things, I imagine you could put an insecure FAT32 filesystem on the USB drives if you really wanted.

Reply to
Derek Broughton

If the disc is portable, any file system is insecure! :)

Reply to
David Taylor

as far as I know, it should be possible to connect to your scanner from, let's say computer1 if your scanner is connected to another computer, computer2. I think I'm correct in saying that if you go, on computer1, to (on XP); my network places > click on 'view workgroup computers' > select computer2, then the scanner should be there. Computer2 would have to be switched on, of course, as you must be able to connect to computer2 before using the attached scanner.

Regards.

Reply to
ronkymac

Not really. You could put an encrypted filesystem on it too. Even without changing it from EXT2, I could do that. Then it's still as secure as your cryptography.

Reply to
Derek Broughton

Thank you very much.

I followed the instructions, and it shows me all of the available printers on the network, but not the scanner. It was on, and the other machine was fully logged in, etc. As you surmised, I am running XP. Any little tricks to get past this barrier?

Thomas

Reply to
t_p_paterson

Brand and type? Is this a 'Win' printer/scanner? Example I have an All-In-One from HP (cheapy, under $100 from Office **) it requires resources from Windows to function. I can get to the printer over the net, but all the rest is on the one PC, in my case it is explained in the documention for the gadget. I can print to the fax, but the computer it is directly attached to pops up a Window that needs keystrokes so...

My point is, do you have a similar device?

fundamentalism, fundamentally wrong.

Reply to
Rico

Depends on what resources are available to the attacker. :)

Reply to
David Taylor

This is a dedicated USB scanner, an HP4670. Does that help?

Reply to
t_p_paterson

Client software installed on 'all' computers needing access?

fundamentalism, fundamentally wrong.

Reply to
Rico

Which hack? There are 2 firmware distributions and about 6 hardware modifications. I've done both the OpenSlug and the UnSlung firmware installs. OpenSlug is kinda crude, basic and requires a bit of Linux expertise to configure. UnSlung is a bit more complicated with more features but easier to configure. Installation was a bit tricky but not impossible using the "RedBoot-Firmware" method. Instructions at:

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If you want to interrogate others as to what they've done and how to do it, I suggest you read or join the following Yahoo Groups.
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Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

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