hi everyone, i got a crazy problem with my 2 PCs at home. Two Fujitsu Siemens Desktop PCs are connected to the Net over a swich + a router. I need to access shared folders from one to the other, unfortunately I can't see the other PC in my network. Both PCs are in the same workgroup (called: 'WORKGROUP' hahaha). I can ping the PCs from one to the other but can't see them. "Run" '\\ipaddress' doesn't work either and "Run" '\\PCname' can't get me connected either. I exhausted the extent of my meager knowledge of networks and can't fix this problem. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Both PCs running WinXP pro, with fixed local IPaddress (192.168.100.3 and 4 respectively) and since I need to access a VPN server at work I had to (my superior at work told me to) set the primary and secondary DNS server in both PCs.

To attempt to map you need to use the following syntax: \\IP address\share Just using the IP address won't do much, you have to map to an actual shared folder. Your Primary DNS should be your ISP's DNS server address in most cases. You don't mention what you set yours to or if you can surf the web but since you didn't say you can't, I'm assuming you can. I'm also going to assume you set your DNS server IP to your router which in turn should be pointing to your ISP's but.....this has nothing to do with connecting between PC's in your workgroup.

Another simple thing that should work is to put the hostnames in each others "hosts" file.

thx for the input guys. I ll try both ideas out today and report back if anything changed. the 'hosts' file thing is a bit beyond the scope of my knowledge but i can look that up on the net. the dns server is set on the ISPs primary and secondary though if someone could explain why i have to set it on both router and pc would be greatly appreciated.

the 'hosts' file thing is a bit beyond the scope of my knowledge but i can look that up on the net. That's not a biggie, find the "hosts" file on your hard drive and open it. It should say in there for format. If memory serves me, it's: xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx hostname or FQDN (if in a domain) ex: 192.168.0.10 PC1

Have you enabled Guest account on both computers? Double check your shares and permissions In order to get access Internet you should set IP Address of you router as Gateway on the computers. DNS must be your ISP IP address. edit hosts file to let computers find each other. It should work. do ipconfig from CMD on the computers and make sure you set IPs correctly Take a breath...