My Linksys BEFW11S4 V.2 wireless access point router allows my desktop and my wife's laptop to share our DSL modem, and this works well. But we would also like to set up a peer-to-peer home network, to access each computer's files from the other one, and to share the printer connected to the desktop. I enabled sharing on my desktop files and printer, but how do I set up the network? How do I create a name for the network, etc.? I can't seem to find a how-to guide. The laptop can sometimes find the desktop using "Computers Near Me" but double-clicking on the desktop icon that appears produces the message "Network path not found. [The desktop computer] is not accessible." I'm running Windows 2000. The desktop has a Linksys LNE100TX EtherFast 10/100 LAN card (with a CAT5 cable to the router) and the laptop has an Orinoco Gold wireless PC card.

Create users on each bow with the same username and password. Then you should be able to connect. If you experience problems seeing each in network neighborhood, connect directly using the ip address.

Both computers are using Windows 2000?

Make sure that you have File and Print sharing enabled on both systems. Right click My Network Places -> right click Network adaptor -> Proterties. If you have it enabled, you'll see it here. If you don't, click Install... -> Service -> Add -> File and Print Sharing for Microsoft Networks -> OK -> OK. You might be prompted to reboot.

You need to set up your computers with the same Workgroup Name (eg. Engquistnet) and unique Computer Names (Hubby and Wifey). In Windows 2000, right click My Computer -> Computer Name -> Type a description -> Click Change -> Type Computer name and Workgroup -> OK -> OK. You might be prompted to reboot.

Now your computers should see each other. As Paul said above, you need to create user accounts on both systems that are identical. For example, a user account named Erik with a password of W0rdpass must be on both systems (identical) for Erik to access files from both computers. Let me know if you need help setting up your computers to share files, printers, fax modems, etc.

Cheers,

Mike

i ve got a similiar problem. only 2 machines both win2k. i ve set them up with the same accounts passwords etc but i can only share files one way. when i try to access from the other computer i get 'Logon failure: the user had not been granted the requested logon type at the computer'. firewall is disabled. i ve tried everything i can think of. it s very annoying. help would be appreciated.

thanks

john

You've got a permissions problem on the computer that cannot be accessed. Make sure that the "users" on each machine are in the same group (i.e. administrators) or at least have the same permissions.

thanks paul

i have four accounts on each machine. administrator, fish, guest, office. all the same passwords and groups, all enabled. is it possible that the default permissions are different for each machine? and if so how would i change them or check?

i ll keep trying.

happy new year

john

use the above ideas (which are good)
or, if you have or can download a copy of Win2k Sever (legally of course) then set up one computer as a PDC (primary domain controller) and login to the domain... after setting up active directory.

simple enough... if you have an hour and half ish to spare

freddie

I wouldn't bother with W2K Svr when you have only 2 PC's. Why have a Domain with 2 PC's? John, let me know what you did with each system in detail so we can try a few things. Erik, is your problem solved?

Mike

Thanks to all for the suggestions. I implemented them all, but it took one final step in order to get past the "Workgroup is not accessible. The network path was not found" error. What was it? I installed "Client Service for NetWare" under properties for my home Local Area Connection. The only reason I installed it on the laptop is that it was already installed on the desktop. I didn't think I needed this because I was setting up a Microsoft network, and perhaps this had nothing to do with the solution. All I know is everything worked after I installed it.

My only fear now is that when my wife takes her laptop back to work and tries to connect to her office network, she won't be able to, since I have changed the name of her workgroup to the one at home. Does anyone know if one laptop can be used interchangeably on two different networks without reconfiguring settings each time?

Erik:

I've never run into this problem before, but I'm sure it's common. I looked on the internet a bit for you and this is what I came up with.

What was the Workgroup name before you changed it? The short answer is to change your home workgroup name to be identical to the domain/workgroup name your laptop belongs to at work. So, if your domain at work is “WORK,” then change the workgroup name of all your home computers to WORK. Also sounds like you need a Roaming DHCP. Roaming DHCP means that your computer can be assigned different addresses based on your physical location. Configure DHCP to use the same network configuration for both home and work and they should all be able to see each other just fine.

I think the easiest approach is to buy some software to do the switching for you. There is a third party software called NetSwitcher that should automatically switch between your different configurations. http://www.netswitcher.com/ I think it is relatively in expensive.

You might find this insightful. Make sure you follow the links.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/columns/russel/02june17.asp

Cheers,

Mike

hi

glad to hear that it worked out for erik. i however am still stuck. thanks for the server option freddie but as it almost works i m going to keep at it for a while yet.

mike. i m not sure where i went wrong. i ve tried to mirror everything from one machine to the next. the two machines are connected through my buildings ethernet system and i can ping each one from the other. there is no problem sharing one way. it all worked fine once i installed the netBEUI protocol.

the big difference between the machines is the setup. on the one that shares the C: is FAT32 D: NTFS E: NTFS with the system folder. on the one that doesn't share the system is on c: and all drives are NTFS. the one that shares is a fresh install and the only reason c: is FAT32 is that i couldn t get the setup not to do it.

so it is probably the NTFS security features that are locking me out.

any ideas or am i looking at a reinstall ?

thanks for all the help

john

John:

I'm a little unclear on what actually works and what you are attempting to do. Could you run it by me one more time? As for your Fat32 partition, you could change it to NTFS if you wanted.

From the command prompt type:

Convert C:/FS:NTFS

Enter the letter Y for yes

Close the Command Prompt window by clicking the X in the upper right hand corner

Reboot your system

The computer will run the Convert program automatically

Convert is done

Go to this website, it's a How-to for home networking, w/pictures and everything....
helmig.com

mike:

as it stands now i can move files only from one computer to the other but not back.

i have no idea why ? it all appears to be set up right but obviously something is tweaked.

when i try to access one machine everything is fine - it has the FAT32. i m not sure if i want to convert the FAT32 as i think that that is the only reason i am able to share any files at all.

when i try to access the other i get
'Logon failure: the user had not been granted the requested logon type at this computer'

i m stumped or an idiot - eitherway advice would be appreciated

thanks

john

hey

i got it
thanks for the help

for the record
i had a virus mIRC on the machine that had disabled all of my Local Security Policy Settings

who knew ?

it s all better now

later

john

lol

Well atleast it is fixed.