hi i have 2 machines both running windows xp professional and one machine is connected to the internet using a cable modem and i have tried to set up a peer to peer network. i have installed 2 network cards and they are set up fine using the latest drivers. They have both been setup on the same workgroup and one machine has picked up that its to use the other to access the internet but when you view the workgroup and click to access the other machine its tells me its not accessible i really cant understand this im sure ive set it up correct. ive used ping and net view but it never gets a reply from the other machine. net view shows the machines but when you use net view to view details about the machine it wont allow it. the machine with the broadband has 1 user which is me the other machine is a family computer and has 4 users can anyone help please.

Ensure you have the correct permissions i.e your account is an administrator Also whenever you create an internet connection a firewall is turned on by default unless you un-select it in your networking connection wizard. Make sure any other third party tools in your tray are not stopping your connection. Popups stoppers Zonealarm firewall etc; Also make sure your IP addresses are correct if you are using static IP's and they are on the same subnet (click TCP/IP for this). Try www.wown.com for further help.

Also make sure you have something shared, if you don't then you won't be able to connect to the other. Run your home network wizard. It wasn't clear how you had connected your computers. If you just connected them together NIC to NIC you have to use a cross over cable instead of regular patch cables.

get a router - about $70 at best buy. newer styles come with built in hub/switches usually 4 or 5 ports. With two computers this gives you the ability to expand with additional computers. you will have to unconfigure your main (administrator) computer - if you are using cable modem you will have received a card telling you what to program your network settings to, you will need this information. After hooking up the router, you will open a telnet session or Internet Explorer and go to the ip address of the router (most routers use 192.168.0.1) Configure the router settings to match what the cable subscription card shows. Once done you should be able to get onto the internet from each computer as well as "see" each computer from each other. it is much simpler than it sounds. You may be able to get a "network in a box" comes with everyting you need to get set up. I hope this helps. Mark A. Compton

yes im using 2 NICs and crossover cable and the network problem goes away when i disable zone alarm i think i need to config zone alarm to accept the ips.i can now ping the other machine etc and you can get into the computer from the workgroup but can access some shared folders? i think its to do with security and my shared internet connection isnt working

all fixed just got to sort it for the other user accounts