Originally posted by: AnonymouseUser
Make sure they have the same workgroup name, and check your firewall settings on both machines.
True, but I go a little beyond that.
Each machine should have a user name and password associated with it, e.g. you can't properly network a machine that uses auto login, or whatever MS calls it. Win 3.1/95/98/ME, for instance, didn't
require a login on network machines. They were VERY unsecure in this regard, but I think MS fixed this security hole with Win2K and newer releases.
Plus, if you have a NAT router, you should you run a static IP and DNS on each machine, not dynamic. That way you can do NAT port forwarding, which is required by some apps. Personally, I run three routers and a gateway, and this is the only way I can keep things straight.
To clarify...
I setup each network machine with a static IP and DNS. Each machine has to be logged into using a user name and password. The machine has to be part of a workgroup(s) and the user auth'ed to access it. And, if you're running a firewall, make sure none of the machines are being blocked.
That's what I do. All my machines are networked together (MS and Linux) locally. I can network with remote machines, like my server in Atlanta - and I can use my LAN machines for serving web pages, as game servers, FTP, SlingBox, yada, yada, yada.
It takes a little getting used to, setting up network machines correctly, but once you get it down pat, networking is a breeze.
I setup all my machines this way, out of rote, whether or not I plan to network them. Makes life a lot easier in the long run.
Good luck!
