Networking Problem - Lan

[Maleficus]

OK well im over here at my friends house and we are trying to set up a lan through my SMC Barricade. 2 computers running Win2k and one running Win98

Each computer has a different computer name and we tried with both the same and different workgroups.

we could all access the internet through the router, but we couldnt access each others computer.

please networking guru's give us some insight

 

[Woodchuck2000]

Make sure you have file and printer sharing installed.
Same workgroup is good but not essential.
Check the IP addresses - make sure the first three groups are the same.

Those are the really basic things to check...

 

[Woodchuck2000]

In fact - READ THE FAQ!
I just checked it and it says all that...

 

[Maleficus]

yea i read the faq dude.

 

[ktwebb]

Same workgroup IS essential. At least if you want Network Neighborhood to work on the 98 machine. As mentioned, File and printer sharing needs to be enabled, Client for microsoft networks needs to be used as the client to logon to the 98 machine, and a user account for the 98 machine needs to be setup on the 2K machine, as well as shares setup. Doesn't really take a guru for all this. This question, or a variant of it, is asked daily on this board and every moderate to high volume network BBS on the internet. If you want a step by step I believe Practically Networked has walkthroughs for all windows OS's.

 

[DaiShan]

I am assuming you want to access each others files? so here is a link that I have found useful in the past, has pictures and everything

 

[Woodchuck2000]

Ah, well that's a different matter if you've tried everything in the networking FAQ

I take it you have green lights on all the network cards involved? If not, try different network cable etc until the lights come on. If the physical link isn't there, the chances of it working are about 0...
We need a bit more information to diagnose the problem. Find out the IP addresses of all the machines (Go to a command prompt and type IPCONFIG)
Try pinging each of the machines from the others. (Type PING "172.16.0.1" at the command prompt, putting your IP address in the gaps) and post what happens - If you get "Request timed out" there's a fairly serious problem. But let us know what happens, and we'll try and figure it out...

 

[Extrarius]

On the LAN, we could all see eachother's workgroup(when they were different and when they were the same) and computer in network neighborhood, and one of the 2k machines could access the shared folder on the 98 machine, but the other 2k and the 98 machine couldn't access anything - double clicking the computer name of another pc would just make windows say the network path wasnt available. All computers could access the internet, and sending files via ICQ from one 2k machine to another worked (the 98 machine didnt have ICQ). File sharing on all machines was set to give "everybody" permission to read, so setting up a login/password on the 98 machine shouldnt have been needed, but it was set up require login already. There was no password though. The machines were all on the same ip range of 192.168.2.* so they were all on the same subnet mask.

 

[spidey07]

Use netbeui instead of IP for windows networking. generally eliminates all these browsing problems you're having. Also sometimes you have to have all your computers turned on for 30-40 minutes or so for the poor little windows machines to recognize the workgroup/master browser. rebooting them constantly can cause you're symptoms.

hope this helps.

 

[Woodchuck2000]

Silly question, but did you actually create a shared folder on the PCs that didnt allow access? The machines wont be able to open a PC if there's nothing there to share... Also, be careful when giving permissions to "Everyone" on machines connected to the internet. One slip, and you're giving anyone who stumbles across your machine write access.

NetBEUI is better for file sharing amongst small networks, and won't escape through the router as the packets cannot be routed. That said, microsoft is trying to drive a pointy stake through the heart of netbeui, so dont expect it to be supported for too much longer.

The problems solved by using netbeui are normally due to name resolution. Being a broadcast protocol, it is better at finding local machines when there's no DNS/WINS server for the machines to query. It's much easier to configure as well so ideal for newbies.

 

[Extrarius]

We were all LANed via a router, so if NetBEUI packets cant be routed, then it wouldnt help us much... Yes, there was a shared folder on each PC, and each PC could see its own shared folder in network neighborhood. I know the risks of sharing to "Everybody" but the access was read only to a folder that had nothing you couldnt d/l off the internet (it was several GB on each pc tho and a LAN connection is much faster, so...) and it was only for a short time. Pretty safe unless somebody exploited the protocol itself, and that could happen even with a login name/password required to access shared resources.

 

[ktwebb]

Unless I am missing something and you have a network on one side of the router and one on the other you weren't "LANed" through the router. Your Local network connections are through the hub or switched ports that are attached TO the router. The router has a WAN interface for your broadband connection, and LAN ports for you Local network. NetBEUI will work fine.

 

[CubicZirconia]

NetBEUI is the way to go, it fixed all the problems I hadon my home network of 6 computers. Also, having the same workgroup name is not essential. I can change the workgroup name of my pcs to 6 different things and it works fine. When I enter network neigborhood it roots to a list of all the available workgroups.

 

[ktwebb]

Your running 95/98 on those machines Cubic?

Edit: Regardless, using like workgroup names certainly makes Network Neighborhood name resolution more dependable. If your running 95/98 on those machines, you would be an exception, and not the general rule.

 

[CubicZirconia]

I am running 98 SE on all except one (ME). I do agree that keeping the workgroup names the same is the best way to go (there isn't much of a reason to have them different).

 

[degeester]

I have two computers that I wanted to network together. One, is a new box running Windows XP (XP1800, Soyo Dragon +, 512 Mb DDR) the older box is running Windows 2000 Pro. Got them to work together only after adding NetBIOS in each. I could not find NetBUI in Windows XP Home. After that addition everything is working fine.