Networking Windows 2000 & Windows XP

dvdfan

Hello,

I have a small network setup currently. I have 2 windows 2000 pc,s i hooked both of them up to my BT broadband router and as soon as i shared the files on both it automatically picked them up no problem thorugh my network places. I want to add a windows xp pc to that network now same way as before i.e through the broadband router i.e Netopia 3347wg so how do i go about this considering im computer literate but havent done this before so bare that in mind when explaining. A pointer to a good article would even be great but i dont know where to start

seamus

There's very little difference between Windows XP and Windows 2000, just a different interface. Plug in the XP machine and it should get on the network with the default settings.

If you go into My Network Places on the XP machine, the two 2000 machines should appear (assuming that everything is set as default).

dvdfan

Ok, ive hooked up the laptop with windows xp, I went to network connections and it showed that it is connected. But when i go to network places it has nothing in there. Should i select one of the options:

Add a network
or
setup a home or small office network

Ive went into the local area connection and the tcp/ip settings are set to configure automatically just as the other pcs are that work fine.

Any ideas???

layke

Disable your windows XP firewall.

Then browse the network, if you can see all the other machines there's your problem.

seamus

layke wrote:

Disable your windows XP firewall.

Then browse the network, if you can see all the other machines there's your problem.

^^ Do what layke says first.

Then you need to check that all the machines are on the same page.

On one of the 2000 machines, right-click on My Computer, and click on the Computer Name tab. Make a note of the Workgroup that the computer is in.

Now do the same on the Windows XP machine, and change the Workgroup to match, if necessary.

dvdfan

Thanks Lads, looks like it was a problem with the workgroup name. Alot easier than i taught, thanks to ye!!

dvdfan

Just noticed that when i re-enabled the firewall (zonealarm) and i get the following error. How can i fix this:

\\posserver is not accessible. You might not have access to use this network resource. Contact the administartor bla bla bla!!!!

Also when i first connected to the other computers on the network it asked for username and password. I entered this but will it keep looking for this everytime i restart or is this just a once off??

seamus

I've never messed with Zonealarm, but I would assume that there's a setting somewhere to allow "Windows File and Printer Sharing". If not, you should be able to configure zonealarm, so that all computers on the local network are permitted to access the XP machine.

As for the password, when you try to access another computer (say access computer A from computer , what happens is this:

1. Computer A asks computer B for a password. Computer B uses the username & password of the user currently logged onto comp. B.
2. If Computer A doesn't recognise this username & password, it denies access.
3. Computer B then prompts the user for a username and password to access Computer A.
4. The user must input a username and password that could be used to log onto computer A.

That's simplifying it a little, but it's all you need to know. The best way around this, if it's a small home network, is to configure the same username and password for all computers.

Capt'n Midnight

seamus wrote:

I've never messed with Zonealarm, but I would assume that there's a setting somewhere to allow "Windows File and Printer Sharing".

It's the one where you define your LAN as trusted or internet

Thomas_S_Hunterson

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

It's the one where you define your LAN as trusted or internet

That's the one. It's under Firewall and the Zones in the main interface. You just input the IPs/Subnet as trusted