wireless laptop desktop file sharing

dellWlan

how do i get my laptop to be able to look around my desktop's harddrive wirelessly?

i have a dell laptop and desktop both running vista and both connected wirelessly to the internet via a Netopia 3347NWG on eircom.

if i look at the network map in the 'network and sharing centre' each has the other visisble but i can't access files and folders

Spear

dellWlan wrote: »

how do i get my laptop to be able to look around my desktop's harddrive wirelessly?

i have a dell laptop and desktop both running vista and both connected wirelessly to the internet via a Netopia 3347NWG on eircom.

if i look at the network map in the 'network and sharing centre' each has the other visisble but i can't access files and folders

Have you created any shares first? Right click the intended folder (or even drive) and choose the sharing option.

dellWlan

yes i've set all the shared options on the network and sharing centre to on which should let me see the public folders and i've also set the my documents folder on each computer to shared using the properties and sharing tab

Spear

dellWlan wrote: »

yes i've set all the shared options on the network and sharing centre to on which should let me see the public folders and i've also set the my documents folder on each computer to shared using the properties and sharing tab

What's shown when you try to go to \\computername\sharename in an explorer window?

dellWlan

network error
windows cannot access [URL="file://\\computername\sharename"]\\computername\sharename[/URL]
check spelling. problem with network etc..
diagnose

obviously using my actually comp name and share name

Spear

dellWlan wrote: »

network error
windows cannot access [URL="file://\\computername\sharename"]\\computername\sharename[/URL]
check spelling. problem with network etc..
diagnose

obviously using my actually comp name and share name

Are you using any kind of personal firewall, or even the windows firewall?

dellWlan

just turned off the norton firwall and everything showed up so thats obviously problem.
what settings should i change in the firewall to make it work all the time without having to disable the firewall??

Spear

dellWlan wrote: »

just turned off the norton firwall and everything showed up so thats obviously problem.
what settings should i change in the firewall to make it work all the time without having to disable the firewall??

I'm not that familiar with Nortons, other than with it's bad reputation, but you're looking to allow NetBIOS/SMB traffic.

dellWlan

well i have heard bad things about it too.

anyway went through the firewall there and allowed everything and it still didn't work. only when i turn off the firewall completely does it allow me access. would stealth blocked ports have anything to do with it??

Spear

dellWlan wrote: »

well i have heard bad things about it too.

anyway went through the firewall there and allowed everything and it still didn't work. only when i turn off the firewall completely does it allow me access. would stealth blocked ports have anything to do with it??

Unblock ports 139 and 445 and see if that helps.

dellWlan

ok i've gotten it working but i have no idea if this is safe or if i've left the computer without a firewall basically.

I modified each computers personal firewall rules to allow the other computers specific network address using their ip address and subnet mask which i got from the router.

what do you think??

and thanks for all the help.

Spear

dellWlan wrote: »

ok i've gotten it working but i have no idea if this is safe or if i've left the computer without a firewall basically.

I modified each computers personal firewall rules to allow the other computers specific network address using their ip address and subnet mask which i got from the router.

what do you think??

and thanks for all the help.

Are you behind a router? If so there shouldn't be a problem. They'll also be on private IP ranges so nothing on the net can address them anyway.

dellWlan

if by behind a router you mean both laptop and computer are connected to the netopia box wirelessly then yes.

and the routers firewall is still turned on

Spear

dellWlan wrote: »

if by behind a router you mean both laptop and computer are connected to the netopia box wirelessly then yes.

and the routers firewall is still turned on

Then you're fine, the Netopia router is the public face of your network with a publically routable IP, while your hosts are on non-routable private IP's.

dellWlan

Well then problem solved.

Thanks for the help.

MunsterCycling

Ah yes the curse of Norton strikes again, seems Norton still blocks ports even when disabled, age old problem.

MC