Home Network

[SonicVanguard]

Alright, I've got three systems all running Windows XP Professional (this general purpose system, a NLE/Audio Workstation, and a laptop). They all connect to my broadband connection via a Linksys 4 port Router (via DHCP for simplicity's sake). I'd like to network all three as well. So far:

All three are apart of the same Workgroup.
Sharing is enabled on all applicable hard drives.

But...I can't seem to get any further. How do I 'see' one of the hard drives on my NLE/Audio Workstation via my laptop? I've tried using Windows Explorer and looking under Network Place, that was a no-go. What am I doing wrong?

TIA.

Dave.

[bailey]

from what your saying, you did everything correctly.
so do this
post the ip address of each system.
and make sure that a folder of something is shared. not just enabled, but a folder must be shared with the other systems on the network.
and that any firewall is turned off, you don't need it when useing a router.

[Kov-Ice]

XP's onboard firewall will keep them from seeing one another. Go to Start / Connect to / Show All Connections and then right click on your LAN. Under Properties find the Advanced tab and uncheck you XP Firewall.

[kingoftowns]

you dont have to turn off your firewall i have three rigs networked right now and all of them have sp2's firewall enabled. as mentioned above you just have to make sure that the folders you want to be able to access are shared if they are you will see a little hand under them like holding them up. if they are not shared just right click on the drive or folder and go to sharing and security

[Kov-Ice]

When setting up the network, you need to turn it off. Afterwards, you can go into the XP firewall settings and configure it to see the things you want to allow.

[SonicVanguard]

XP's firewall is turned off - I run ZoneAlarm on all my machines and the internal network is enabled in ZoneAlarm.

Do I have to sare specific folders, or can I share an entire hard drive? Because right now, the hard drive(s) I want to share are set for share, but I've not shared specific folders.

Dave.

[bailey]

its not good practice to share the entire hard drive, but if that what you did, it is ok and should work, never tried it that way.

[kevinf]

just to check, make sure that there is a hand under the thing that u r sharing

[glc]

If you want to share the whole hard drive, you can't use the default system share (which will show as C$) - you have to create a new share.

If they all will connect to the Internet, you don't have an IP address issue.

[SonicVanguard]

Alright, let me see what I've got:

-Yes, there is a hand under each hard drive (these drives are storage only for audio and video files - so I'm not concerned about sharing the entire drive).
-XP's firewall is turned off.

So...it looks like I've done everything right. But...I can't 'see' these other drives on any of my systems. Am I looking in the wrong place?

Dave.

[glc]

Did you actually *create* those shares, or are they the default system shares? The default system shares are not user accessible. If the share NAME has a $ in it, that's a system share. As I said, you may have to create a new share.

To do what you want, you may have to disable simple file sharing and use Win2000-style file sharing.

Folder options, View. Disable simple file sharing.

Write down the username and password that you use to access all 3 machines. Right click on My Computer (all 3 machines) - manage. Local users and groups, users. Add the other 2 users and passwords so you have all 3 users on all 3 machines. Disable the guest accounts.

When it's all correct, you should be able to go into My Network Places, Computers Near Me, and see the other machines.

[Redfallon]

Originally Posted by SonicVanguard I run ZoneAlarm on all my machines and the internal network is enabled in ZoneAlarm.

Turn off Zone Alarm, unless it's registered Pro...

[glc]

Originally Posted by Redfallon Turn off Zone Alarm, unless it's registered Pro...

Correct - there is no way to use free ZA unless you drop the Internet security to Medium and Trusted to Low - or use NetBEUI for filesharing and allow uncommon protocols at High setting (advanced).