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Features on things wordy, geeky, and webbyWhere Is the Other Computer?
Sunday, October 10th, 2004 at 3:12 PM | 9 commentsFor a long time, we couldn’t get Paul’s laptop and my desktop to see each other. Or rather, his laptop could not see my PC, but I could see his. The desktop has been difficult about sharing and obviously didn’t learn one of the first rules in school: share with others. It took a hard drive reformatting to finally get it working. Before the reformatting, we tried all the solutions and gave up. So I shared files with my laptop by emailing them or using the thumb drive. Not too convenient.
The solution depends on each set up as there a lot of variables at play. One work around might work for Group A, but not for Group B. Here are a few things to try to force the computers to share and play nice.
Microsoft KB Article 308007 covers troubleshooting a home network including file and printer sharing. We love the printer sharing as we no longer have to hook a laptop to a printer. Now, if Paul would hook the color printer to the network so we can also do color printing.
HomeNetHelp has a tutorial with screen shots for those who are having trouble finding other computers. It covers the ’search computer’ (Microsoft KB article) command and ‘manually adding a network place’ (Microsoft KB article).
If the firewall is on, it’s possible the necessary ports are not open. Microsoft’s instructions for manually opening ports.
If one computer can see others, but the others can’t see the computer… make sure the workgroup names are the same. If you’re using a router and DSL or cable with DHCP, try turning off the power to the router and modem… wait a few seconds and turn it back on. Still not working? Turn off the firewall, if it’s running (By default, Windows’ firewall blocks the ports necessary for file sharing.). You can also try uninstalling and reinstalling TCP/IP.
Cyber Tech Help and Annoyances.org have many messages related to networking covering a variety of problems and solutions.
You could have everything set correctly and still have problems. The issue could be a matter of changing the network card. If PC A has 123 network card and PC B has 456 network card, try buying a 123 network card and replacing PC B’s network card with 123. Some network cards play better with their own kind. Shameful.
Microsoft TechNet explains the changes to Windows after installing SP2. The link takes you to the network protection section.
This message popped up a lot when we were trying to network the computers: “Workgroup Name is not accessible. You may not have permission to use this network resource.” It was almost as bad as ?reener (error message) from my first computer, an Apple II+. If you can’t access shared files and folders or browse computers in a network group, check out Microsoft KB 318030.
If you had another problem and resolved it that’s not listed here, post it in the comments so others may have the resource. Thanks for helping.
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9 comments
Where Is the Other Computer?
For a long time, we couldn’t get Paul’s laptop and my desktop to see each other. Or rather, his laptop could not see my PC, but I could see his. The desktop has been difficult about sharing and obviously didn’t…
Yes, This could come in handy, bookmark
Taa mate.
I encountered a similar problem recently and, by checking the System event log, learned that my recently demoted server (from Win2K Server to WinXPProSP2) was getting into browser election battles with my Win2K Pro laptop–which I thought was impossible since the Microsoft “rules” for such elections clearly state that the newer operating system is supposed to win such battles. Apparently, that’s not the case, so I changed the value of the registry entry that controls browser elections on the laptop (HKLM/System/CurrentControlSet/Services/Browser/Parameters) to “No” to force it to stay out of elections, and the visibility and connectivity problems went away.
The advice in the main posting about making sure workgroup names are the same for all machines is more important now than before because Windows XP’s default workgroup name is different from that for earlier versions (for XP I can’t remember what it is, but for earlier versions it’s WORKGROUP).
HTH,
–Ed–
I can’t say for sure what the problem was in the story, but most of the time when computers or devices are not recognized on a network, it is a synchronization problem. The solution is to reboot the device that is not being recognized and then reboot the device that is working, in that order. Make sure the unrecognized device or computer fully boots up before the other devices or computers come online. Also, it would be good to do a complete shutdown and not simply a restart when doing this procedure. If all other network settings, such as protocols, etc. are correct, this will usually solve the problem. This procedure can be used to synchronize routers and cable/dsl modems with the computer also.
Help Readers
Two readers have written in and need your help. If you can help, please post your response in the related entry so others may benefit. One writes in response to Windows Task Manager in English. “The tech. at my local…
Help Readers
Two readers have written in and need your help. If you can help, please post your response in the related entry so others may benefit. One writes in response to Windows Task Manager in English. “The tech. at my local…
Help Readers
Two readers have written in and need your help. If you can help, please post your response in the related entry so others may benefit. One writes in response to Windows Task Manager in English. “The tech. at my local…
A computer running with an NTFS file system will be able to “see” other computers on the network running NTFS, FAT16 and FAT32 file systems but a computer on the network running with FAT16 or FAT32 file systems will not be able to “see” other computers running NTFS file systems.
Check my web page
http://www.accesswave.ca/~gfoster/cable.htm
half way down the page where it says: “One computer reads the files on the other, but the other one doesn’t.”
I have used this solution on several computers on home networks that were having similar difficulties.
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