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General discussion

Connecting two Xp laptops so to share files

Dec 29, 2004 11:31PM PST

I've connected PC's together before but I'm having trouble with two laptops that have the XP operating system. I can seem one laptop on my workgroup list but when I try to connect I get "...not accessible" error.
How do I get the access permissions straightened out?
Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

Discussion is locked

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Pholt, How Are The Connected?
Dec 30, 2004 2:24AM PST

Are these XP HOME or PRO? Are they connected through NIC's and a cross-over cable? ARe these two machines the ONLY computers connected on the LAN? Which Service Pack are the XP's using? Especially with XP, have you disabled the firewall's on both machines?

Have you checked to make sure that "File and Printer Sharing" is enabled on both computers? (Open the Control Panel, double click on the "Network Connections" icon, RIGHT click on the "Local Area Connections" icon, choose 'Properties". Make sure that "File And Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks" is installed and CHECKED.

Now that they both have the ability to share, make sure that file sharing is enabled and you have the premissions to use it. On both machines, open "My Computer", RIGHT click on the C drive, choose "Sharing", then make sure that the folder is "shared" and give your user name full rights...For "Everyone" else, give them "read only" rights if that's what you want.

Once the computers have the ability to share files, then you can narrow down the security by re-enabling the firewalls and giving them "exceptions" if you choose to do so. (That's done on XP SP2 by opening the Firewall icon in the Control Panel, then click on the "Exceptions" tab.)

Hope this helps.

Grif

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file sharing with XP computers
Dec 30, 2004 8:11AM PST

Hi,
Thanks for the response.
Both laptops are xp home.
They are both wireless thru an access point to a router.
Not sure of the service pack but one has the lastest.
I have checked the file sharing, it's good.
The folders on both are shared.
I haven't played much with the firewall settings, I will check, not sure about the exceptions but most items are checked in that area.
Thanks again.
I've done this with win2k and earlier versions of microsoft successfully but XP is different some how.

Thanks again.

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Pholt, My Thought...Go Straight To A Wireless Router...
Dec 30, 2004 8:50AM PST

If the access point doesn't allow the sharing correctly, try a wireless router which should work right.

Hope this helps and let us know how it goes.

Grif

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sharing files
Jan 1, 2005 12:20AM PST

Grif,
I've given up on the most logical way (everything you listed in your response) and used Total Commander, with a FTP daemon on the one computer.
This worked fine(had to use the IP address though), I was able to transfer files without a problem.
Apparently, XP has a few issues in this area, it never used to be this difficult. I do have desktop that has win2k and I'm able to share this and connect up to it, strange.

Thanks again for the help.

Patrick

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(NT) (NT) Patrick, Good Job ! At Least It's Working...
Jan 1, 2005 2:53AM PST