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General discussion

File Sharing & Server Service

by nassok Feb 7, 2004 7:26AM PST

Greetings,

I am attempting to network 2 Win XP Pro computers via crossover cable. Computer A has a dial up internet connection, printer, scanner, etc. Computer B has none of the above. I installed the NIC cards and drivers on both computers, connected the crossover to the NIC cards, ran the Network Wizard on computer A, ran the Network Wizard on Computer B. Everything went well, no errors no blue screens. I am able to access all of Computer A's shared files and internet, and printer on Computer B. It works better than I could have imagined.

But there is a problem. I cannot see anything from Computer B on Computer A. I ran the Wizard several times to make sure that the computer name is correct, and the workgroup name is correct. I then realized that I didn't select anything on Computer B to share. When I select an item in Computer B and tic the "Share this folder on the network" in the properties box, I get the following error: " An error occured while trying to share (Name of folder) . The Server service is not started. The shared resource was not created at this time."

I went into Administrative Tools, Services, and tried to start the Server service, and I get the following error message: " Could not start the Server service on Local Computer. Error 2001: The Specified driver is invalid" In the Properties of Server Service, the service is enabled in Hardware Profile 1, Startup type is Automatic.

Both computers have SP1, computer A has some critical updates for IE that Computer B does not have. Oh, and one more thing, this is my first attempt at networking, so the following may be ok, I don't know. When I open My Network Places, and click on View Workgroup Computers, I can see Computer A on B, and Computer A on A also. No sign of B. I am running Zone Alarm, and ran the Network Wizard a number of times, both with ZA on, and off.
Any help would be very much appreciated.

This was previously posted on Networking and Wireless, and it was suggested that it be posted here instead.

Since the original posting I have uninstalled ZoneAlarm, uninstalled and reinstalled File and Print Sharing. I believe the problem lies within Computer B because 1.) I cannot start the Server Service, 2.) Even though I have enabled Simple File Sharing, the "Share This Folder On The Network" check box on any file's Sharing tab in the Properties box is inactive.
What can I do to enable Network Sharing?
Sorry for the long post.

Discussion is locked

4 Posts
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If this was me...
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Feb 7, 2004 7:52AM PST

I'd remove all the protocols then reinstall TCP/IP and double check the changes.

Let's be clear that XP does need a firewall, but adding it too soon will trip up setting up sharing. There is also some limitation to Zone Alarm on an ICS HOST, but I leave that to ZoneLabs support.

I also run into this if the owner has been disabling SERVICES. Please reveal such if the services have been tweaked.

In closing, the sharing tab may grey out if one is not on an Admin-capable account.

Bob

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Re:If this was me...
by nassok Feb 7, 2004 12:24PM PST

Thanks for the reply Bob.
You suggested that I remove all the protocols then reinstall TCP/IP and double check the changes.
That is a good idea. How would one go about doing that? Networking is a whole new ball game to me.
I also see your point about Zone Alarm. It was at one time installed on Comp A, (the machine that didn't have a problem sharing ) but it is now out, so I think it is safe to say it isn't a problem at this point.

As far as disabling Services, the OS on B is only a week old, and hasn't had time to gather any war wounds. That is what is puzzling me. No, nothing has been tweaked on that machine. With respect to the greyed out sharing options on B, I have been working in my Admin account but after trying unsucessfully to set this network up on that account, I thought I would move into the Machine Administrator to eliminate the possiblility of corrupt permissions in the first account. No luck there either. I just spent a considerable amout of time wading through the Services, and Security, and Event Viewer, looking for something that might be causing this. The only thing that keeps coming up on B is the following Error in Event Properties; "Error Event ID 7001 Source: Service Control Manager. The Computer Browser service depends on the Server service which failed to start because of the following error: The specified driver is invalid". I assume that the driver in question is svchost.exe. Why would it be invalid? I tried replacing it, but needless to say, no change.
I just visited Windows Update on Comp A, and found an update for Realtek Semiconductor Corp. They made the NIC card I have installed in both A and B. Looks like I'll be putting a modem in B and downloading some updates. In the mean time, I would like to attempt to remove the protocols, if you could point me in the right direction.

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Re:Re:If this was me...
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Feb 7, 2004 8:31PM PST

"I would like to attempt to remove the protocols, if you could point me in the right direction."

While http://www.wown.com and http://www.practicallynetworked.com have much for people to digest, the CONTROL PANEL, NETWORKS is where I can look at the Protocol and use the Remove, Add and Properties buttons.

Have your XP CD handy.

Bob

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Re:Re:Re:If this was me...
by nassok Feb 8, 2004 5:37AM PST

It works!! It was a long and winding road, but somehow, it works. I will try to give a brief description of what I did.

I went back to a revert point on both machines (with GoBack) to right before I first attempted to install the network. I disabled ZoneAlarm, went into the Group Policy editor and disabled the "Limit local account use of blank passwords to logon console only". Disabled Simple File Sharing on both machines, downloaded a couple of hours worth of updates from MS, including the updated drivers for the Seimens NIC cards, and very carefully named my computers and the network. Verified that both machines had the same TCP/IP configurations, and then held my breath as I ran the Network Setup Wizard. It took a very long couple of minutes for both computers to see each other, but everything is there. I still have two more things to accomplish. 1.) Configure ZoneAlarm 2.) Shut both machines down and see if it still works when they boot back up.

Thanks for the help, and the links you supplied. The information will undoubtedly come in handy in the future.

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