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General discussion

Problems With Router and Home Network Amongst Others

May 21, 2005 4:48AM PDT

I set up a normal home network in my house intended for sharing music files amongst two computers. I like to keep my music on my desktop downstairs and listen to it with my laptop upstairs while I work. In "My Network Places" folder however only the shared folders from the laptop appear on my laptop. Meanwhile, on the PC downstairs, it displays folders from both computers. When I try to access the shared files of the PC using my lapop, it denies me access because I don't have permission and tells me to ask the network administrator. What I want is to have this situation reversed. My router is model number BEFSX41 from LinkSys. Any help on how to fix this would be appreciated so greatly.

Discussion is locked

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My suspicion is
May 22, 2005 11:04AM PDT

that the router is not a factor. It's LAN connections are basically a switch and not part of it's hardware firewall. It can, however, be providing the IP addresses. You can confirm this by hooking your PC and laptop up using a crossover cable to see if the problem persists. The crossover use will require you to manually assign IP addresses to test this. If it does, you need to look at both your computers for the answer. It may lie in security settings such as permissions. You did not mention your OS or service pack level. One step that usually helps is to have the same user defined on both computers with each having permission to access the folder where the music is stored. More about the OSs would be helpful.

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XP; SP1
May 24, 2005 12:26PM PDT

I use XP and Service Pack One on each of my computers. I've tried a crossover cable and the problem is with permissions to see the files. Permissions are set the exact same and all security settings permit my sharing of the files between the computers. I have my computers search for the IP addresses automatically (if that's any help.) There are two users on my PC while my laptop only has one user. The problem is certainly with permission with my laptop not having the proper such, the message saying "contact the network administrator" (I'm not quite sure who the heck that is.)

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Is is XP Pro or Home
May 25, 2005 6:00AM PDT

There can be some differences. I would make sure both computers have one use who is the same on both systems and have them set to require login with a password. Use the same password. This should automatically validate the remote user. If you have XP Pro, it can be set up to use or not use "simple file sharing". XP Home uses it by default. If one has Pro and the other Home, this can get tricky. If both are Pro, I would check to see if one uses simple file sharing and the other not....and also make sure you login to both the same way.

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Addendum
May 25, 2005 6:02AM PDT

Since you have SP-1, make sure firewall is off. I would recommend installing SP-2 as it's easier to allow local area network access while keeping the firewall on.

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Both have XP standard home
May 25, 2005 7:19AM PDT

Both computers are windows xp home standard. I'll be sure to update them both to service pack 2 to see if it works. I'll reply in a couple days to fill in the results.

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Since it's XP Home
May 25, 2005 9:17PM PDT

You should not even have to mess with permissions. In fact, this is only done in safe mode and you would probably only use this for tweaking purposes. Just make sure that the network name is the same on both PCs, the username/password (s) are the same and firewall is off. This should work as long as the sharing is done correctly.

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Hey Steve I Finally Fixed It, Let's Say... Unconventially
Jun 15, 2005 4:24PM PDT

Hey my helper friend,

Hey happy peoples,

Sorry I'm late to this thread but I have a new discovery. I was having the problem about the whole "\\computer is not accessible. Contact
the whoever to see if you have access whatever."

Anyway, on my number one computer, the desktop (XP SP1) I could see the shared folders from both computers.
On that #1 computer I took the links of the #1 computer's shared folders from the
"my network places" folder and dragged them over to any of the shared folders on
computer #2 (laptop, XP SP2.) I went over to computer #2, click on these links, took me to the other
computer's shared folders even though they seem dreadfully slow.

If I try going to the work group computer #1 via CPU #2, it will
still give me that "not accessible message." But that doesn't matter because I can finally see my desktop's folders. Ha Ha! Once again, I my intelligence, perserverance, and creativeness
have all proved useful.