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General discussion

Server Service Won't Start

Feb 6, 2004 11:28AM 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.

Discussion is locked

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Re:Server Service Won't Start
Feb 6, 2004 11:43AM PST

1. My first guess is
Adding "File and Print Sharing" to your network connection should install the server service. If "File and Print Sharing" is installed already, uninstall it, reboot and install it again.

2. If #1 doesn't fix it, post in the XP forum for most eyeballs.

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Just saw it.
Feb 6, 2004 11:44AM PST

You have ZoneAlarm installed. You killed the network before it started.

Uninstall that.

Bob

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Re:Server Service Won't Start
Feb 7, 2004 5:25AM PST

Thanks for the advice Bob. Here's an update on the situation. I uninstalled ZA, ran the Network Wizard on both machines, and everything is exactly the same. I am able to ping both machines with the IP addresses and Computer Names. It seems as though the problem lies in Computer B, because when I go to a file on Computer B, and open the Sharing tab on the properties box, none of the options to share are available.

I think I finally figured out where and how to uninstall and reinstall File and Printer Sharing, so I did that, also with no luck. I have Computer A as NTFS, and B is Fat 32. I disabled, and then reenabled Simple File Sharing on B, and still nothing. B is a new clean install, and shouldn't be the one causing trouble, but it looks like it is. I will take your advice and post this to the XP forum, hopefully somebody can point the direction to turning on file sharing.

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Re: Server Service Won't Start
Aug 21, 2004 9:59AM PDT

Hello,
I am facing the smae problem.
Please advise a solution.
my email is qscvdw AT hotmail.com
Thanx