im gonna start crying soon.....

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tryin to set up a home network and can't access the 'second' system, ie the one connected to the one connected to the internet. been trying since last night to get both going and talking and eventually i can see the second on my main machine but im not allowed to access it? it says i need to speak to my network or system admin which i suppose would be...me? running xp on both, and they have the same workgroup name too. thanks

 

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Ok, draw breath, and give us some more info.

1.) What are you trying to access on the internet-connected PC ? The net itself, file shares ?

2.) How are each getting IP addresses, and what addresses are they using/ have you given them ?

3.) Have you shares available on each machine, and more importantly do you have a common user account on both PCs ? You'll need to ensure that you have permissions to access each other via the network.


It sounds like you're definitely making progress, but now you're at the stage where you need to know more about it. Ain't learning about IT great ?

 

moominboy, how are your machines physically connected. Do you have two PCs hooked together through a hub or switch using Ethernet cables?

What would help us when you (or anyone) posts a troubleshooting question is if you could describe your network to us. There's a lot of information that would help us help you.

Gav has some good questions. Let us know a bit about your configuration. Thanks.

 

OK, let's see if we can get the basics working here - nothing fancy (and anyone else please feel free to correct the following)

1.) On each PC, create a folder, and share it - giving Everyone Full Control. Make sure there are a few files inside to actually share.

2.) Here, we'll ignore the Windows Networking wizard, as IMHO, it's easier to do it manually. Bring up the properties of each network card (NIC) in turn, and go to the properties of TCP/IP (under the networking tab - see below)


(note: Ignore tha fact this says Internal ADSL - yours should say Local Area Connection, or similar)


3.) These will prob be set to "gain an IP automatically", and I'm guessing may currently have 169.254.x.x addresses. (the APIPA range - go Google). I'm also going to assume that in this instance, you may have a router, and that it will prob be using 192.168.0.1 as it's internal address.

4.) On one PC, select the "Use the following IP address" option, and enter, say, 192.168.0.10, Leave DNS to "obtain automatically..." Repeat this on the other machine, but select the IP 192.168.0.11. Set the subnet mask on each to 255.255.255.0.

5.) Reboot both. Hopefully, you should now be able to "see" the shared folders on each machine from the other.


This was written quickly. so forgive me for any points I may have missed, and let us know how you get on.

 

sorry gav,i tried everything you said and couldn't do it. couldn't find the proper card properties you included so tried the wiz again. this time i could only see the main pc on the main and both on the second but couldn't access the main thru the 2nd. this time ive set up both accounts identical but it's still saying i don't have proper access rights and the main server is not found on the network even tho i can see it! i think i'll just leave it for the moment mate, so i'm not wasting too much of you good folks time. think im gonna buy an idiot proof wireless set-up. any good suggestions?

 

Can you just clarify for me, you are trying to link two pc's together using a standard ethernet cable? i.e. cable goes from one PC to the other.

If this is what you are doing then the two pc's shouldn't be able to communicate with each other as like devices on the same network don't talk to each other.

If you are using a standard ethernet cable then you will need to go through a swich of hub for them to communicate.

What you need for the two PC's to be directly linked to each other is a crossover ethernet cable, this is wired differently to a standard one.

As for a wireless suggestion I have always foundd Buffalo products to be good.

 

This isn't the time to abandon what you're trying to get working. This is the time to go to the MS Knowledge base and start searching. This is the time to start getting yourself some books. This is the time to learn to research on Google.

Do you have a firewall on one of the these computers? Are you positive you have the NTFS permissions set correctly? Can you ping each machine from the other one? There are lots of things to try and you'll learn from all of them. Have you installed a packet sniffer such as ethereal and looked at the communication between the two computers to see what's actually happening? MS's messages very often aren't real enlightening as to what the real problem is.

 

yeah it is just a normal ethernet cable mate. but if they can't communicate over the standard ether line then how can they "see" each other? albeit kinda randomly?! lol!

 

you're right mate, guess i was just getting stressed with wanting to do things and not knowing how. bought loads of books off e-bay so just waiting on them. thing is when i search on google/yahoo etc, the jargon is way over my head...like just now! lol, so instead of quitting i'll just stop bothering you guys and try to research for myself. cheers for all the help anyway folks. dave.

 

Here is a link to something I've just found on google that explains linking two PC's together. It expaling the differences between a patch cable, wich I thisnk you are using, and a crossover cable which you need to link the two items.

 

ta simon, i'll give it a wee read just now.

 

Hey Freddy, useful as this info is, I think it's maybe a bit advanced for what moominboy is trying to achieve here - ie, a pure and simple connection between the 2 PCs.

The most significant thing mentioned so far is the cable type. Right-click on My Network Places, select Properties, and see if you have Local Area Connection on each machine. Are these icons showing two blue screens, or is there a red cross at the bottom of the icons ?

I'm also thinking this is a straight-thru cable, as opposed to a crossover (as mentioned above). In which case, you've no chance of getting it working unless you either (a) buy a crossover or (b) follow AJ's peachy article HERE

 

indeedy it is mate, but followed simons link, (above) and it was very handy,technical enough to not be patronised but easy enough to understand for me. on the strength of that, instead of x-over cabling, ive decided to buy 10/100 ethernet switch/router off e-bay. thanks again jak for your info, i'm going to print it off and save it if that's ok by u?

 

At your peril, m8, as I'm probs one of the least helpful when it comes to sound technical advice around here. That said, however - I believe that what I posted was decent guidance (until corrected by the rest of the Guys) so if it's helpful, then go for it.

Nothing in what I posted was copyright, so use it (or ignore) as you see fit.

 

that's all im looking for jak, is guidance even if it's not exact it's still setting me on the right track so cheers!

 

Don't stop asking questions. That wasn't the point of my post. The point I was trying to make was don't get discouraged and give up because there are so many resources available.

I was always told that when the going gets tough, the tough get going. You're not the only one to spend a lot of time kind of "beating your head against the wall", so to speak, on a problem.

If I gave you some advice that was too advanced I'm sorry. I tend to try to not underestimate anyone's intelligence so I unintentionally will give you advice that's over your head at times. But it's over your head because of lack of experience, not lack of intelligence.

I actually started using a sniffer very early on. I'd always wanted to see what the traffic actually looked like because I have always been curious about how computers communicated, so I started looking at it before I really knew what it was, and believe it or not I learned a lot just from looking at it. It really familiarized me with a lot of things so that when I started studying network packets, encapsulation, and a lot of other things like that I actually had a framework from what I'd been looking at for a year or two to put the knowledge into. I could visualize it much better.

Sometimes just exploring your way around things is a very good way to learn. Can't tell you how many times I had to rebuild my Win 2K box because I had locked myself out of it by messing with security configurations.... It sure taught me a lot though..... Not only about how to configure security, but made me much more comfortable doing installs because I had to do it so many times. Trial and error is a wonderful teacher at times.