Member Avatar for timmyhatesxp

Be gentle with me, I'm a technoturkey! How I got this far amazes me!

The setup:

I have a Netgear wireless access point and router connected to my desktop machine by LAN cable. This router is 192.168.0.1 The Netgear unit is the DHCP server

All machines run XP, all patches applied. All have sufficient grunt, disk, etc

I've set up a second router, this time a Linksys, but with new firmware as a wireless repeater unit, with the same SSID as netgear. It's on 192.168.1.1. This is GREAT. I can roam. I needed this because my house has stupid walls that block signal, and I'm fed up with She Who Must Be Obeyed at All Times yelling at me because her mqachine just dot disconnected!.

The Problem:

After repairing my network connections on all connected machines, I can see within XP all machines connected to the (eg) Linksys, but not any connected to (eg) the Netgear unit.

I can ping from where I am (on ......1.4) to a machine on the netgear (....0.3) happily, and obviously tracert to it. Windows networking refuses to find it inside My Network Places) or by entering \\machinename at the start>run point.

I tried Add a network place. It "finds it", makes the connection after validating that it is shared (I know this because it refuses when a location is not shared), but, having found and added it, refuses to contact it!

All I want to do (!) is to share all my resources across my home network, sharing disks and printers as if they were on machine connected to the same, single router. And I wanttro be able to not care which physical router I'm connected to.

All ideas gratefully received. But please keep it newbie-simple!

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Dani AI

Generated

A short diagnosis and practical fixes tied to the thread

The behaviour in this thread is typical: SMB/Windows sharing and the Network Neighborhood rely on local broadcast/NetBIOS name discovery, which only works inside one Layer‑2 broadcast domain. Routers that give out addresses on different subnets or that do NAT will break the broadcast-based browser and name resolution even when IP routing exists (so ICMP/traceroute succeed but \computername does not).

Recommended home fix (simplest, reliable)
Make the second box act as an access point / layer‑2 bridge so all clients stay on the same subnet. In practice that means:

  • Put the secondary unit into AP or “repeater‑bridge” mode rather than router/NAT mode.
  • Assign the secondary a static LAN IP inside the main router’s subnet (unique address).
  • Disable the secondary’s DHCP server.
  • Match wireless SSID/security and, if using cable, use LAN‑to‑LAN ports (not the WAN port).
    This preserves broadcasts so My Network Places and \computername work the same no matter which AP a client is on.

If the networks must remain routed
Use a name service (WINS or DNS), hosts files, or direct IP access (\192.168.x.y). Running Windows RRAS is possible but usually overkill for a home setup; it won’t restore broadcast browsing without additional name services. ’s routing idea is valid for advanced scenarios; ’s subnet change is another route but changes the addressing plan rather than fixing broadcast reachability.

Quick troubleshooting checklist

  • Confirm only one DHCP server is active; IP conflicts indicate two servers.
  • Check NetBIOS/WINS with ipconfig /all and nbtstat -A <IP>.
  • Test SMB by IP: net view \\<IP>.
  • Ensure File and Printer Sharing is allowed through the Windows firewall and NetBIOS over TCP/IP is enabled.

Notes: the approach above is what keeps roaming seamless for Windows file/printer sharing without adding complex routing or name servers.

Recommended Answers

All 8 Replies

Member Avatar for Member #210412

you need to configure routing and remote access on windows.

Member Avatar for timmyhatesxp

you need to configure routing and remote access on windows.

Sounds promising. Please aim me in the right direction. Remember I'm really in need of step by step stuff. I can probably "get it" if I know where to start

Member Avatar for Member #210412

me? last 3 year i didnt do anything about this stuff :) what i remember it will not be enough

Member Avatar for timmyhatesxp

me? last 3 year i didnt do anything about this stuff :) what i remember it will not be enough

I so know what you mean! Touch it once, fix it and pray one never has to touch it again.

Member Avatar for Member #210412

nope.. i turned on programming :)

Member Avatar for timmyhatesxp

The solution is ridiculously simple.

Set the Linksys DHCP status to "DHCP Forwarder" and all suddenly becomes as it ought to be.

Firmware on the linksys is DD-WRT v24 RC-4 (10/10/07) std

Member Avatar for DimaYasny

or you can just change the subnets to

Member Avatar for timmyhatesxp

or you can just change the subnets to

That's interesting. The "DHCP forwarding" alleged solution worked for 20 minutes and failed as soon as another machine switched on. With hindsight "it would have". IP addresses got confuzzled

Will let you know as soon as I can get back in to my linksys. Now where's that LAN cable?

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