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Someone else installed my original network & router to my cable connection, so I'm tackling this for the first time. I'm running 2mPro on both machines with a new Intellinet router replacing the one that died two or three days ago in an electrical storm. I had a difficult time getting on the internet, but finally after much fuss I finally discovered that by pulling the cable and electrical plug from the modem, then pulling the electric from from the router I could reconnect, after letting things bleed out, beginning with the cable connect to the modem, then the modem power. And finally the power to the router after all the lights were functioning on the modem.

Now all that's left is each computer seeing one another completely. From each computer I can see the other's icon. When I open there is nothing but the printer driver, printer folder from Control Panel. What is missing of course are the hard drives with newly assigned letters, I think starting with H:. I've not figured out how to get the hard drives to show up and thus be accessable. Can anyone give me a clue?

Thanks, BuddyB

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A short, practical summary and ordered checks to get the missing drives (H:, etc.) to appear.

As pointed out, shared folders/drives must exist for another PC to show them; as noted, workgroup/name resolution matters. The symptom reported by — the other PC icon is visible but opening it shows only a printer — usually means one of: no folder/drive shares on the remote machine, authentication/permission mismatches, name-resolution problems, services/firewall blocking SMB, or router isolation.

Quick ordered checklist (follow top-to-bottom):

  • Confirm IP and basic connectivity (both hosts on same subnet/gateway).
  • Test name resolution and reachability (ping by name and by IP).
  • Enumerate shares from the local machine (see example commands below). If only "Printers" appears, no normal shares exist or access is denied.
  • Ensure network components are present: "File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks" and "Client for Microsoft Networks" in the NIC properties; the Server and Workstation (or equivalent) services are running.
  • Create a dedicated folder share (prefer a named folder, not the root of C:). Set both share permissions and NTFS permissions so the logging account can read. For older Win2K setups use matching local accounts or map with explicit credentials (as mentioned).
  • Check local firewalls and the router: SMB uses TCP 139/445 and UDP 137/138; guest/AP isolation on some routers prevents client-to-client SMB.
  • Map the share explicitly with credentials or by IP if NetBIOS name lookup fails.

Example commands (run from a command prompt):

ipconfig /all
ping 192.168.0.2
net view \\OtherMachineName
net use H: \\OtherMachineName\ShareName /user:OtherMachineName\Username Password
net use

Notes and cautions: mapped drives are per-logon session and can disappear after router/modem resets or DHCP renumbering; administrative shares (C$) require an administrator account—prefer sharing specific folders with least privilege. Never expose SMB ports to the Internet; use the router firewall and keep sharing limited to the LAN.

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Now all that's left is each computer seeing one another completely. From each computer I can see the other's icon. When I open there is nothing but the printer driver, printer folder from Control Panel. What is missing of course are the hard drives with newly assigned letters, I think starting with H:. I've not figured out how to get the hard drives to show up and thus be accessable. Can anyone give me a clue?

You have to create shares before you can access files on another system.

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=286515

Use method 1. The caveat to this is that with Windows 2000, you'll have to have the same username/password schemes on each machine.

Example: machine1 with user "Bob" logs in and tries to access \\machine2\files...if the user account "Bob" is not configured on machine2, "Bob" will not get access to those files. It's vice versa for getting to a share on machine1 with user "Sue"...a user account would need to be created.

If the above doesn't work, try this one:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=301281

XP configuration can be seen here (way simpler, but only if you're running XP):

Member Avatar for buddyb

Oh thank you, thank you, thank you. I'm now cooking on the networking scene. Your help actually has kind of opened my eyes to certain facets and I'm most appreciative. I've a great deal to learn in this area, but I think it will be easier to approach.
BuddyB

Member Avatar for condorcanqui

For the computer to be able to se each other you have to make sure they are on the same workgroup, if you have win 98 or ME go to -control pane-network-identification tab ;
If you have XP just go to control panel-system-computer name tab
If you have win2000 go to control panel-system-network identification TAB...
Just make sure they are under the asme workgruop, the computer naem don't really matter, good luck

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