Member Avatar for BastardAle

Kay here's the deal. I'm trying to network two machines together in the same room, both running XPpro, both recently formatted. I've been fighting with this all night and the closest I get to either PC seeing eachother, is in the Folders Tree under My Network Places/Microsoft Windows Network/MsHome (which I left as the default workgroup name), I can see both PC's (represented my their names). This is true on both machines. HOWEVER, when I try to access the files from the other PC I get an error which says:

"\\'~name of machine trying to access~' is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of this server to find out if you have access permissions. The network path was not found."

I've gone as far as to allow sharing of the entire C: drive of both machines. I've ran the networking wizard numerous times first on the Host then the Client machine, restarting after each.

The host machine (A7N8X Deluxe rev 1.4)connects directly to the internet through the NIVIDIA nForce MCP Networking Controller. A Crossover cable is used to connect the other controller, the 3Com EMB Fast Ethernet Controller, to a Netgear FA311 NIC on the client.

Not sure what more information to give so if anything else helps, post what you need to know and I'll get back soon. I'll be checking this thread periodically today.

Thanks!!!

  • 3 Contributors
  • 2 Replies
  • 105 Views
  • 12 Hours Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by bentkey

Dani AI

Generated

Good followups from and — both point at likely causes. Below is a concise, practical checklist to isolate and fix the common reasons XP machines show up in Network Neighborhood but refuse SMB access.

  1. Confirm basic IP/connectivity first.
  • With a direct crossover link you typically need static IPs on the two adapters (same subnet) or a working DHCP on that link. Verify each adapter has an IP and that a ping from each side to the other succeeds. If ping fails, fix cabling/drivers before anything else.
  • If one machine has two NICs (internet + local), make sure you are testing the adapter that is connected to the other PC.
  1. Verify Windows networking bindings and services.
  • On each machine open the LAN connection Properties and ensure “Client for Microsoft Networks” and “File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks” are installed and checked for the adapter used for the direct link.
  • Open Services (services.msc) and confirm Server and Workstation are running; also check TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper and RPC. These are required for SMB shares to show and connect.
  1. Check firewall and permissions.
  • Temporarily disable Windows Firewall and any third-party firewall to see if that restores access. SMB uses ports that firewalls commonly block. If disabling works, add File and Printer Sharing to exceptions and re-enable protection.
  • For testing set share and NTFS permissions to allow access (use the Everyone group temporarily) rather than sharing the entire system drive long-term. Creating matching user accounts is one approach, or map a drive with explicit credentials once shares are open.

If ping works but SMB still fails after the above, note whether Internet Connection Sharing or routing on the multihomed host is active — ICS can change routing and name resolution. Include results of simple tests (ping, ipconfig /all, service status) if posting more details; they quickly reveal where it stops.

Recommended Answers

All 2 Replies

Member Avatar for alc6379

Have you tried typing this into the browser?

\\<server's IP address>\<sharename>

Instead of using the names of the machines, try their IP addresses. Let us know if that works.

Member Avatar for bentkey

You need the user name of each user along with their respective password entered on each computer also. If for instance you are logging on to computer A as BastardAle with a password of warmbeer, then you'll need to put that username and password on computer B. It should just ask you for the name and password, but I've had problems with it in the past. XP also likes reboots after enabling the file sharing.

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.