Can't see all computers on XP home network Solved/Closed

Question

Hello,
I have three computers running XP home on 2 and Xp Pro on the other. I also have a laptop running Vista home. All are connected to a 2wire 1000SW gateway/router through a net gear network switch. All computers are running norton protection software offered by ATT. The problem is that I can not get the file/printer sharing to work. I have all the file sharing and print sharing enabled. The 2 wire router sees all the systems. but the computers don't see each other. What do I have to enable or disable to get it to work. thank you for any help you can give

Jess · Accepted Answer

install the Microsoft TCP/IP version 6 protocol in both computers by clicking install on your LAN properties dialogue window.  mine was there in the install list, I didn't have to go searching externally for it. restart

tinytino · Answer

have you checked that the firewall is properly configured for the printer?

bigz · Answer

take norton off

Jess · Answer

you need what I am looking for.  a network adaptor that works in both xp and vista.  network adaptors are what allows the computers to see each other.  certain adaptors work with certain operating systems and I seem to be missing the one that lets xp talk to vista.  if I find it I will post it here

Jess · Answer

sorry, I meant network protocol, not adaptor

Linuxluver · Answer

I have also had trouble with Windows Vista pretending it is the only PC in the workgroup despite there being several others.  

I got fed up with it when I bought a "storage router" that allows me to share USB drives and printers on the network without a PC hosting them. All my Ubuntu Linux 8.04 and 8.10 systems could happily see these shares,  as well as a Windows XP system. But Vista could not see it thanks to Norton firewall. I had enabled file and print sharing in the firewall, but it made no difference.  When I finally turned Norton Firewall off altogether, I still could not discover the other computers, but I could at least use \<server name> ivia "Tools" in the "Network and Sharing Center" to force Vista to display their shares and allow me to map / connect to them. 

Most of my systems are now Ubuntu Linux, but I have one XP system for "legacy" software (mainly PC games for the kids) and one Vista system for current compatibility (everything that's 'windows-only ' EXCEPT games). It's been very annoying that the Linux systems can see everything, on any system, but the Windows systems can't even see each other, never mind anything else.....without a lot of messing around.

Bobby · Answer

Joe,

Just wondering if you were able to solve the xp / vista probvlem?  I can not get print share to work between the two Op sys's.  Vista does not seam to see XP???

WindowsXP-KB922120-v5-x86-ENU.exe · Answer

get this from microsoft and run it on your XP machine.
WindowsXP-KB922120-v5-x86-ENU.exe

vmtl · Answer

After insane amounts of headaches installing the Microsoft TCP/IP version 6 worked like a charm!

DONTHINK · Answer

im really dumb when it comes to computers but somehow I set up all 3 computers on me home network and printer sharing works fine lolol dont ask how I done it I have no idea

maybe you should stop thinking how to do it an jus do it

Superdave · Answer

My printer sharing problem was caused by McAfee, and I'm hoping the solution might work with Norton. I went to Reports and Logs in Mcafee Security Center. Under Recent Events, I clicked on View Log. Then I clicked Internet and Network and finally on Inbound Events. Then I was able to see when the remote PC attempted to access the main PC to which the printer is connected. I clicked on the event and at the bottom of the page added the IP address of the remote PC to the trusted list. The printer immediately showed up in the printers list on the remote PC. I hope this is helpful.

Fulgore · Answer

If you are having a hard time finding any other pc's on your network on the vista pc make sure that "Password Protected Sharing" is disabled. Follow the instructions to see if it's on.

Start
Control panel
Network and Internet (or Network and Sharing Center if you have "Classic View" enabled)
Network and Internet Sharing Center
Scroll down until you see "Password Protected Sharing" and tick it off.

Then you should see Your vista pc's on XP and XP pc's on Vista. Hope this helps got me unstuck!

babznme · Answer

Hi, after watching the forum for awhile, I deccided to see if Microsoft was supporting XP. They are supporting the sp3 version until the middle of April 09. So I got online with them and they remotely helped me for free. The thing that worked was turning off all firewalls and virus software. Then making the home network. Mine was a wired environment, but had the same problem as wireless, because one machine is XP the other is Vista. Vista had no problem, but the XP machine would not allow the network through until weshut off the firewalls on both. All is good now and I can print from both machines! Thanks for all your help too!

panterab · Answer

I have a home network. XP pro hard-wired to a router, XP Pro wireless desktop and Vista Home Premium laptop.

The printer is on the wireless desktop.  I can print from one XP to the other, but not from Vista.  I am an IT Technical Support Technician and oversee the 14 printers that we have connected at work.  At home, I even tried to "create a new port" when adding the printer to my Vista. This I tried several different ways and all to no avail.  I am convinced that Vista does not play well with XP Pro in a workgroup setting.

Vista has a different group policy than did XP.  This works in conjuntion with Server 2008.  Interestingly, I now dual-boot the XP desktop with Windows 7 RC, thinking that would resolve my issue with Vista printing to that machine.  No.  Windows 7 has a build in "Neighborhood" feature that is some ways restricts sharing resources unless it is with a Windows 7 neighbor.

My advice is to get a print server.  People have gotten a Netgear device for about $119.  It will act as a Wireless Access Point (extending range from the router), replace my wireless card on the Desktop (it'll be hard-wired to the print-server) and allow all of my devices to print to the attached printer.  MS didn't think this issue out well.

hempi23 · Answer

I have an Xp64 and couldn't see any computer on the network, even with firewall (ICS service) disabled. What I noticed was that the "TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper" service was not started. After I did this I could find all other computer.

Hope this helps. :)

The Eddo · Answer

THe solution for this is often simple:

Run the Network Setup Wizard on your XP Computer, make your workgroup name MSHOME

On your Vista computer, right click "Computer" and click properties. Near the bottom of the window, you should see the workgroup name which is probably "WORKGROUP" instead of "MSHOME". So naturally that is your problem. Click the "Change Settings" button and change the workgroup name to "MSHOME". Restart the vista machine and you're done. 

Hope that helps!

Matt · Answer

you have to change the vista and xp workgroups to the same by default they are different

Bruce · Answer

I just switched to Vista, and it's just plain odd.  I couldn't see any of my servers or NAS drives.  Go home for lunch, come back, and they are all showing up again.

bytor · Answer

I'm having this same problem and googling around trying to figure it out with no luck so far.

I have 2 XP PCs.  A desktop running XP Home SP3 with 2 printers attached.  The other a laptop running XP Pro SP2 (will upgrade to SP3 soon) with no printers.   I want to be able to print to from the laptop via the Desktop's printers.  Also I setup 2 shared folders, one on each PC, that I want to be able to use for file sharing.

Both are in same workgroup (QUADROPHENIA).  I setup sharing for the printers.  The laptop can only see the workgroup name but no printers in it.  Oddly, 2 workgroup names called exactly the same thing show up in all sharing displays I try to access from either PC, but neither PC can see the shared folders that I created but the desktop was initially able to see the DEFAULT "all user" folders on C:\Documents and Settings\all users\shared documents that I didn't even want setup (I turned that off).

Any advice/ideas?????

daibak · Answer

There's a confusing amount of accurate and inaccurate detail in this thread so I'm relating critical steps I took this morning helping a neighbour implement printer sharing in his home network where a Canon MP160 printer is connected to a Compaq Presario desktop PC running Windows VISTA Home Premium with SP1. He wanted to be able to print wirelessly from an Acer TravelMate 4000 notebook running Windows XP with SP3 in another room. If you follow these steps everything should work first time but be patient while Windows finds the new printer share.

1. Right click My Computer and open Properties on the PC connected to the printer. Write down the Workgroup name on a piece of paper, or change it to a new name keeping this new name to something simple like DADSHOME. If you change the Workgroup name, you will need to re-boot the PC for the new Workgroup name to take effect.

2. Go to the other PC or PC's - those without the wired printer connection, and from which you want to print remotely - and change the Workgroup name to whatever the Workgroup name is in Properties for the PC with the printer connected. In the example in 1. above, you would change each PC's Workgroup name to read DADSHOME. As in 1. above too, anytime you change the Workgroup name you must re-boot that computer for the changed Workgroup name to apply. When done, all your PC's in the home network will have the same Workgroup name, and this is a basic requirement for printer sharing to work.

3.  Now back to the host computer, the one to which the printer is hard-wired running VISTA, there are some more things to do on that box:

First, in your Network Connections click on Properties to bring up the adapters and protocols that Microsoft has installed. The File and Printer sharing box for Microsoft Networks must be checked. Close Properties. If you have changed anything, Windows will probably order you to re-boot your system for changes to take effect.

Second, in Control Panel look for Printers. Without recalling the exact name for the Control Panel window in VISTA (I'm Windows XP-knowledgeable, plus the neighbour's OS'es were all in Spanish) you will find an option to add a printer. Here there are three details to be sure to take care of:

  (a) In the Sharing tab be sure to check the right to share printer box, and Apply the change, OK;
  (b) Check that you are automatically allowing any other remote PC that you are allowing to share this printer to load the same printer driver that is used by the host PC. 
  Then this last one is vital - it stymies many people or they just plain forget about it or don't even know about it,
  (c) Uncheck the requirement for Printer-password access in VISTA to share the printer on the network.

If it makes you feel more comfortable, reboot all PCs in the network and when you go to add a printer to each remote PC (those without the printer attached) it should just be a task taking a few moments of your time. This morning it took me about ten minutes to make the changes, do the rebooting, and print out a test page on each machine. I hope this helps although I apologize for not supplying the exact Windows dialogue boxes.

Sevenslade · Answer

Thanks to all who replied on here.  You guys were all very helpful and got my network up an drunning as opposed to those nimrods at ATT or GeekSquad who wanted me to pay for something they install and could not answer about.  I am really surprised Norton has not addressed this issue yet.  Thank you to all.

nyi nyi · Answer

friends
you might want to check out these pages to fix such problems
that help
https://helpdeskgeek.com/networking/cannot-see-other-computers-on-network-in-my-network-places/
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows?ui=en-US&rs=en-001&ad=US
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=4F01A31D-EE46-481E-BA11-37F485FA34EA&displaylang=en
http://bbs.blackviper.com/index.php?topic=1513.0

//end

Ida · Answer

Thank you so much for your information. It's help me alot.

rgds,

Ida

deironald · Answer

It is because of your firewall software. Try www.exoticpages.info website tutorial.

Phillip · Answer

Norton has trust issues to resolve..open norton i.e your firewall. 

1.view network map
2.select each of your computers and click  on the edit opposite trust level and click on full trust.

hope this helps

Robert · Answer

I have a 2Wire Gateway also.  I think that the 2Wire DHCP got stuck.
Quick Answer at a DOS prompt type:
ipconfig /flushdns
ipconfig /registerdns

I had one computer which couldn't see the network server for a while.  Never figured out why.
Then my main computer couldn't see the network so I decided to dig.
I noticed that the IP address was high 192.168.1.104.  104 is out of range of my other
devices.  I also noticed that the IP address was static when all setting showed dynamic.
I saw this under [Control Panel][Network Connections] clicking on in my case Local Area Connection 2
on the bottom left under Details I see the IP address and statically assigned.

To fix it I went back to flippin DOS. 
(Reminds me of working on Suns when all else fails you got to fix it with a VI edit)

Type the following at a DOS prompt:
ipconfig /flushdns
ipconfig /registerdns

hope this helps someone.

rajesh · Answer

can not connect between tow machine

evilr · Answer

Hello,
main pc is xp and I cannot access the main one with the other two pc's. Router sees all pc's but printer and files sharing cannot happen from the two other ones. The main pc can access the other two pc's
help

none · Answer

Im not sure if this is right but with your vista click on Start then Network and then if it won't show the network because it says 'Network descovery is turned off. Network computers arenot visible click to change' you click to change and then click on the one with the shield. (If you don't have it it's the one at the top) and then that should fix your vista plus a box might come up about security or whatever and just click continue. and about your printer if you have lexmark wireless printer when you installed it however you did but if you have lost the installation cd log on to lexmarks website and you can download your printer software there. And then you should have the configuration program im going to put this in steps to make it eaiser oh and this info is for vista only but you can try it on xp if you really want to.

1. Press Start
2. Press all programs
3. Find Lexmark 
4. Click on that folder.
5. Find Wireless Configuration Utility
6. Click on it.
(If the security thing comes up just click on continue)
7. And then you should be able to work it out from there!

Guillermo · Answer

you need to open the netbios port and the windows directory port 445 ,allow ICMP ping just in case , that should do it

juii · Answer

see the link .. to configure windows firewall.. so all computers show on network

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/840634

Harsh · Answer

use to advance lan scaner software install it and solved your problems

lalit · Answer

i am not have server os and I have four pcs with xp os can I connected them for printer

ff · Answer

al  redy  have  networkgroup,  but one system not access

nimesh · Answer

if I have 3-4 pc in win xp home environmentr,can I share nad transfer files from each other PC

ragtoy · Answer

all these techs taking you nowhere. you haven't changed any settings to get this problem so why start plugging away at settings now. So very simple your not going to believe it. goto my network places via my computor or how ever you do it. depending on how you pc is set up. Now I'm taking about the laptop with the printer connectivity issue on the network, not the pc with the printers physically conected to it, as I'm almost sure those printers are working fine. 
Go to your laptop and click on my network places
Click on view work group computors. Now sign-on or click on the icon showing home pc with the printers physically attached. you should be prompted to sign-on and password just as you would like if you were in front of it, but now your signing on via your network. Once you're in you should be able to see all your network shares via your laptop through the network including all printers. select one of these printers and right click it for a test page you should know how to do this. your going to get a permission notice "your about to connect to a printer "printer name" which will automatically install aprint driver on your machine.... may contain viruses or scripts harmful blah, blah, it is important to be certain that the computor sharing this printer is trustworthy, would you like to contine? Select yes Voila! do this for all net work printers.......... very easy you just needed to sign-on to that pc by way of the network.

sumi · Answer

What advice can you give me on accessing another computer on a home wireless network?

ISE Computer · Answer

Good post and good information, I've got these problem lately and I cant solve it.

By the way I love old fashion computer http://interloper.com

Restie · Answer

Thank you so much very helpful!!!

Simple1 · Answer

For my situation (XP Home Edition, Win7 laptops), everything was connected and able to share files and printers, and then one day it stopped.  Machines could ping the router but not each other.  File share and printer sharing no longer available.  

After reading all sorts of things to try, the simplest thing to try worked:  shut off the router for 60 seconds, then turn it back on.  Two machines began working again.  The third just needed to ipconfig /release then ipconfig /renew and it became available to the other machines as well.

Start simple: reboot your router.

nick · Answer

I had the same problem that XP SP3 wont see the other computer in workgroup,
after trying for while with all the advice, this is what solved for me following entries which were copied from my other xp system.(you may not need all the parameters)


[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\NetworkProvider\HwOrder]
"ProviderOrder"="RDPNP,LanmanWorkstation,WebClient,PnSson"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\NetworkProvider\Order]
"ProviderOrder"="RDPNP,LanmanWorkstation,WebClient,PnSson"

Can't see all computers on XP home network

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