Mixing Workgroup and Domain PC's

I have a small network with 2 desktop PC's (wired) and 1 laptop (wireless).
The Desktops are on the standard "Workgroup" and the laptop is on my
corporate domain. All 3 can surf the web and all 3 can ping each other by
IP.
However, only the 2 desktops can share files but neither can see the laptop
through explorer. The laptop can not see either desktop.
All 3 are running XP pro SP-1

Is this a wireless issue or is it the mixture of Domain and Workgroup
configurations?
Any info is appreciated.

-Lee

Update:
If I connect my laptop via the built-in CAT5 connection, no problems. I can
see the entire network.
So it looks like my network pc visibility problem is limited to the
wireless. But again, I can still ping the desktops and surf the web fine
with the wireless...
<developing>
-Lee


"Lee" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> I have a small network with 2 desktop PC's (wired) and 1 laptop
(wireless).
> The Desktops are on the standard "Workgroup" and the laptop is on my
> corporate domain. All 3 can surf the web and all 3 can ping each other by
> IP.
> However, only the 2 desktops can share files but neither can see the
laptop
> through explorer. The laptop can not see either desktop.
> All 3 are running XP pro SP-1
>
> Is this a wireless issue or is it the mixture of Domain and Workgroup
> configurations?
> Any info is appreciated.
>
> -Lee
>
>

Hi Lee,

I have a couple of ideas about what might be causing this problem.

Your PCs will periodically send packets announcing themselves to other
computers on the network. These packets are broadcast to every PC on your
local network instead of being sent to each PC individually. So, from your
messages it looks like the broadcast packets being sent by PCs on your
wireless network are not being received by PCs on your wired network.

A couple of different things could cause this problem:
1. Your router has a firewall that is filtering out broadcast traffic
from the wireless network. You would have to consult the documentation for
your router to see if you could modify this setting.
2. Some wireless encryption protocols (WPA, WPA-PSK) use different
encryption keys for broadcast traffic. If you are using one of these
protocols this might be the cause. This is probably unlikely.

One thing you might try as a way to work around this problem is to
connect to shared folders directly using the IP address of the PC that the
share is on. Open up 'My Computer' and select 'Map Network Drive' from the
Tools menu. For the Folder entry, use an IP address instead of the server
name (i.e. \\192.168.2.1\share instead of \\server\share). Since your PCs
are on different domains and workgroups, you might also have to enter
different user credentials, so click on 'Connect using a different user
name' and enter the credentials you would normally use to log into the PC
with the share on it).

Best of luck,
Chris Gual [MSFT]
--
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

"Lee" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>I have a small network with 2 desktop PC's (wired) and 1 laptop (wireless).
> The Desktops are on the standard "Workgroup" and the laptop is on my
> corporate domain. All 3 can surf the web and all 3 can ping each other by
> IP.
> However, only the 2 desktops can share files but neither can see the
> laptop
> through explorer. The laptop can not see either desktop.
> All 3 are running XP pro SP-1
>
> Is this a wireless issue or is it the mixture of Domain and Workgroup
> configurations?
> Any info is appreciated.
>
> -Lee
>
>