"Seeing" the computers on my home WLAN

My home WLAN has a Linksys cable modem and 4 computers (2 desktops, 2
notebooks) all of which can are connected to the Internet with no problem.
However, none of the computers can "see" any of the others. All are set up
with the same workgroup name, SSID, and so on, and are set to "share" their
C:\ drives (the WLAN is encrypted) on the network. All computers are running
Windows XP Pro or Home with SP2 and all updates downloaded.

Can anyone suggest what cause is and/or how to correct this situation?

Thanks
--
Dr. Duane C. Tway
Walden University

dtway wrote:

> My home WLAN has a Linksys cable modem and 4 computers (2 desktops, 2
> notebooks) all of which can are connected to the Internet with no
> problem.
> However, none of the computers can "see" any of the others. All are
> set up with the same workgroup name, SSID, and so on, and are set to
> "share" their
> C:\ drives (the WLAN is encrypted) on the network. All computers are
> running Windows XP Pro or Home with SP2 and all updates downloaded.
>
> Can anyone suggest what cause is and/or how to correct this situation?

This is most commonly caused by a misconfigured firewall. Run the
Network Setup Wizard on all computers, making sure to enable File &
Printer Sharing, and reboot. The only "gotcha" is that this will turn
on the XPSP2 Windows Firewall. If you aren't running a third-party
firewall or have an antivirus with "Internet Worm Protection" (like
Norton 2005/06) which acts as a firewall, then you're fine. If you have
third-party firewall software, configure it to allow the Local Area
Network traffic as trusted. I usually do this with my firewalls with an
IP range. Ex. would be 192.168.1.0-192.168.1.254. Obviously you would
substitute your correct subnet.

If one or more of the computers is XP Pro:

a. If you need Pro's ability to set fine-grained permissions, turn off
Simple File Sharing (Folder Options>View tab) and create identical user
accounts/passwords on all computers.

b. If you don't care about using Pro's advanced features, leave the
Simple File Sharing enabled.

Simple File Sharing means that Guest (network) is enabled. This means
that anyone without a user account on the target system can use its
resources. This is a security hole but only you can decide if it
matters in your situation.

Then create shares as desired. XP Home does not permit sharing of users'
home directories (My Documents) or Program Files, but you can share
folders inside those directories. A better choice is to simply use the
Shared Documents folder.

If that doesn't work for you, here is an excellent network
troubleshooter by MVP Hans-Georg Michna. Take the time to go through it
and it will usually pinpoint the problem area(s) -
http://winhlp.com/wxnet.htm

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User