So why is Windows networking so unreliable?

I continuously get problems with print and file sharing in my home
network, which is a mixture of Windows XP (two seperate desktops, and
one laptop) and Windows 2000 (one seperate laptop). And it's not just
between Windows 2000 to XP, it can happen between XP and XP as well. I
constantly get situations where you can see one machine from a second
machine, but not viceversa. Other times, the network printing doesn't work.

I'm just using Workgroup settings to manage all of this right now. Would
I be better off implementing a Domain system?

Yousuf Khan

You have 2 choices.

1 - Setup a local domain controller with a DNS and DHCP server.

2 - Enter all the IP address and machine names in the hosts file of each
machine.

cheers

TweetyB wrote:

> You have 2 choices.
>
> 1 - Setup a local domain controller with a DNS and DHCP server.
>
> 2 - Enter all the IP address and machine names in the hosts file of each
> machine.
>
> cheers
>
3 - put a Linux or Unix box running Samba on the network and let it
(reliably) take care of such details.

--
The e-mail address in our reply-to line is reversed in an attempt to
minimize spam. Our true address is of the form che...@prodigy.net.

CJT wrote:
> 3 - put a Linux or Unix box running Samba on the network and let it
> (reliably) take care of such details.

Will Linux be able to share out the printer if there's no Linux driver
for it available?

Yousuf Khan

Wired or wireless? Makes a big differences in determining the root cause.

Jim


"Yousuf Khan" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:3KE9f.3792$(E-Mail Removed).. .
> I continuously get problems with print and file sharing in my home
> network, which is a mixture of Windows XP (two seperate desktops, and
> one laptop) and Windows 2000 (one seperate laptop). And it's not just
> between Windows 2000 to XP, it can happen between XP and XP as well. I
> constantly get situations where you can see one machine from a second
> machine, but not viceversa. Other times, the network printing doesn't
work.
>
> I'm just using Workgroup settings to manage all of this right now. Would
> I be better off implementing a Domain system?
>
> Yousuf Khan

In article <DEY9f.4292$(E-Mail Removed)>, Yousuf Khan wrote:
> Will Linux be able to share out the printer if there's no Linux driver
> for it available?

Yes. You set up a raw printer queue with no driver, it will
just pass though the data provided by the Windows system.

--
Roger Blake
(Subtract 10 for email.)

Jim wrote:
> Wired or wireless? Makes a big differences in determining the root cause.

Happens equally in both cases. Sometimes I'll have trouble seeing one
wired machine from another wired machine. Sometimes I'll also have
trouble seeing a wireless machine from a wired machine, or vice-versa.
And which machine has trouble changes over the days. Sometimes I'll see
that machine A can share out its own directories to machine B, but not
viceversa. I've even had situations where in the middle of a file
transfer the Windows networking stops working, and it can no longer see
the other machine, even though it was working perfectly just minutes
ago.

I've had to resort to setup an FTP server on some of these machines in
order to share out their filesystems that I was expecting Windows
networking to handle. The FTP server works perfectly all of the time,
btw; it's just the Windows networking that's flakey. And of course, I
can't share printers with ftp.

Yousuf Khan

TweetyB wrote:
> You have 2 choices.

> 2 - Enter all the IP address and machine names in the hosts file of each
> machine.

I've done this in the past, it never worked.

> 1 - Setup a local domain controller with a DNS and DHCP server.
>

This I've heard of, I hear that Windows domain networking is much more
reliable than Windows workgroup networking. But I can't see why, they
must be using the same basic underlying protocols in each case. At my
current work we use Windows workgroup networking (no domains), and it
works just fine throughout the whole building (over several floors).
I've also worked at places which used domains, and it's the same story
-- very reliable.

What I'm really trying to determine here is whether these home
networking routers are responsible for this mess? I mean is a $50 or
$100 router just so bad in quality that we should expect these
problems?

Oh another thing, ftp works just fine between these machines usually,
even if the Windows networking doesn't. But my main use for Windows
networking is to share printers.

Since FTP always work, this implies that it's not a hardware problem, and
not a TCP/IP problem.

Are all your systems configured to ONLY use TCP/IP? The reason I ask is, MS
use to support local connectivity ONLY w/ Netbeui (i.e., NetBIOS). Then a
few years ago, with the advent of XP, MS dropped support for Netbeui in leu
of ONLY TCP/IP, whether local or outside the local network. It just makes
one less thing MS has to support.

If Netbeui is installed, try removing it (e.g., good chance W2K has it
installed, XP usually will not by default). See what happens. If Netbeui
is NOT installed anywhere, you could try installing it. That would bypass
TCP/IP for Windows networking (i.e., local access). Granted, it doesn't
seem to be TCP/IP related, but it's a mystery at this point, so all
solutions have to be considered.

Another idea, try adding EXPLICIT names to your HOSTS file:

PC1 192.168.2.100
PC2 192.168.2.101

...etc., do this for ALL your PCs. Granted it's a hassle, and static, but
the idea here is to not require name resolution to depend on realtime
discovery by the Computer Browser service. Instead, you're making it
explicit on every PC so there's no way a name can ever fail to be resolved
to an IP address (assuming this is the problem). Worth a try.

HTH

Jim


"YKhan" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) oups.com...
> Jim wrote:
> > Wired or wireless? Makes a big differences in determining the root
cause.
>
> Happens equally in both cases. Sometimes I'll have trouble seeing one
> wired machine from another wired machine. Sometimes I'll also have
> trouble seeing a wireless machine from a wired machine, or vice-versa.
> And which machine has trouble changes over the days. Sometimes I'll see
> that machine A can share out its own directories to machine B, but not
> viceversa. I've even had situations where in the middle of a file
> transfer the Windows networking stops working, and it can no longer see
> the other machine, even though it was working perfectly just minutes
> ago.
>
> I've had to resort to setup an FTP server on some of these machines in
> order to share out their filesystems that I was expecting Windows
> networking to handle. The FTP server works perfectly all of the time,
> btw; it's just the Windows networking that's flakey. And of course, I
> can't share printers with ftp.
>
> Yousuf Khan
>

Btw, are all your network adapters working at the same speed (e.g., 10mbps,
100mbps). Are you using Gigabit adapters by any chance (i.e., 1000mbps)?

Jim


"YKhan" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) oups.com...
> Jim wrote:
> > Wired or wireless? Makes a big differences in determining the root
cause.
>
> Happens equally in both cases. Sometimes I'll have trouble seeing one
> wired machine from another wired machine. Sometimes I'll also have
> trouble seeing a wireless machine from a wired machine, or vice-versa.
> And which machine has trouble changes over the days. Sometimes I'll see
> that machine A can share out its own directories to machine B, but not
> viceversa. I've even had situations where in the middle of a file
> transfer the Windows networking stops working, and it can no longer see
> the other machine, even though it was working perfectly just minutes
> ago.
>
> I've had to resort to setup an FTP server on some of these machines in
> order to share out their filesystems that I was expecting Windows
> networking to handle. The FTP server works perfectly all of the time,
> btw; it's just the Windows networking that's flakey. And of course, I
> can't share printers with ftp.
>
> Yousuf Khan
>