wireless network stopped allowing file sharing

Hello,

I have a home network with two desktops connected by ethernet to a wireless
router. Two laptops connect wirelessly to the some router. All was
working well: all computers could connect to the internet, any computer
could ping anyother computer, any computer could share files with anyother
computer, and any computer could VNC anyother computer.

After installing a wireless print server (to which any of the four
computers can now print), I can no longer share files with the two wireless
laptops; however, I can still ping to and from them, VNC to and from them,
and access the internet from them.

What has me baffled is this: if I connect the two wireless laptops to the
wireless router by ethernet, all works as before, i.e., any and all of the
four computers connect to the internet, ping successfully, VNC
successfully, and share files successfully. Then when I go back to
wireless, the two laptops lose their ability to share files, but the other
abilities remain.

The only change I made to the wireless router was to add the MAC address of
the print server to the MAC list in the router (Belkin f5d7230-4)

If I type the UNC in the address bar of windows explorer (Win XP Pro), I
get this message:
....."ShareDocs is not accessible. You might not have permission to use
this network resource. Contact the administrator"... "The network path was
not found."

Any suggestions or solutions???
Thanks,
Rich

> Any suggestions or solutions???

Why would you get a wireless print server? You could have gotten a wire
print server and plugged it into the LAN port on the router with wire and
wireless machine being able to print to the printer attached to the print
server with no problems? That's the setup I have used on Win 2K and XP pro
machines wire or wireless with no problems with resource sharing between
machines or any machine accessing the Internet. As a matter of fact, the
wireless router was converted into a wire/WAP switch and connected to a FW
appliance. The FW appliance had the printer server and printer plugged into
one of its LAN ports and machines connected to both devices could share the
printer on the network and share resources.

You may have to get on the phone with router manufacture and print server
manufacture to reslove the issues.

Duane

On Thu, 23 Jun 2005 01:26:08 GMT, Duane Arnold wrote:

>> Any suggestions or solutions???
>
> Why would you get a wireless print server? You could have gotten a wire
> print server and plugged it into the LAN port on the router with wire and
> wireless machine being able to print to the printer attached to the print
> server with no problems? That's the setup I have used on Win 2K and XP pro
> machines wire or wireless with no problems with resource sharing between
> machines or any machine accessing the Internet. As a matter of fact, the
> wireless router was converted into a wire/WAP switch and connected to a FW
> appliance. The FW appliance had the printer server and printer plugged into
> one of its LAN ports and machines connected to both devices could share the
> printer on the network and share resources.
>
> You may have to get on the phone with router manufacture and print server
> manufacture to reslove the issues.
>
> Duane


Thanks for your response.

The problem I am having is not the ability to print. I can do that from
all computers. I don't understand how I can share files when the two
laptops are connected to the router by ethernet, but cannot when they are
connected wirelessly.

By the way, the wireless print server is my wife's toy, so she doesn't need
to come upstairs to the wired printer when she is using the laptop
downstairs.

Thanks again fro your comments,
Rich

On Wed, 22 Jun 2005 20:26:59 -0400, Rich Duplain spoketh

>
>After installing a wireless print server (to which any of the four
>computers can now print), I can no longer share files with the two wireless
>laptops; however, I can still ping to and from them, VNC to and from them,
>and access the internet from them.
>
>What has me baffled is this: if I connect the two wireless laptops to the
>wireless router by ethernet, all works as before, i.e., any and all of the
>four computers connect to the internet, ping successfully, VNC
>successfully, and share files successfully. Then when I go back to
>wireless, the two laptops lose their ability to share files, but the other
>abilities remain.
>
>The only change I made to the wireless router was to add the MAC address of
>the print server to the MAC list in the router (Belkin f5d7230-4)
>
>If I type the UNC in the address bar of windows explorer (Win XP Pro), I
>get this message:
>...."ShareDocs is not accessible. You might not have permission to use
>this network resource. Contact the administrator"... "The network path was
>not found."
>
>Any suggestions or solutions???
>Thanks,
>Rich

The addition of the print server is probably inconsequential, and the
fact that you experienced the problem after it was installed was most
likely a coincidence.

Many people are experiencing issues with finding other computers on a
wireless network. It almost appears like the broadcasts that windows
uses to announce/find other computers doesn't work properly in some
wireless networks.

Try sharing via IP address. click start, select run and type in
\\192.168.1.x (or whatever the IP address of the other laptop is, and
the shares should come up. Once you have established a connection via IP
address, you may be able to re-connect using the computers' name.


Lars M. Hansen
http://www.hansenonline.net
(replace 'badnews' with 'news' in e-mail address)

Rich Duplain wrote:

> On Thu, 23 Jun 2005 01:26:08 GMT, Duane Arnold wrote:
>
>>> Any suggestions or solutions???
>>
>> Why would you get a wireless print server? You could have gotten a wire
>> print server and plugged it into the LAN port on the router with wire and
>> wireless machine being able to print to the printer attached to the print
>> server with no problems? That's the setup I have used on Win 2K and XP
>> pro machines wire or wireless with no problems with resource sharing
>> between machines or any machine accessing the Internet. As a matter of
>> fact, the wireless router was converted into a wire/WAP switch and
>> connected to a FW appliance. The FW appliance had the printer server and
>> printer plugged into one of its LAN ports and machines connected to both
>> devices could share the printer on the network and share resources.
>>
>> You may have to get on the phone with router manufacture and print server
>> manufacture to reslove the issues.
>>
>> Duane
>
>
> Thanks for your response.
>
> The problem I am having is not the ability to print. I can do that from
> all computers. I don't understand how I can share files when the two
> laptops are connected to the router by ethernet, but cannot when they are
> connected wirelessly.

What services and protocols do you have on the NIC's?

This is what I have on the NIC's.

1) Client for MS Networks
2) MS File and Print Sharing
3) TCP/IP Internet protocol

That's my current setup on all NIC's and nothing else is on them.

I too had a similar situation where I couldn't share resources with Win 2K
machines wire or wireless with WEP enabled because Netbeui was not a
routable protocol with the Linksys BEFW11S4 v1 router. With WEP disabled,
it was no problem but that was not a good situation. Nor did I have the
problem of resource sharing when the machines were using all wire
connections to the router.

However, I came around the problem at the time by using the MS NWlink
IPX/SPX Netbios compatible protocol on all NIC's removing Netbeui first
before installing MS NWlink protocol and was able to enable WEP and share
resources with machines wired or wireless.

Then I discovered I didn't need MS NWlink and just went with the above setup
on the NIC's when the machines were Win 2K and I have kept that setup on
the NIC(s) when I converted the machines to XP Pro.

Maybe, doing something with the NIC protocols on all machines may allow them
to do resource sharing with the wireless computers.

Duane

Lars M. Hansen wrote:
> On Wed, 22 Jun 2005 20:26:59 -0400, Rich Duplain spoketh
>
>
>>After installing a wireless print server (to which any of the four
>>computers can now print), I can no longer share files with the two wireless
>>laptops; however, I can still ping to and from them, VNC to and from them,
>>and access the internet from them.
>>
I have the same setup as you using Linksys wireless router. The way I
solved the problem was to assign IP address to the wired computers and
the printer server. I started at 192.168.1.150, then .160 then .170 and
so on. Let the laptop get their own address (.100, .101). If you assign
them a address you will have problems with other networks. Have a good one.

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:

> Lars M. Hansen wrote:
>> On Wed, 22 Jun 2005 20:26:59 -0400, Rich Duplain spoketh
>>
>>
>>>After installing a wireless print server (to which any of the four
>>>computers can now print), I can no longer share files with the two
>>>wireless laptops; however, I can still ping to and from them, VNC to and
>>>from them, and access the internet from them.
>>>
> I have the same setup as you using Linksys wireless router. The way I
> solved the problem was to assign IP address to the wired computers and
> the printer server. I started at 192.168.1.150, then .160 then .170 and
> so on. Let the laptop get their own address (.100, .101). If you assign
> them a address you will have problems with other networks. Have a good
> one.

I let all computers use DHCP and gave the printer server a static IP.

Duane

On Wed, 22 Jun 2005 20:26:59 -0400, Rich Duplain wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I have a home network with two desktops connected by ethernet to a wireless
> router. Two laptops connect wirelessly to the some router. All was
> working well: all computers could connect to the internet, any computer
> could ping anyother computer, any computer could share files with anyother
> computer, and any computer could VNC anyother computer.
>
> After installing a wireless print server (to which any of the four
> computers can now print), I can no longer share files with the two wireless
> laptops; however, I can still ping to and from them, VNC to and from them,
> and access the internet from them.
>
> What has me baffled is this: if I connect the two wireless laptops to the
> wireless router by ethernet, all works as before, i.e., any and all of the
> four computers connect to the internet, ping successfully, VNC
> successfully, and share files successfully. Then when I go back to
> wireless, the two laptops lose their ability to share files, but the other
> abilities remain.
>
> The only change I made to the wireless router was to add the MAC address of
> the print server to the MAC list in the router (Belkin f5d7230-4)
>
> If I type the UNC in the address bar of windows explorer (Win XP Pro), I
> get this message:
> ...."ShareDocs is not accessible. You might not have permission to use
> this network resource. Contact the administrator"... "The network path was
> not found."
>
> Any suggestions or solutions???
> Thanks,
> Rich



To all,

Thanks for you responses and suggestions. I have tried your suggestions
and always end up with the same result. The laptops, when connected to the
router by ETHERNET, perform flawlessly. The laptops, when connected to the
router WIRELESSLY, will not share files with any other computer; however,
they will sill successfully ping all other PCs and all other PCs can still
ping them; they can still print; they can still access the internet; and
they can still VNC. They can just not share files at all. I am absolutely
confounded by this.

Thanks again for your help,
Rich