Possible network problem

Hello to all,

I am at the early stage of trying to set up a network and have a bit of a conumdrum. I am using a four port hub to try and connect three computers to and believe I may have a permissions issue. I have configured the cards correctly (I believe) and put the first two computers into the same workgroup. Both are using XP Pro. My client computer shows server and client under the workgroup, but the Server computer will not let me see either! (Message along the lines of "Blah blah server is not available - you do not have the correct permissions etc). To compound it all, I already have Wide client installed (server on the server and client on the client) and it connects! (MSFSX says that it is connected to 1 client).

Any suggestions or remedies? I have searched the forums and dont seem to be able to find the answer.

ok this might be an easy fix or a nighmare.

first things first, it would be easier if you assign each computer a static IP address

Something like this

IP address 192.168.0.2
subnet mask 255.255.255.0
Default gateway 192.168.0.1

the default gateway and subnet mask should remain the same on each pc, only the IP address will change so the next one will be 192.168.0.3 and so on

The reason I have left 192.168.0.1 out of the picture is that this is generally the default IP address for most internet routers.


Next you need to add all pc's into the same workgroup call it whatever you like as long as they are all the same.

Now you should be able to browse each pc in the network.

For you to be able to see specific files and folders you will need to share the folders that you want, just right click and select sharing and go from there.

Now finally I tend to share all my wideclient folders even althought I dont think you need to and its advisable to edit the .ini file to advise the IP address of where the wideserver is located.

Remeber that you dont need any server OS's to run wideclient as a server it just has to be in your fs directory as per the instructions.

that should be you up and running but if you have any more snags let me know

regards

David.

It may be that you have windows firewall running.
If so, try turning it off and seeing if that helps.
I also assume that you have shared either the entire C: drives on each computer or at least the folders that you want to access.

cheers

Paul

Windows XP will not allow the entire C:\ drive to be shared. At least I haven't found a way around that yet.

But any folder can be shared.

Not sure how Vista acts for permissions for the whole C:\ drive.

you can share the C: drive in windows by making it a hidden share by placing a $ sign on the end of the share name, you'll need to give the users rights to it though

so the path would be \\computername\c$

As it would be a hidden share you wont see it but you will be able to map it

David.

Cool! Thanks for the tip. ;)

Assuming all this works (theoretically and technically it should!) and part of the reason for me needing the network, is because I intend using Wideview to configure my screens. Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe I will need to have FSX installed on all the computers. Part of the problem, (and hence the necessity for the network) is that the CD drive on one of the comps is not working, so I am hoping to load the software for FSX from a mapped CD drive on another machine (probably the server). Is this possible? I am assuming that even with WideClient, I will still have to load the software onto each individual machine?

Hi all,

I cannot provide an answer to the original post but I would like to add just another question in the same line.
Yesterday I installed a new PC (Xp pro). set up the network ip address static, added it in the same workgroup as the rest of the 5 PCs in the network. Now I could not see any of the other
PCs. I tries pinging the other PCs and found one of then not accesible. Fixed this by altering the firewall on that PC (this is the only one with firewall in it) and then I could ping that PC.
The strange thing however was that suddenly I could see from the new PC the complete network and all shared directories from the other PCs.
Problem solved, but is there anyone who can explain why the inaccessibility of one PC influences the other PCs shared resources?

Greetings Peter

After setting up all the IP's on all PC, one can try the Repair command. In XP goto Control Panel -> Network Connections and then right-click on the Network object representing the computer network card on the LAN -> Choose Repair. Sometimes it do wonders. Sometimes not. Worth a try. Do this on the PC that does not want to connect to the others.

Like Paul said you can also temporarily disable all the Firewalls on all PC's to see if it solves the problem. If so then add the applications to the exception list to allow the Firewall to pass traffic to and from those applications. Also make sure you set the permissions on a LAN level and to block Internet access to those programs, unless Internet access is required to operate.

Lastly sharing the whole C drive hidden or not on an Internet PC / network is a very bad idea. Lots of Internet worms and other bad stuff loves a shared C drive. Even if hidden. Wideclient and server uses TCP/IP so a share is not needed. Workgroups won't affect TCP/IP settings so that is not a problem either.

Make 100% sure that all the subnet masks are the same e.g. 255.255.255.0