Tea
Storage? I am Storage!
Had to network two machines together today. An existing laptop and a brand-new desktop. He wants a wireless network (yuk) but lives so far away from any other houses that security is a total non-issue. I can just leave everything wide-open and it won't matter.
The Soup Nazi wirelesssly networked the laptop to his old desktop some months ago, and had a lot of trouble getting it to go (trouble with drivers for the two different wireless cards, I think) but got there eventually.
I got nowhere. Hardware is all OK, drivers are happy, both machines connect just fine to the web through wired ports, both machines can see each other through the wireless link. (i.e., the wireless networking bizo says they are connected.)
Desktop runs XP Pro, Laptop XP Home. I turned off all the "simple networking" crap already. Desktop starts up normally, wireless or wired, it goes straight into the workgroup and can see itself (i.e., it's own shared drive) but NOT the laptop.
The laptop is a can of worms. It takes ages to go into "Microsoft Windows Networks", then even longer to go into the workgroup (you almost think it's hung). Once there, it can ONLY see the desktop, can't see itself at all. Doesn't matter if wireless or wired.
Worse yet, when you try to share a drive, it takes ages, then informs you that the server service isn't loaded (which msconfig confirms is true). WTF? I thought that always loaded? Went through that routine once (it failed), rebooted, and now there is no option to share a drive! Right-click on (e.g.) the C: drive, and there is no "sharing" option there at all! WTF?
Customer lives miles away, I'm happy that the desktop is working properly, but will need to do something with that laptop. He will bring it in in a few days, I guess. Any ideas?
The Soup Nazi wirelesssly networked the laptop to his old desktop some months ago, and had a lot of trouble getting it to go (trouble with drivers for the two different wireless cards, I think) but got there eventually.
I got nowhere. Hardware is all OK, drivers are happy, both machines connect just fine to the web through wired ports, both machines can see each other through the wireless link. (i.e., the wireless networking bizo says they are connected.)
Desktop runs XP Pro, Laptop XP Home. I turned off all the "simple networking" crap already. Desktop starts up normally, wireless or wired, it goes straight into the workgroup and can see itself (i.e., it's own shared drive) but NOT the laptop.
The laptop is a can of worms. It takes ages to go into "Microsoft Windows Networks", then even longer to go into the workgroup (you almost think it's hung). Once there, it can ONLY see the desktop, can't see itself at all. Doesn't matter if wireless or wired.
Worse yet, when you try to share a drive, it takes ages, then informs you that the server service isn't loaded (which msconfig confirms is true). WTF? I thought that always loaded? Went through that routine once (it failed), rebooted, and now there is no option to share a drive! Right-click on (e.g.) the C: drive, and there is no "sharing" option there at all! WTF?
Customer lives miles away, I'm happy that the desktop is working properly, but will need to do something with that laptop. He will bring it in in a few days, I guess. Any ideas?
