Crap network

[pentoman]

Well I've just about had it up to here (imagine very high up) with windows networking. In fact networking in general is a total pile of crap.

We have a wireless network on which the internet is fine finally (no thanks to a crap netgear router, possibly a crap linksys router, and some really bad stuff in Service Pack 2).

My housemate can see my PC over the network, and browse it, perfectly fine.

I can ping him, but cannot browse him, even using the IP address to browse. He has a folder shared and I can't even access it directly with \\192.168.1.x\Share. We both turned off firewalls and antivirus.


For me, My Network Places does not show the usual options to browse 'Entire Network' or anything - just things like "My Shared Folder on TIMMY" and so on. Very strange.


Russell (getting very frustrated and about to buy an XBOX and throw away his PC despite a masters in Computer Systems Engineering).

[BliarOut]

XP Pro or Home? IIRC the guest account needs to be switched on for browsing to work in Home.

[cyberface]

I use Apple gear instead - but I've used Netgear routers and their firewalls often block SMB/NMB traffic as default rules. This is a good idea to prevent authentication exchanges being sent out onto the internet, and of course to stop people trying to brute-force your shares or even try to log into your windows boxen.

Of course if the rule is set to discard SMB/NMB i.e. Windows networking / browsing traffic within your local wireless subnet, then you're not going to be able to browse shares. May be worth checking this before immediately assuming Windows is at fault (though it probably is, )

[Baconbonce]

If it's XP Pro, turn off "Simple File Sharing"

Windows Explorer -> Tools menu -> Folder Options -> View tab and then scroll all the way to the bottom.

[pentoman]

BliarOut said:

XP Pro or Home? IIRC the guest account needs to be switched on for browsing to work in Home.

Pro.

Good point about the Guest account.. although it's not getting as far as a login prompt so I don't reckon it's the problem.

Will give it a try when the other PC's switched back on....

[Baconbonce]

*cough* Simple File Sharing off *cough*

[aldi]

a)What's the error message? b) Make sure that 'Client for Microsoft Networks' is installed in the network connection properties, and c) the 'workstation' service is started.

[agent006]

Try mappign drives to each other rather than browsing. Browsing is a pain in the arse even on well sorted networks.