Before you go any further in learning how to troubleshoot File and Printer Sharing on a Windows network, be sure that you\u2019ve done the\u00a0preliminary troubleshooting steps<\/u>\u00a0and the\u00a0TCP\/IP troubleshooting steps<\/u>\u00a0and confirmed that the computers can communicate using TCP\/IP.<\/p>\n
See our articles on\u00a0Simple File Sharing<\/u>\u00a0and\u00a0Windows XP Professional File Sharing\u00a0<\/u>for for help with problems involving file permissions and access rights.<\/p>\nUse the Same Workgroup Name on All Computers<\/b><\/h3>\n
This isn\u2019t strictly necessary, since Windows networking supports multiple workgroups on a network, but it makes troubleshooting and browsing the network easier.<\/p>\n
By default, Windows XP uses the workgroup name MSHOME. You can use a different name if you want.\u00a0 For best results on all versions of Windows, use 1-8 characters (upper case letters, numbers), with no blanks.<\/p>\n
To specify the workgroup name in Windows XP, right click\u00a0My Computer<\/b>\u00a0and go to\u00a0Properties\u00a0<\/b>|\u00a0Computer Name<\/b>\u00a0|\u00a0Change<\/b>.\u00a0 In Windows 95\/98\/Me, go to\u00a0Control Panel<\/b>\u00a0|\u00a0Network<\/b>\u00a0|\u00a0Identification<\/b>.<\/p>\nCheck the Network Components<\/b><\/h3>\n
These network components must be enabled on each computer:<\/p>\n
In Windows XP, open the\u00a0Network Connections<\/b>\u00a0folder, right click your local area network connection, click\u00a0Properties<\/b>, put check marks in the boxes for FPS and CMN, and click\u00a0OK<\/b>\u00a0to close the window.\u00a0 Then, click\u00a0Advanced<\/b>\u00a0|\u00a0Advanced Settings<\/b>, click your local area network connection under\u00a0Connections<\/b>, look under\u00a0Bindings<\/b>, and\u00a0<\/i>make sure that the\u00a0<\/i>Internet Protocol (TCP\/IP)<\/b>\u00a0<\/i>box has a check mark for FPS and CMN.\u00a0 If any other protocols appear in the list of bindings, you\u00a0must<\/i>\u00a0un-check the boxes for those protocols.\u00a0 Using more than one protocol on even one computer makes Windows networking unreliable.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In Windows 95\/98\/Me, go to\u00a0Control Panel<\/b>\u00a0|\u00a0Network<\/b>, double click the\u00a0TCP\/IP\u2011>Adapter<\/b>\u00a0entry for your local area network, and click\u00a0Bindings<\/b>.\u00a0 Put check marks in the boxes for FPS and CMN.\u00a0 If you\u2019ve installed any other protocols, you\u00a0must\u00a0<\/i>go to the\u00a0Bindings<\/b>\u00a0tab of their\u00a0Protocol\u2011>Adapter<\/b>\u00a0entries and un-check the same boxes. Using more than one protocol on even one computer makes Windows networking unreliable.<\/p>\nNetwork Neighborhood and My Network Places<\/b><\/h3>\n
In Windows 95 and 98, Network Neighborhood shows an icon for each computer on the network that has FPS enabled.\u00a0 Double clicking the icon shows that computer\u2019s shared resources: disks, folders, and printers.\u00a0 It\u2019s possible that a computer has FPS enabled but has no shared resources.\u00a0 If so, the window that opens when you double click the computer name will be empty.<\/p>\n
In Windows Me and XP, My Network Places contains shortcuts to some or all of the shared disks and folders on the network.\u00a0 You can add shortcuts by clicking\u00a0Add a network place<\/b>, and you can delete shortcuts by right-clicking them and clicking\u00a0Delete<\/b>.\u00a0 It\u2019s quite possible that a shared resource doesn\u2019t appear in My Network Places.\u00a0 You might have deleted it, or Windows might not have noticed it yet.\u00a0 Computer and workgroup names don\u2019t appear unless you create a shortcut to them.<\/p>\n
Sometimes, shortcuts in My Network Places seem to \u201cgo bad\u201d for no apparent reason.\u00a0 When you double click one that was working previously, you get an ominous looking error message.<\/p>\n
Since you\u2019re the administrator, you ask yourself whether you have access permissions, and you tell yourself that you do.\u00a0 But Windows XP doesn\u2019t listen to you, and it won\u2019t let you access the shared disk or folder.<\/p>\n
Delete the bad shortcuts, and let Windows re-create them.<\/p>\n
If access through Network Neighborhood or My Network Places\u00a0<\/i>isn\u2019t working, try connecting directly to another computer or to one of its shared disks or folders.\u00a0 Click\u00a0Start\u00a0<\/b>|\u00a0Run<\/b>, then type one of these commands in the box and click\u00a0OK<\/b>:<\/p>\n \\\\computer<\/i><\/p>\n \\\\computer<\/i>\\share<\/i><\/p>\n \\\\IP-address<\/i><\/p>\n \\\\IP-address<\/i>\\share<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n For example, if a computer named\u00a0XPPro<\/i>\u00a0has IP address 192.168.0.10 and has a shared folder named\u00a0Download<\/i>, the commands would be:<\/p>\n \\\\XPPro<\/p>\n \\\\XPPro\\Downoad<\/p>\n \\\\192.168.0.1<\/p>\n \\\\192.168.0.1\\Download<\/p><\/blockquote>\n