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Setting up Win7/Vista Home network

stoney

Part of the unwashed, middle-American horde
Jul 26, 2006
21,519
7,068
Colorado
I am trying to link all of my computers onto a single network so that I can access a couple of external hard drives from all of my PC's.

Current Setup:

Ethernet (all routed through wireless router)
#1 Desktop PC - Win7
-- #1 External HD
-- #2 External HD
-- #3 External HD
#2 Desktop PC - Win7
Printer

Wireless:
#1 Laptop PC - Vista
#2 Laptop PC - Vista
Sony BlueRay DVD/Media device* - Primary TV and Stereo
*can access WiFi, but I cannot direct downloaded media to the box

Currently:
CAN access the printer from the desktops
CANNOT access the printer from the laptops
CANNOT see other PC's or shared folders from any of the other computers.
All laptops and phones have access to the network, in that I can get online via WiFi with all of them.
WiFi network exists - 128k encrypted, not visible without knowing network name
Desktops are connected via a switch to a shared monitor (but this shouldn't impact anything)

I'm not sure how to setup the network so that Desktop #1 is the primary with the external HD's routing through it. Once I have Desktop #1 as primary, I want to be able to see all data from all devices on all devices. I am also stuck at how I can link my BlueRay player into the network so that I can feed media to it (ie play movies & music)..

I'm kind of stuck here and all of the how-to's I am finding online have me going in circles with no solution.

Thanks.
 

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,092
1,132
NC
There's no such thing as "primary" on the network. There are just devices.

When you say the laptops can't access the printer... is the printer a networked printer and plugged directly into the wireless router? If so, find the IP of the printer (should be in the settings of the printer or on a computer that can access the printer) and ping it from the laptops.

On the desktop(s) you have to make sure file and printer sharing is turned on. Go to Control Panel and open the Network and Sharing center and make sure your sharing options are set up.

Can you ping the desktop IP from the laptops?
 

Quo Fan

don't make me kick your ass
Different versions of Win7 have different network access rights. My win7 Home Premium laptop CANNOT access my server or any other PC's running XP on my network. There are no provisions in Win7 Home Premium to access other computers on a network. I feel this is a huge step backwards by Microsoft.
 

syadasti

i heart mac
Apr 15, 2002
12,690
290
VT
Different versions of Win7 have different network access rights. My win7 Home Premium laptop CANNOT access my server or any other PC's running XP on my network. There are no provisions in Win7 Home Premium to access other computers on a network. I feel this is a huge step backwards by Microsoft.
Cool story bro.

Here is my Win7 x64 SP1 Home Premium machine accessing a 32-bit WinXP SP3 Home machine over the network and vice versa. I'm too lazy to boot to Ubuntu for samba, but that works fine too...



 

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,092
1,132
NC
Different versions of Win7 have different network access rights. My win7 Home Premium laptop CANNOT access my server or any other PC's running XP on my network. There are no provisions in Win7 Home Premium to access other computers on a network. I feel this is a huge step backwards by Microsoft.
This is incorrect. You might have incorrect configs or bugs but W7 - all versions - is perfectly capable of connecting to any and all servers...
 

stoney

Part of the unwashed, middle-American horde
Jul 26, 2006
21,519
7,068
Colorado
So apparently I have one PC setup as a work network and the other won't see the work network. Any ideas how to unlink all of the PC's from the current networks so that I can re-start with creating a new network?
 

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,092
1,132
NC
It doesn't really matter if you selected "work" network or "home" network. First off, those two accomplish basically the same thing, and second, they just pre-configure some of the options directly below that in the network and sharing center. They don't control anything. If you select "public network" it automatically turns off the sharing and discovery settings... but you can turn them back on yourself.

You can change it, though. Right click on the network icon in your task bar (next to the clock), click Open Network and Sharing center, somewhere under there it will tell you the type of network, and those words will be clickable. Click, and select home network.
 

stoney

Part of the unwashed, middle-American horde
Jul 26, 2006
21,519
7,068
Colorado
Okay, I'm finding now that Desktop 1 shows as on Home Network 1 and desktop 2 shows as on Home Network 2.
 
Last edited:

Capricorn

Monkey
Jan 9, 2010
425
0
Cape Town, ZA
as long as all networks are HOME networks according to win 7, then you're golden to see everything being shared. Ihad problem for a long while where the main fileserve was running as a publicnetwork. for some reason, I couldnt change it, but it literally fixed itself. Everything running fine now.
 

stoney

Part of the unwashed, middle-American horde
Jul 26, 2006
21,519
7,068
Colorado
BV - The homegroup didn't work. I have XP on the Laptops so creating a homegroup won't work. I was able to get the firewalls open on both laptops and desktop 1, and can see each other. I still can't find the printer from the laptops though.

When I opened up the firewalls (for my other devices), I am able to see the different members of the network via Norton 360. But I still can't see them through the individual pc network links.

I am getting another copy of Norton 360 5.0 for my remaining desktop and laptop so that I can open the firewalls within the network 'safely'. I noticed that once I was able to open the firewalls of the individual PC's to each other I was able to link them to the sharing network though. Any ideas on getting the Laptops to see the printer?

Also, Desktop 2 is still the only one seeing the Sony Blu-ray player.
 

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,092
1,132
NC
Woah woah woah.

Okay, forget about the homegroup, but nobody said anything about that anyway.

Forget about Norton 360 and firewalls. Seriously. You're behind a NAT in your router which is basically equivalent - nobody can make a direct, uninitiated connection to your computer anyway.

Disable all of your firewalls, including any firewall that Norton might be setting up. And answer my questions. You're asking for help, but when I ask for information, you ignore it and tell me more troubleshooting that you've done. Twice now. Read:

http://www.ridemonkey.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3653703&postcount=2

If you get your network connected and set up properly, you can then worry about re-enabling firewalls.

:monkey:
 

stoney

Part of the unwashed, middle-American horde
Jul 26, 2006
21,519
7,068
Colorado
There's no such thing as "primary" on the network. There are just devices.

When you say the laptops can't access the printer... is the printer a networked printer and plugged directly into the wireless router? If so, find the IP of the printer (should be in the settings of the printer or on a computer that can access the printer) and ping it from the laptops.

On the desktop(s) you have to make sure file and printer sharing is turned on. Go to Control Panel and open the Network and Sharing center and make sure your sharing options are set up.

Can you ping the desktop IP from the laptops?
Printer is plugged directly into the wireless router.

I found the IP, but I do not know how to ping it from the laptops. Both are XP.

File sharing is setup on all of the computers.
 

stoney

Part of the unwashed, middle-American horde
Jul 26, 2006
21,519
7,068
Colorado
Pinged the printer from Laptop 2 and I can now see Desktop 1 and it's attached drives. I am able to access those files.

I can ping the Printer and am seeing a response, but am not able to access via the network by IP. I can only see it if I route through Desktop 1, I am not able to see it directly on the network.

I have also lost the ability to access the network from Laptop2 though. It says it cannot renew the IP address
 

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,092
1,132
NC
I can ping the Printer and am seeing a response, but am not able to access via the network by IP. I can only see it if I route through Desktop 1, I am not able to see it directly on the network.
When you say "not able to access via the network by IP" - what do you mean? How are you trying to "access" it?

You need to install the printer through the "add printer" section. It should ask you, at some point, if it's a network printer and try to discover it.

I have also lost the ability to access the network from Laptop2 though. It says it cannot renew the IP address
Try it now?

Seriously.

Did you change any router settings that it might stop handing out IP addresses?