# My Network Places Problem



## geeza (Oct 20, 2004)

I am connected to a university network in my room and by going to 'My Network Places' and clicking on 'View Workgroup Computers' i should be able to see all the other computers on this section of the network (ie. in my college) and their shared folders. I was able to breifly a couple of days ago and the shared folders i accessed in that time were then shown in 'My Network Places'. However, now all the viewed folders have disappeared from 'My Network Places' and when i click on 'View Workgroup Computers' it says it is not accessible. I thought this might be something to do with restrictions put upon the network but i have tried from other computers on the network and they seem to be able to access the shared folders on other computers fine. Does anyone have any ideas?
Thanks!


----------



## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

Checklist for networking Windows Machines with TCP/IP
-----------------------------------------------------
- PCs which are not XP must have TCP/IP installed. 
- Each PC must have a unique computer name. 
- Each PC must have a network share defined. 
- ALL NICS must be on the same subnet (e.g. IP 192.168.0.* subnet mask 255.255.255.0).
- XP PCs must have Netbios over TCP/IP enabled (only essential for XP to talk to W9X PCs). 
- MS Client and file & printer sharing must be enabled on each machine.
- All NICs must have their node type = anything except p-node (peer to peer, or point-point). 
* To check, open a command prompt and type IPCONFIG /ALL.
- XP's ICF firewall is permanently disabled. (Only necessary for pre XP SP2).
- All 3rd party firewalls are disabled, uninstalled and deleted (until connection is working).
- PCs have the same workgroup (helps, but not essential for XP/2K, necessary for 9X/ME).

Allow 15 mins after rebooting a PC for that PC to appear in the workgroup, or
for it to see all other PCs. Or you can search for the PC by its computer name.


Additional things to check if you still have problems:
-----------------------------------------------------
- Check your Services are Started on all PCs: Workstation, Server, TCP/IP Netbios helper, Computer Browser. 
- XP gives access to its shares via the Net Guest Account. (Note, not the same as the local guest account in user accounts which should be off). Net Guest Account is enabled by default in XP, but to check it, open a command prompt and type: NET USER GUEST
Should return a line with 'Account active yes'.


----------



## geeza (Oct 20, 2004)

Thanks, i think i've fixed it now though. This morning when i booted my computer up it said that there was another computer on the network with the same name as mine which it hadn't said previously. So i just changed my computer's name and it seems to be working fine now :smile:


----------



## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

Please don't post duplicate threads for the same problem. I just posted to your other one.


----------

