Ok...there's a couple of issues here. I'll respond some now and more later...
What version of ZoneAlarm do you have? I've got it at home and in case they're the same (or close) I might be able to tell you exactly what to do. But the basic problem is ZoneAlarm is blocking the connections. If you want to disable it but don't want to open your computers to the outside world, just disconnect the Ethernet cable that goes between your cable modem and your router. Sure, you won't be able to surf the web, but at least you won't have to worry about anything coming down the pipe... But until you either disable it or change the settings in it, you're not going to be able to share data between your systems. Mo' later... Larry -----Original Message----- From: Computer Guys Discussion List [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Robert Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2008 3:00 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [CGUYS] how to configure Windows XP to share files, printers? Thank you very much for the detailed instructions. I plan to try them tomorrow. But as of now (not turning the zone alarm firewall off), I don't see any place to click as you suggest in My Network Places. My computer is the one with Windows XP Home. In My Network Places, I see two folders shown in the Internet pane. These are "(C) on <my computer's name>" and "DownloadFile on <my computer's name>. Clicking on the link "View Network Connections" I see a dialup connection, an Internet Gateway connection, and four "LAN or High Speed Internet" connections: (1) Local Area Connection Connected, (2) and (3) 1394 Connections, and (4) Bluetooth Network (cable unplugged). Clicking on "View Workgroup Computers" there is only my computer listed. I do not see a link to "View Entire Network" nor a link to "Microsoft Windows Network." BTW, after I ran Network Setup Wizard on my computer, each time I tried to access a web page from FF browser, the dialup connection or the Bluetooth connection would try to be opened at random instead of my cable connection (from the router). I had to restore the system to stop this behavior. Yes, I turned off the Windows firewall after using the wizard. Larry Sacks wrote: > I'm going to be to differ with this statement. > > Home and Professional are really similar. The main difference for > networking is Home doesn't recognize a domain whereas Professional does. > Also, home doesn't require a password for an account, but Professional > does, but even these "problems" can be overcome too. > > You've already done the first - made sure both computers are in the same > workgroup. > > So, let's go to the next thing: > > 1. Is the Windows Firewall turned on? If it is, turn it off on both > systems. > --> (Go to Control Panel, > o If it's in Category View, double-click "Security Center", > o Click to "Manage Settings for Windows Firewall" and click > the radio button next to "Off (not recommended)" > > o If it's in "Classic View", double-click "Windows Firewall" > and click the radio button next to "Off (not recommended)" > > > 2. If Windows Firewall is already off, check your anti-virus software > (you are running anti-virus software, aren't you?) and turn off the > firewall - McAfee and Symantec (Norton) both call it their "Personal > Firewall" (IIRC). Yes, turning off the firewall could be "bad" but it's > probably also what's preventing both computers from seeing each other > since the A/V or Firewall software considers each computer a threat and > prevents them from talking to each other. > > If that fixes it, then poke around in the settings for the Firewall. > There should be a setting to identify a network as a "home" or "trusted" > network and allow traffic. If you know the IP address range for your > router, you can set it to allow IPs in that range to have access. (See > the next paragraph to figure out your IP address - if you already know, > just skip to the paragraph following that) > > To find out your IP address: > o Click Start/Run and enter "CMD" and click "OK" > o This is the "Command prompt" or the DOS prompt (even though that's > technically an incorrect term). The prompt will be something like > C:\Documents and Settings\"your username"> > o Type: "ipconfig" and press <ENTER> > o You'll get about 6 lines on the screen. The line you're most > interested in is "IP Address". It'll probably be something like > 192.168.0.2 > o Do this on both computers. Make a note of both and then type: > o "exit" and press the "enter" key on both systems. That will exit you > from the Command prompt. > > > Once you've got your IP addresses, then you should set the firewall > software on both systems to ignore traffic from systems in those IP > address ranges. Or, if you think you're going to add more computers in > the future, make the address range good for say 10 computers - such as > 192.168.0.2 through 192.168.0.12 . > > Once this is done, try going to "My Network Places", Click on "Entire > Network" and then "Microsoft Windows Network". Give it a few minutes > because it has to refresh from the master browser. > > If it still doesn't work, try this: > > 3. Are the username and password the same on both computers? If not, > when you go to access one computer from the other, you'll be prompted > for the username and password. XP Home doesn't require a password, but > XP Professional does. You can either hack the registry to remove that > requirement (not all that hard) or just change your user account on the > XP Home system and put the *same* password onto that account. > > Give these steps a try and let us know what happens.... > > Larry > > > ************************************************************************ * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** ************************************************************************ * ************************************************************************* ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *************************************************************************
