Hello - I have two PCs - a laptop and a desktop, which I connect together via fast Ethernet and crossover cable (I back up the laptop onto the desktop every day). The desktop is not part of a workgroup; the laptop is part of a domain. I have a share set up on the laptop and I map to this from the desktop. When it connects, it works fine; but boy is it a pain to get it to work. I have to retry the connect many many times - sometimes hundreds - before it works (the error comes up as "network drive not found"). Why is this? By the way both machines are connected wirelessly to a router and online; but I don't want to connect them together via the wireless LAN because it's too slow to transfer the amount of data that I do. but could this be why? I guess what I want to do is to reserve the Ethernet ports for that connection, but I don't know how to do that.
One other problem is that once it does connect, it drops if idle for more than a few minutes. How can I get it to stay connected?
Other info: laptop is XP SP1; desktop is XP SP2. Laptop is a business machine (which is why it is part of a domain) but I do have administrator rights on it.
Any help gratefully accepted!
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Connecting that way (from laptop to desktop) worked fine. But I really want to map the other way, because I have a large number of scripts that run to do the backup by pulling files off the laptop. I'll accept this answer if it turns out I really can't reliably get a first-time connection going the other way.
might sound stupid but have you checked the compoenents listed in the network adaptor properties.
i.e...
QOS Packet ticked on 1 machine but the other doesnt have itu installed.
This next idea isnt very pratical but as daft as it sounds ive seen this cause issues,
Enable netBIOS over TCP-IP on both machines.
>>
Other info: laptop is XP SP1; desktop is XP SP2. Laptop is a business machine (which is why it is part of a domain) but I do have administrator rights on it.
<<
if you have admin rights to add / remove from domain accounts, move the business machine onto a workgroup same as the other one, as i swap my company machine from work domain onto home domain - doesnt make much difference but changes the group policy.. as this might be a part cause things, if the company policy has a lock somewhere
i wonder if you might simply be able to avoid the problem altogether. say you setup an ftp service on the desktop (or laptop i suppose) and just use that rather than a mapped drive? I mean using the built in FTP client in IE makes it as easy to use as dragging and dropping files in an explorer window so the only difference might be the overhead from using FTP which shouldn't be too bad on a LAN. As long as it's only accessible on the LAN or you only run the service when you need to backup the security risks are minimal and you can possible avoid problems of access rights/windows confusion. XP Pro even comes with IIS which has the FTP service if you install it so you don't need to buy any extra software.
You have mentioned that both PC's use windows XP. If you are by chance using XP-Pro on both stations, try making use of Remote desktop. Remote desktop gives you the ability to connect to the other computers desktop and hard drive. I find that it is far more easier to access files from a domain client then it is to muck around with account/settings in windows. For this option, you will not need to change any of the user/firewall settings. This will work as long as bot pc's are on the same lan segment with internet access. I am sure that you have that already.
charl39,
It sounds like you have a naming resolution issue.
I read all comments above but none mentions this, and RDP is not your solution for just making backups. (if I'm not mistaken, this is what you want to achief over ethernet, not wireless)
Your business laptop is probably setup to do name resolution form you roffice domain through their DNS system and even possibly their WINS system. Your home desktop is setup to do name resolution probably through the simple DNS configured in your wireless router, which is in fact OK to resolve Internet queries, but is poorly configured for your LAN name resolving.
For this simple issue its probably best to work with both HOSTS and LMHOSTS files. These files are located in the following folder on your XP system: C:\WINDOWS\system32\driver
Further their is the issue of permissions, this can be resolved by creating a specific acount on your laptop locally to allow the logon.
Here's what:
First assign both your ethernet addapters on Laptop and desktop an individual IP address in the same range. So on the laptop assign 192.168.2.1 with subnet mask 255.255.255.0 (no defautl gateway required, your using cross-cable!) and on the desktop assign 192.168.2.2 with subnetmask 255.255.255.0 (again no default gateway required)
Second adit your resolving files:
Say your laptop name is laptop1 and your desktop name is desktopA
On your desktop find or create the HOSTS & LMHOSTS file in the folder mentioned above.
put in the follwing line in the hosts file :
192.168.2.1 laptop1
and in the lmhosts file the line:
192.168.2.1 laptop1 #PRE
Now on the laptop find teh files and enter in the hosts file:
192.168.2.2 desktopA
and in the lmhosts file:
192.168.2.2 desktopA #PRE
Now this way resolving should work fine and no DNS is required to find your systems.
Third add the permission to your folder you are sharing:
First create an account on you laptop, which is identical to the username and password, with which you logon to you desktop with.
Share the folder with share permission for Everyone and set it to 'full control'
set the security permission on the folder for the new account which you have created and set that to 'full control'
Fourth:
now from your desktop create the permanent network connection to your laptop.
Open the command-window and at the prompt type:
NET USE L: \\laptop1\<sharename> /PERSISTENT:YES
Now all should work out fine.
Good luck!
Hoogteijling
Business Accounts
Answer for Membership
by: tonyteriPosted on 2005-08-12 at 05:20:43ID: 14659859
question:
On the WinXP SP2 machine, did you turn off Windows Firewall? You should for this instance. You could turn it back on when you're done doing the transfer.
/TT