Can’t connect to XP computer

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Alright so I don’t have home internet but, I have setup a wireless network at home. With this network I’m able to connect a Win XP Laptop to my Win7 laptop by going through the workgroup and logging in to my system. However, when I try to do the reverse and connect to the XP laptop with my Win7 laptop it gives me a DNS error. Since my network is offline I definitely can’t connect to DNS but, since it’s a local (Home) network it shouldn’t matter (and obviously XP doesn’t care).

To Clarify by connect I mean to browse the files of. Also, I did make sure that the XP system was in fact sharing it’s folders via a similar process to how I enabled sharing of my Win7 folders. Any idea’s on what’s actually going wrong would be great (or is it just that Win7 has a bug that requires DNS to do this).

The XP machine was up to date as of SP3 (I’m updating it now though I doubt it’ll make a difference). My Win7 machine is completely up to date (with the exception of my regular programs which are up to date as of 4 days ago).

Just so you all know I am also unable to update to SP1 for 7. This is however unrelated (it’s because the updaters having issues accessing the special Windows Partition likely because of Ubuntu. I’ll fix it later when I reformat this machine (which I planned to do anyway)).

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I do not believe Homegroup will work with XP. You have to turn homegroup off. Fred Langa had an article about this a while back. I will see if I can find it and post back.

See if this article from How To Geekwill help while I look for the aforementioned article. Another How To Geekarticle.

Here is Fred’s article in the Windows Secrets Newsletter.

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I do not believe Homegroup will work with XP. You have to turn homegroup off. Fred Langa had an article about this a while back. I will see if I can find it and post back.

See if this article from How To Geekwill help while I look for the aforementioned article. Another How To Geekarticle.

Here is Fred’s article in the Windows Secrets Newsletter.

Thanks. In the “Advanced sharing settings” I’ve switched from “Allow Windows to manage homegroup connections” to “Use user accounts and passwords to connect to other computers”. If that doesn’t work I’ll try adding a network drive. I can’t test this until later tonight. If those don’t work it could very well be that without internet Win7 will only allow one way communication.

To clarify a bit I’ve gotten to the point before that I can see both computers on both computers, we are in the same Workgroup (I even changed it from the default to be sure) and XP has no problem logging into Win7. It’s just that Win7 can’t even get to the login dialog for the XP computer.

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Have you tried browsing by IP address?

Joe

--Joe

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Have you tried browsing by IP address?

Joe

No, I will add that to my list of things to try though since Win7 is complaining about DNS it might have issues with that if it demands to check DNS first (which is probably the ultimate nature of the problem).

@Deadeye81 (He sent me a notification via Private Message System):
Thanks for moving this to a more appropriate forum. I don’t normally do anything with networking which is probably why it never occurred that there’s actually a networking forum.

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You should always be able to use an IP address. DNS is just looking up a name to get the IP address.

Joe

--Joe

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It’s sending a message to an internet server to get the IP address and therin lies the problem. I’ve not had the chance yet to try the solutions posted here but, I’ve heard of computers checking with a DNS service even for IP addresses for security purposes.

You should always be able to use an IP address. DNS is just looking up a name to get the IP address.

Joe

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How have you assigned the IP addresses? If an IP address that is resolved internally reason to access the internet.

You could change the HOSTS file on the PC to identify the target PC by name.

Joe

--Joe

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I’ve tried the above methods but it still doesn’t work. I’ve also had another problem and that’s that my Win7 laptop keeps telling me there’s another computer with the same IP address on my network. I checked the router and it says the router is 192.168.2.1, my win7 laptop is 192.158.2.2, and my WinXP laptop is 192.158.2.3

As you can see each IP address differs by 1 digit and the router automatically follows this pattern.

A bit more on my settings (this is from memory, I may add more detail later): My Router:
IP as above
subnet mask 255.255.0.0 (again from memory)
DHCP enabled
ESSID enabled
NAT enabled
Firewall enabled (don’t think it would work one way so that’s not likely the problem)

WinXP settings: I’ll have to look these up later, a list of places to look for settings would speed things up.

Win7 settings: Home or Work (I’ve listed my home router as my home network):
Network Discovery is on
File and Printer Sharing is on
Public folders are off (the description suggest this is strictly for public folders and not for shared folders)
Media Streaming on (though I’ve never actually used it)
File Sharing Connections: File sharing for devices that use 40- or 56-bit encryption (I figure this may be necessary for XP)
Password Protected Sharing is on (XP can sign into 7 to access files)
HomeGroup connections: Use user accounts and passwords to connect to other computers.

As for my test:
After changing my Win7 settings as above: At first I couldn’t see the other XP anymore but, after a refresh I regained my ability to see it.
Network drive: I couldn’t see the XP at the time, I could try again but, since I can’t browse the XP anyway I’m very doubtful.
IP address: Page Not Found (Windows probably saw this as an attempt to connect via the internet which is disallowed).

@joeperez: Could you be more specific/list example on how to change the HOSTS file. If you’re talking about what I think you are (change the way windows connects to other computers) then it could be the solution but, I don’t know how to do this or where to look.

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What is the IP address of the network drive?

The HOSTS file is located at C:WindowsSystem32driversetc. It is a file without an extension. It is just a text file so you can edit it with Notepad. There are examples in the file. Be sure you do NOT add an extension to the file if you update the file.

See http://windowssecrets.com/forums/showthread//90412-Troubleshooting-file-shares-on-a-home-network?p=514662#post514662.

Joe

--Joe

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I will try to look at the host file later tonight (when I’m actually connected to the router). I never actually created a network drive because at the time I couldn’t see the XP machine. I can try again later though. I’ve three devices: Win7 Laptop, WinXP laptop, Router. No internet connection which is probably why it comes up with an DNS error.

What is the IP address of the network drive?

The HOSTS file is located at C:WindowsSystem32driversetc. It is a file without an extension. It is just a text file so you can edit it with Notepad. There are examples in the file. Be sure you do NOT add an extension to the file if you update the file.

See http://windowssecrets.com/forums/showthread//90412-Troubleshooting-file-shares-on-a-home-network?p=514662#post514662.

Joe

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By network drive, do you mean a mapping a network drive as opposed to a physical drive attached to the network?

Joe

--Joe

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By network drive, do you mean a mapping a network drive as opposed to a physical drive attached to the network?

Joe

Yes. I don’t have any drives that can connect directly to my router (though I might consider getting one in the future).

I did try mapping a network drive last night and didn’t have any luck. I also tried looking at the hosts files but didn’t see any reference to the XP system. Only mine (win7). If I use the view map feature on Win7 (Network and Sharing Center -> See full map) I can see the XP laptop but that’s the extent of it. As soon as I try to connect it fails and the diagnostics show a DNS error (which as I’ve said before since I’m not connected to the internet there is no DNS server nor should I have to have one for this type of connection). The XP system continues to be able to connect to 7 no despite numerous changes to my network settings but 7 just can’t connect to XP.

What were you referencing exactly by network drive before?

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I was referencing a drive attached to the router.

You have to add a reference to the Xp system in the Hosts file.

Do you have an account on the XP system that is the same name as the account on the Windows 7 system?

Joe

--Joe

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No, is it absolutely necessary to do that? I would think that Win7 would be more flexible about that kind of thing.
How would I go about adding an account anyway? Is it just I create an account with the same credentials because I can’t even get the Login Screen when I try connecting to XP. It just ‘loads’ for a while then says it couldn’t connect.

I was referencing a drive attached to the router.

You have to add a reference to the Xp system in the Hosts file.

Do you have an account on the XP system that is the same name as the account on the Windows 7 system?

Joe

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It isn’t that Windows 7 is not flexible it is that XP is inflexible. have you gone through the steps in the post to which I link in post #10?

Joe

--Joe

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I seem to have overlooked that link before. I’ve now saved a PDF copy to run through sometime this week. I’ll post back afterwards with my results.

P.S. sorry it took a while for me to respond, I’ve got limited access time (to the internet) and lot of things that require access time.

It isn’t that Windows 7 is not flexible it is that XP is inflexible. have you gone through the steps in the post to which I link in post #10?

Joe

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