Ok I finally have given up and need the help of the CD Community once again!
The Problem: Unable to network 2 Vista Computers (One Laptop the other a PC) to 3 XP Computers (1 Laptop the other 2 are PCs)
What was done: Ensured that the Workgroup is the same, All computers have their own IP Automatically assigned to them, Ensured all computers are named differently, Ensured shared folders are setup correctly. Vista Machines will see the Vista Machines on the network as does the XP Machines seeing the XP Machines on the network.
Noticable Problems on VISTA computers that need to be corrected:
RPC Service under the network adapters properties is not set correctly to be using the Windows Locator as the Name Service Provider and will not stay set once that option is chosen. The option clears upon closing the window.
Unable to access the Built In FULL FLEDGED Administrator Account - No option was made during the Computers First Run to set up the account & password. It did ask to set up the Computer Users and when typing in the Administrator Name it says the account is already made and a duplicate cannot be created. Having this account may solve problem #1 and correct all other problems.
The Question:
Does anyone know how to access & setup the Built In Administrator Account in Vista even though you are suppose to set it up upon OS Installation?
How do you make Vista see XP and visa versa perfectly?
How do you keep the Name Service Provider Set?
Just did Option #1 for all the XP Computers. Vista Computers already have that component installed. So far it hasn’t worked. Option #2 taken under advisement but don’t think it will work. Will research a little later when less tired. Any other suggestions?
The purpose of this network is so that all these computers backup documents, pictures or movies to one central Computer on a specific HDD in a specific folder for each computer.
Open Network and Sharing Center on the Vista computers. Make sure all of the items under Sharing and Discovery are set to On, except Password Protected Sharing. I would normally recommend enabling Password Sharing, but I had problem with that and XP.
So basically, all the machines are on the same router (maybe switched somewhere) with the same range of IPs, or within IP ranges that are masked to see each other. If they can all get online, then that means that the network is working. The Vista machines can see each other, and the XP machines can see each other (shiver This reminds me of 98->XP). What happens when you try to view the map of the network in Vista? Does it show your router and modem properly?
The other thing is, can you access the XP machines from Vista by using their IP? (For instance, go Start->Run-> \192.168.x.y (where x and y represent the remainder of the IP of the XP machine)). This should work in both directions. If it does, then its just a naming resolving issue, which can be either fixed or worked around. The easiest solution is just to map a network drive to that IP in My Computer. To actually fix the problem, that would require more research.
Just a note:
Approx. 15% of the computers in my house run Vista (6 in total). I have not had any networking issues with them seeing the XP machines. But I have a domain controller…
I just discovered a problem with Vista’s Network Map where when I initially set the network up on them I used Public instead of Home so I have to delete the old network connections and set them up as a private connection so they can see the network map better.
You don’t need to reset everything! If you open Network and Sharing Center then across from the network name you will see a Customize link. You should be able to change that setting there.
Edit: Just got done taking care of the network map and now it works the way it should all I have to do is work on the laptop now and see what materializes from that. Thanks so far for all your help =).
Rather then create a new thread I and search for the one that was posted by another CD’ I’ll just post an additional question here.
The Problem: When there is an Ext. Drive attached to the system and I reboot / or cold boot the system I get the following message; NTLDR Missing Press CTRL ALT Delete to Restart. I follow said instruction and get the same message. If I unplug the Ext. Drive and then boot the system everything boots up normally and everything is fine and well when I plug the drive back in, but the message will re-appear each time the system is restarted / booted up.
As of right now I’m searching MS to see if there is a patch to fix this problem. Just curious though if anyone else has had this issue. It’s a pain to constantly remember to unplug the drive when booting up.
Sounds like that ext. drive is trying to load Windows NT/2000/XP. NTLDR is the executable run to start Windows. There should be a way to remove the info from that drive, so it will ignore it, but I don’t remember how.
You can change the boot order in your BIOS so it loads from the HDD before external drives. Watch the screen a startup. It should have instructions how to enter BOIS setup.
Actually believe it or not I checked the BIOS today to make sure the Ext. Drive is set to the last thing to boot. HDD, CD-R & Floppy are set to be the first to boot in that order.
