Mobile Internet

[Gene45]

I have had a network on a XP pro and Vista home,  both wired.

I want to add a  Win 7 machine wireless and can't make it work.

The Wind 7 contact the internet and can see both of the other machines.

Is there any advice on specifically how to do that ?    

Any software that will do it?   

[skinorth]

@Gene45:

I have been using a W35 for well over a year.  I have never had any problems connecting to the Internet with XP, Vista or Windows 7, all of them on wireless.  When I was running Vista I would get disconnects, but that I was able to resolve as being a Vista-specific issue which was corrected by the following:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928233/en-us

I subsequently upgraded my laptop from Vista to Windows 7 Ultimate, and have not had any problems connecting to the W35 wirelessly with it at any time.

You say: "...The Wind 7 contact the internet and can see both of the other machines."  But what specifically do you mean by that?  Can you ping 192.168.1.1 (W35) or its external (Internet) address as listed in its "Internet" web management interface page.  Can you ping either or both the other machines from the Windows 7 machine, or vice versa?

When you connect wirelessly from the Windows 7 box, does its MAC address show on the W35 "Wireless LAN".  When you do an "ipconfig /all" command on Command Prompt, what information does it give you, and does it show that the Windows 7 machine picked up a 192.168.1.n IP address from DHCP?

skinorth

[skinorth]

@Gene45:

another thing to look at on the Windows 7 machine are the firewall settings.  A fresh install should have default firewall settings that would work OK, but I have encountered problems on other machines with this.  For example, an Acer laptop which had a one month "complimentary" McAfee security software subscription installed on it.  At the end of the month the McAfee just shut down the included firewall pending the "renewal" of the McAfee security subscription.

In that situation, the machine worked fine, and got its IP address through DHCP, but would not do anything else Internet related.

The solution in that case was to uninstall theMcAfee software, and use the included Windows 7 firewall set to its defaults.

skinorth

[Gene45]

Thnak you for your replies.

With all three machines logged in with the same username and same password.

XP Pro 192.168.1.38

Vista 192.168.1.2

Win 7 192.168.1.89

Windows firewalls are "On" in all machines. Exceptions are allowed the last time I looked, but I'm not sure if I can find that switch again.

From XP

ping Vista timed out 100% loss

ping Win 7 timed out 100% loss

Start > My network places brings up the list of shared files on Vista.

They can be viewed or written to.

The network 'works'

Network is named MsHome.

The Win 7 machine shows up as a mapped drive under "my computer" but cannot be acessed.

From Vista ping XP four hits, 0% losss average transit time 0 ms

ping win 7 timed out 100% loss

Network and sharing center shows the Vista - Rogers - Internet,

the only network name is Rogers 2CDB, I can't find the name of the "home group"

"Show full map" shows nothing else.

I can't find the name of group(s) similar to MsHome.

From Win 7 ping XP four hits 0% loss ping Vista

four replies, but destination unreachable. 100% loss

Win 7 has some drives mapped. the shared files on XP can be accessed through the mapped drives.

Vista cannot be accessed this way.

The network and sharing centre shows a similar map to the Vista one, i.e no branches.

"Connect to a network" shows me only the rogers 2CDB

"Connect to a homegroup" only works with Win 7 macnines of which thereare no others.

Win 7 is an ACER netbook that came with a McAfee security system that took over the machine so I could not use it. I removed it but a McAfee site adviser is still operating.

I hope you can makes some sense out of this. 

And thanks for yur assistance.

[skinorth]

@Gene45:

first, you need to differentiate between TCP/IP networking (ping, Internet, SMTP mail, etc.) and the shared files and resources type of networking that is done between WIndows machines.  Both use the same network "pipes", interfaces, etc., but they differ in the protocols they use over the "lower layers" of the network stack.  The former uses TCP/IP, the latter uses Netbios protocols.

You can, for example, quite successfully share files and printer resources between Windows machines without ever having an IP address on any of them.  You cannot, however, access the Internet without an IP address.

In order to successfully do a ping between Windows machines, you need to allow ICMP protocol through the firewall on those machines.  I seem to remember that XP in particular defaults to no ICMP allowed through the firewall.

When you "see" other Windows machines in your Network Neighbourhood window, this is relevant to WIndows file sharing, shared resources such as printing, etc.  However, in order to do file sharing successfully between Windows machines you do have to enable the folders you wish to share for that capability.  To do this, right click on the folder you wish to share, select Properties, and select the Sharing tab.  There you can set up the kind of file/folder sharing you wish to have for that folder.

I don't know what McAfee site advisor does, so I can't comment on it.  Personally I have a bug up my butt about Norton, McAfee, etc., and I would uninstall it on principle.  But what you do is up to you.

Can you successfully access the W35 at 192.168.1.1 using your favourate browser from any of your computers?  If so that is a good start to the successful use of the Internet, as you are using the same protocols, ports, and firewall rules to get to the W35 as you would to connect to Internet-based URL's.  It is also critical to obtaining detailed status information on your network and how your computers are using TCP/IP in order to connect to the Internet.

skinorth

[Gene45]

OK, all machines access the internet well,

All can log into the W35 with the default settings.

On XP the firewall is ON

Don't allow exceptions is not checked.

Exceptions allowed are all checked except "netsession_win" and I don't know what that is .
File and printer sharing are allowed.

Advanced settings show only a "LocalAreaconnection2" . This machine has no internal wireless capability and is therefore wired.

The only ICMP setting checked is "Allow incoming echo request"

Win7 shwed TWO Mcafee site advisers, differen versions. I removed both. They were PITA to dispose of. I dowloaded REVO uninstaller, by the time I was done.

Stilll can't ping to XP from win 7
Win 7 to XP still works.

Win 7 firewall is ON, File and printer sharing is allowed.  There was a McAfee item there which I removed

 
             

[skinorth]

@Gene45:

thanks for your reply.  I am getting a little overwhelmed with information.  That's not your fault; it is because there is a lot of stuff to pass along, and we're not able to get the visual feedback we would get in a face to face conversation.

First off, you mention that "Connect to a network" shows me only the rogers 2CDB".  Rogers 2CDB is the wireless SSID, used in identifying the wireless network to which you are connecting from the WIndows 7 machine.  Go to the "Wireless LAN" page on the W35 management interface and you will see it there.  This is relevant only to the wireless connection, and does not relate to either TCP/IP or to Microsoft Windows file sharing, etc.

I am not running XP, and I can't remember the settings on the XP firewall.  Windows 7 is quite different.  I apologize, but I can't help you with that.

As far as ping goes, I suspect you are still having firewall issues between the XP and W7 machines.  Just for kicks, temporarily turn off the firewalls, and see what happens.

Also, not to confuse the matter further, I should point out that the W35 will allow you to share both printers and shared file storeage connected directly to it using its USB port.  But you will need to go to the "Sharing" management page and do the required setup.  You will need to input "MsHome" into the Workgroup field in order to set this up.  And you need to connect a shared printer and shared storage to the W35 USB connection to take advantage of this functionality.

I sympathize with you on hearing of the problems you had getting rid of McAfee stuff.  That software is as bad as the virus and Adware it is supposedly protecting us from.

skinorth

[Gene45]

OK the idea to change the name of the workgroup in the W35 looks like a major step forward.

I can now ping both ways from the XP to Win 7 and from the Vista to XP.but not from Vista to Win 7 with the firewall either on OR off.

Also, From Win 7, Computer>Network shows me all the machines, in pictures, and I can look at the files on XP. , but not on Vista . The machine is there but not accessible.

From XP, not signed on with the same user name and password,  my network places shows me the Vista shared files but not Win 7. 

If I click on Entire network>Microsfot windows network it comes up with MsHome which includes all three computers plus FWT which is the w35.  Vista files can be accessed by providing the correct user name and password., but it cannot access  Win 7. XP knows Win7 is there, but it is not accessible.

Keep going,  we made some progress.       

[skinorth]

@Gene45:

good to hear you made some progress.

The W35 implements Windows file and resource sharing using Linux SAMBA.  For you to know if that is really functioning on the W35, you should plug a reasonably sized USB memory stick into the W35 USB port.  You may need to reboot the W35 after that, but then you should be able to "see" the Windows share on the W35 from any of your Windows computers.

A good functional test then would be to transfer a file from one of your computers to the W35 USB shared folder.  Then you can try to access the file that is now on the W35 from one of the other computers, or copy it to one of them.  For example, you could move a text file from the W7 box to the W35.  Then you could access it and try to edit it on the W35 using the XP box.

I suggest that the best thing to do at this point, however is to concentrate on one set of problems at a time.  If I understood you correctly from one of your previous postings, the XP box still will not allow shared file access from the W7 box.

You stated: "File and printer sharing are allowed."  I understood that this was relating to the XP system. Printer sharing is relatively simple to allow, and it is done right at "Properties" for each printer connected to a given computer.

But please do not forget that in order to enable actual file sharing between Windows, you must to go to the relevant file folder you wish to share, and enable that right at the folder.  In other words, you need to right-click on the folder icon, and select the "Sharing" tab.  Then click on the required box to access the sharing functions.  On W7 (which I am currently running) the right-click menu also has a "Share with" menu item, which goes directly to the selection of the several sharing options available in this version of W7.

Another factor to consider it that different variant of each Windows version implements different levels of security as well.  For example, XP home, Vista home, and W7 home have less functional implementations of security around file sharing.  I don't remember the details, but if you are running for example, XP Pro, you will have the highest level of functionality.

I am running W7 Ultimate, which also has the maximum functionality in that area.

So, try a few things, and let's focus on just one specific issue/problem.  We may find that if we can solve the one set of problems, other problems will also be easier to address, or will be resolved as part of the process.

skinorth

[Gene45]

I plugged a memory stick into the W35, restarted it from inside.

All three machines can log into the W35 and see the stick as a shared device.

In My network places, Win 7 and XP can see the stick and look at its files. XP can see insde teh stick even if not signed on with th correct nae and address.  Never tried that with Win 7. 

Vista cannot see the existence of the stick, and hence a cannot look inside .

Its late here, and I will try some more tomorrow.

I'm getting an education, so don't give up on me.