Windoze XP networking mess, computers dont see each other

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Windoze XP networking mess, computers dont see each other

im running 3 different computers, all windows xp pro sp2 fully updated with firewall off, same work group and all on the same router. they will all print to the main server which is actually a 4th computer in the basement. But no matter what i try, i cant get files to transfer or tcp/ip multiplayer games to work. if you click "my network places" it used to show all the computers on the net. Now, its blank for every machine. all computers except the server are connected via wireless. we all still have the internet too. ive tried everything i can think of short of a re install of xp on each machine. if anyone has ideas i would be thankful.

thanks in advance!

oh and not too long ago, they all worked fine. something has gone wrong.....

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are they all on the same workgroup?

first question to answer, are they all on the same workgroup? Can you type in the IP Address of the machine and access it? (using the "\\xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx\" format)
Any responses?

Forgot to mention this:
Go to start->Run and type in "services.msc" and it will open the services window. Make sure "Computer Browser" and "Workstation" are set to on and "Auto" for startup. If these services aren't on, it most likely won't share and browse the network. Especially if "Computer Browser" is not on.

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all on same work group, i wil

all on same work group, i will have to wait till the end of my linux install to check the service setting Wink but either way lastnight, i was able to get them to see each other but nothing would open. i kept getting errors saying i didnt have permission every time i would try to open a shared folder. similar things with my games, other computers would show up but they wouldnt connect. thnx

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Windows Network Browsing

Well, it is supposed to work just like a Mac but it never does in my experience. In a workgroup scenario, the machines are supposed to vote amongst themselves about which one is the Browse Master. The Browse Master is supposed to tell all of the other PCs what resources are available in the workgroup. Often, the Browse Master is the first ever PC to be created in the workgroup and it will stay that way until you turn the PC off for an extended period. When that happens, the PCs determine a new Browse Master -- which can take an awful long time (several hours).

As suggested previously, the best thing to do is to connect to shared folders by mapping a drive to a known Windows share. For example, if you have a PC called Bart which provides a share called Gibbon, map a drive to \\Bart\Gibbon. It is best to use the NetBIOS computername (eg Bart) rather than the IP address, which may change if you are using DHCP to allocate IP addresses.

Don't ask me how you check sharing permissions, usernames etc on Windows PCs in a workgroup. It is a long time since I discarded Windows home networking as a hideous novelty. However, make sure that you have the same password on each PC when using the same username.

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