laptop can't see my desktop on wifi network


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I have a desktop PC and a HP Laptop. Both are Windows 7 Home. Before I had an ethernet connection on my desktop and my laptop connected via wifi, my network had been working perfect. sharing stuff between each other.

Now that I got a wifi adapter for my desktop, I unplugged the ethernet from the desktop so it can connect via wifi along with my laptop and my iphone. They all works perfect.

But when I want to stream stuff from my desktop to my laptop, the laptop basically refuses to recongise the desktop despite the deskop icon showing up in the laptop's "network map". Strange thing is I CAN access the laptop's files from my desktop fine.

Just can't access the desktop's files from the laptop because i get this:

http://www.users.on.net/~ozgeek/fgfsd.png

I've re-plugged the cable back into the desktop and everything works fine, laptop can see desktop's files and vice versa. But here I'd like to have a full wireless experience so I could relocate my router. I want both laptop and desktop on wifi and sharing like it was before.

What did I do wrong?

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Since you're connecting with a different physical adapter, it's possible that Windows is seeing it as a new network. What kind of setting do you have it set to in your "Network and Sharing Center"? Home, Work, or Public? If it's Work or Public, change the Network type to Home, this should make sure the ports necessary for file sharing on your local network are opened.

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Yeah I was suspecting all along that the laptop was expecting to see the desktop via

laptop -> wifi -> router -> ethernet > desktop

I now want:

laptop -> wifi -> router -> wifi -> desktop

Both computers has Home (the house icon) with my network name on both.

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When a computer goes from Ethernet to wifi it will often get a new IP address from the router and you won't be able to connect to the old name from another computer.

open explorer and type \\IP-address of the computer you want to connect to. that will ask you for your credentials and log you in and you are set.

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One possible way to fix the issue mentioned by capr is to flush your cached DNS settings. If, using the old setup, your computer was issued one IP, and your laptop came to associate that computer with that IP, and now since it's using a different interface, it's being issued a different IP, it could be causing the issue. To flush your old dns settings, just open a command prompt as administrator and run:

ipconfig /flushdns

Then give it a shot.

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Give us some more details on your setup:

Router IP?

Gateway IP?

Desktop IP?

Laptop IP?

Are you using static IP address' or do you currently have DHCP on your router? The sharing of your files should be the same really wether it be on wifi or wired..

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What do your "Advanced Sharing Settings" look like under Network and Sharing Center on each computer?

Also, just for giggles, double check your Windows firewall and make sure "File and Printer Sharing" is enabled on both computers. Just go to Control Panel -> Windows Firewall -> Allow a Program or Feature Through Windows Firewall (Left side it's a text link). Make sure File and Printer Sharing is checked on both computers.

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This is my router page with all the devices connected via wifi:

network.png

All devices are set to automatically get ip since my internet IP is dynamic.

DHCP is set to enabled like it always has been.

This is what my ipconfig looks like:

C:\Windows\system32>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

   Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Jason-PC
   Primary Dns Suffix  . . . . . . . :
   Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
   IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
   WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection 2:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport Adapter
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-13-13-00-10-4C
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8191SU Wireless LAN 802.11n U
B 2.0 Network Adapter
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-13-13-00-10-4C
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::3974:9e90:5de3:8530%22(Preferred)
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 10.1.1.3(Preferred)
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, 28 April 2011 5:34:38 PM
   Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, 28 April 2011 6:34:37 PM
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 10.1.1.1
   DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.1.1.1
   DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 520098579
   DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-13-E0-B9-E9-00-21-85-10-F6-9

   DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.1.1.1
   NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Ethernet adapter Bluetooth Network Connection:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Bluetooth Device (Personal Area Network)
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-15-83-15-A3-10
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8168C(P)/8111C(P) Family PCI-
 Gigabit Ethernet NIC (NDIS 6.20)
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-21-85-10-F6-9F
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter isatap.{277C237E-68E8-4853-B37A-18C05BEDBBF5}:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
   IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 2001:0:4137:9e76:3c76:2132:c556:5b22(Pre
erred)
   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::3c76:2132:c556:5b22%21(Preferred)
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : ::
   NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

Tunnel adapter isatap.{FEF87ED3-6E6D-4018-A78F-58D1CB719234}:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter #2
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter isatap.{AECB3FC1-69CE-4A02-84AA-B55ACAC7924A}:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter #3
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter isatap.{5EA62BD9-CC77-4FDF-8CAC-9F6AD0DF4195}:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter #4
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

C:\Windows\system32>

CoMMo, both computers have matching settings in "Advanced Sharing Settings":

Network Discover = ON

File and printing sharing = ON

Public folders access = ON

Media Streaming = ON

128bit encyprtion selected

Password-protected sharing = OFF

Manage Homegroup = ALLOW

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Did you check firewall settings on both machines? Do you have SPI Firewall enabled on router? Its unlikely router Firewall is causing the problem but it could be. Wheres BudMan when you need him?! haha :cool:

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Oh forgot to mention that. yeah it is enabled. I'm not sure if firewall is responsible because if it was I would had the same problem when wired.

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"I'm not sure if firewall is responsible because if it was I would had the same problem when wired. "

Why do you say that? You can have enable firewall on wired and have it not enabled on wireless, or vise versa.

lets start with some basic connectivity tests - can you ping the desktop from your laptop using its IP, looks like 10.1.1.3 from your dhcp table.

How about its name?

So first off ping by IP, then by name does the name resolve - I run a local dns server so your might look a bit different with just netbios broadcasting to find the name. Do a netview both with IP and name.. Also lets see how your network browser is -- grab free scanner from http://scottiestech.info/2009/02/14/how-to-determine-the-master-browser-in-a-windows-workgroup/

so here are my outputs

C:\test>ping 192.168.1.4

Pinging 192.168.1.4 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 192.168.1.4: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64

Reply from 192.168.1.4: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64

C:\test>ping p4-28g

Pinging P4-28G.local.lan [192.168.1.4] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 192.168.1.4: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64

Reply from 192.168.1.4: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64

C:\test>net view \\p4-28g

Shared resources at \\p4-28g

Share name Type Used as Comment

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ML2571N Print Samsung ML-2570 Series

partimage Disk

pch-stuff Disk

Public Disk

test Disk

The command completed successfully.

C:\test>net view \\192.168.1.4

Shared resources at \\192.168.1.4

Share name Type Used as Comment

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ML2571N Print Samsung ML-2570 Series

partimage Disk

pch-stuff Disk

Public Disk

test Disk

The command completed successfully.

post-14624-0-76151700-1303987700.jpg

Lets see what we get from here, and then we can move forward to how to fix. Also -- to be honest on a local network behind a nat router with no hostiles on the local network - I personally would turn off your firewalls.. Atleast for testing!! But lets see the results of these tests and then we can move forward to correcting your problem.

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I've just done a ping test, first one with firewall enabled and the second attempt with firewall disabled on both computers.

pingdesktop.png

Remember I CAN see both computers on both systems. Desktop CAN access photos, videos, docs, and stuff on the laptop. Laptop can see Desktop (it's icon appears in the Network window on the laptop). I just having trouble viewing stuff that is stored on the desktop from the laptop. Can't watch recorded TV that my desktop has done.

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I just discovered that if I isolate the desktop (disable all internet connections including wireless), the laptop still thinks the desktop is still connected because the icon is still there even though the desktop doesn't have any network active. I suspect it is still configured to expect the desktop to connect to the router via wired.

Think that I should just trick the laptop into creating a new network so it acts as if I got a new computer added to the network.

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Ok clearly you got something wrong if you can not ping your desktop when firewalls are disabled - you sure you don't have some other firewall software running.. What antivirus suite are you using, many of them have firewalls.

Anyway -- try pinging it again by IP, then look at your arp table.. Do you see the correct mac?? from your routers dhcp table it should be that 00:13:13:00:10:4c -- which who makes your network card?

http://www.coffer.com/mac_find/?string=00%3A13%3A13

Anyway, example

C:\test>ping 192.168.1.4

Pinging 192.168.1.4 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 192.168.1.4: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64

Reply from 192.168.1.4: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64

Ping statistics for 192.168.1.4:

Packets: Sent = 2, Received = 2, Lost = 0 (0% loss

Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:

Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms

Control-C

^C

C:\test>arp -a

Interface: 192.168.1.100 --- 0xa

Internet Address Physical Address Type

192.168.1.4 00-0d-56-f0-f0-09 dynamic

192.168.1.7 08-00-27-5e-80-04 dynamic

192.168.1.97 00-1c-c3-71-6f-d9 dynamic

192.168.1.98 00-1c-c3-71-72-61 dynamic

192.168.1.99 00-06-dc-43-ad-78 dynamic

192.168.1.253 00-09-5b-e2-cc-db dynamic

You can verify your mac address on the desktop itself - for example here is output from that 192.168.1.4 box

C:\>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : p4-28g

Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : local.lan

Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid

IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : local.lan

Ethernet adapter local:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel® PRO/1000 MT Network Connection

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0D-56-F0-F0-09

DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No

Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.4(Preferred)

Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.253

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.253

NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

edit:

"Desktop CAN access photos, videos, docs, and stuff on the laptop"

This really points to a FIREWALL issue off the top of my head.. Since you clearly can not even ping it by IP.. But lets see what your arp table shows.

edit: noticed you already posted ipconfig /all from your desktop and yup that is what it shows for your mac

00-13-13-00-10-4C

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Yeppee!! Found the program responsible - Windows Firewall on the desktop. This is what I after that last post on the DESKTOP PC:

(FAIL means didn't solve the issue, PASS means passed.

- Deleted all network profiles so only the wifi network and my iphone network remains. FAIL

- Disabled all the options in Advanced Sharing options then re-enabled them. FAIL

- Disalbed Kaspersky Security 2011 on desktop (laptop has Norton trial that came with it) still enabled. FAIL

- Had a look at Windows Firewall. Clcked the Restore Defaults and confirmed to reset to defaults. FAIL

Disabled the firewall for both Home and Public settings. PASSED!

- Re-enabled Firewall - FAIL.

Turns out the firewall is blocking the laptop's attempt to connect to it. The ulitmate purpose of a firewall lol. But I want firewall on for obvious security reasons.

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What obvious security reasons do you have? Protecting yourself from your trusted home network? Protecting yourself from devices that have protected wireless access? Protecting yourself from the gubment trying to steal your pron? You are behind a router, you are protected from the internet....don't do anything stupid and you are protected from yourself. If it were a security issue, there would be many people complaining about getting hacked into....many many people complaining. Most of the time it is due to malware that they did something stupid and allowed it to install....don't do anything stupid.

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If WinFirewall was shipped wiith Win7 it's there for a reason. This is a home wifi with a basic Dlink router (DSL-G604T). I deal with a mix of good software and bad software. I need all the protection I can get. Infact I paid KIS2011 as it saved my ass a couple times already.

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If WinFirewall was shipped wiith Win7 it's there for a reason. This is a home wifi with a basic Dlink router (DSL-G604T). I deal with a mix of good software and bad software. I need all the protection I can get. Infact I paid KIS2011 as it saved my ass a couple times already.

lol...yeah it is there for a reason, because stupid people wanted it in there. Remember the whole "I built windows 7" campaign. KIS has a built in firewall. All a software firewall is good for is not allowing anything to communicate to you including things that you want to communicate to your computer (file sharing is a big one that just about any software firewall seems to screw up regardless of rules, you can have 2 computers setup identically and they still can't talk to each other). Really the only time a software firewall should be used or enabled is when traveling to a network that you don't trust, which is the real reason it has it built in. Short of that it can be relaxed or disabled. You trust your home network so it can be relaxed or disabled.

The firewall portion of KIS did not stop your malware from attacking you, the antivirus/antimalware portion did. The firewall portion of KIS doesn't remove any virus or malware, the antivirus/antimalware portion does. Understand that KIS is Kaspersky Internet Security Suite, is a Suite...ie contanining more than one software technology in a package. For example Microsoft Office is a suite containing more than one Microsoft software product.

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If WinFirewall was shipped wiith Win7 it's there for a reason. This is a home wifi with a basic Dlink router (DSL-G604T). I deal with a mix of good software and bad software. I need all the protection I can get. Infact I paid KIS2011 as it saved my ass a couple times already.

So put in an exception for local traffic.

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"But I want firewall on for obvious security reasons. "

Yeah Im with sc302 on this -- could you elaborate on these obvious reasons? Cuz I can not think of 1 legit reason to have a software firewall running on a secure private network - not 1! BTW you stated before that you disabled firewall on both computers.

the second attempt with firewall disabled on both computers.

So how is it you state you disabled the firewall, now you again state you

"Disabled the firewall for both Home and Public settings. PASSED!"

And this time it worked?

So either you were mistaken when you disabled it the first time, or you were not using home profile like you also stated.

"Both computers has Home (the house icon) with my network name on both. "

If you saying it worked when you disabled firewall on PUBLIC, then that would tell me your using a public connection profile -- why would that be? And you should prob correct that if wanting to use software firewall for some obvious security reasons that are clear to you ;)

Some common sense advice I might add, if your going to run any sort of firewall, it behooves you to fully understand how to configure it and what exactly its doing. Without this knowledge all its going to do is cause you grief when trying to do the simplest of tasks, like share files between 2 trusted machines on your own private network.

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Protecting my network from outside attacks, i suppose?! Thisi is a home network on which I do banking, and other secure work and Steam. Did you know you don't have to do anything to get the network to be comprised. People can get in and steal stuff, etc. Firewall is designed to stop unauthorised connections to my network from occuring.

If you are here, help me, or hit the back or close button and move on. I desire to have a strong secure connection rather than disabling security features, opening my network to attacks.

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I am trying to help you to understand the technology you are trying to put in place. You have absoluetly 0 clue as to anything security related if you think this and have a router in place:

Did you know you don't have to do anything to get the network to be comprised.

I work for several multimillion dollar companies and I can assure you, not one of them are using a software firewall to protect their secured pc's....I have designed their networks and security for their networks and have passed all of their security audits, I "think" I have a clue of what I am doing and understand what I am recommending and apparently the state of Pennsylvania also believes that I know what I am doing being that some of the systems I support go into their network which has access to the FBI criminal database as well as other secure databases that if they are compromised have a bit more to loose than your bank account or other financials that you may have. While they do have other systems in place to monitor activity, not much is getting in and hasn't gotten in. The only thing I need to worry about is stupid users, and I can track, have tracked and proved that any and every compromise is user misunderstanding/stupidity, so I have taken the user stupidity out of the equasion. A software firewall in no configuration takes user stupidity out of the equasion, it stops you from doing productive things on your network.

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Like I said before I only use the built in Windows Firewall. The KIS's fierwall is disabled. I only use it to ensure my system is virus,trojan,etc free. If I disable Windows Firewall, Windows 7 urges me to turn it back on and THAT is what I am going to do regardless of what you "network admins" think. home networks and enterprise networks are different.

Seems you only setup basic network without security, look what happened to Sony. THAT is what I want to prevent.

Now back on topic. how do I let the WinFirewall allow the laptop to connect to it. Infact Windows Firewall is enabled on my laptop and my Desktop have no problems connecting to it. So something on desktop's firewall is changed.

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Like I said before I only use the built in Windows Firewall. The KIS's fierwall is disabled. I only use it to ensure my system is virus,trojan,etc free. If I disable Windows Firewall, Windows 7 urges me to turn it back on and THAT is what I am going to do regardless of what you "network admins" think. home networks and enterprise networks are different.

Seems you only setup basic network without security, look what happened to Sony. THAT is what I want to prevent.

Now back on topic. how do I let the WinFirewall allow the laptop to connect to it. Infact Windows Firewall is enabled on my laptop and my Desktop have no problems connecting to it. So something on desktop's firewall is changed.

Sony is also dealing with the general public who wants to find ways to break them....you are not trying to handshake with every tom dick and harry out there. You are in your own little world looking like everyone else. Basic network without security...again you have no clue about security and what you really need to understand about how to protect yourself and what to protect yourself from. You want to prevent what happened to sony, don't offer products to the outside world where users are going to try to break down your walls where you will need multiple layers of security.

On topic. Without looking at your firewall config, I would assume that you have no rules for your lan or any computer on the lan. You probably want to have some core network rules and maybe a file and print sharing rules enabled for the home network.

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