Free Home Network Softare?

[Duncan_Mon]

Basicly, my brother got a laptop for christmas, i got the router up and working in a flash shared the net etc etc. But i cant for the life of me figure out how to set up a "network" as ive always thought of one, sharing folders across the network, printers etc.

I know windows can do this but ive had a good look at it all and cant get it working with just windows tools.

I ran across www.networkmagic.com which is great, installed on both PC and Laptop and im now sharing 40gig of files from the PC to be accessible on the laptop, mostly music so i can listen when on the laptop. It seems to be a great tool, only thing is, after the 30 days free trial are gone, i lose the file sharing and printer sharing capabilities.

Are there any free software around there to do such?

[directhex]

free software?

this is built into any modern OS.

problems are likely to be caused by bad software firewalls such as zonealarm.

why would you actively seek to duplicate years of effort with dodgy third party tools?

[this_is_gav]

Assuming it's Windows, right click on any folder or drive and click the sharing tab. It's all in there. Make sure both PCs are in the same workgroup for simplicities sake.

[Duncan_Mon]

free software?

this is built into any modern OS.

problems are likely to be caused by bad software firewalls such as zonealarm.

why would you actively seek to duplicate years of effort with dodgy third party tools?

See this is all ive been told, windows has it built in etc. But i cant for the life of me seem to get it working.

I know how to enable a folder for sharing etc, properties, sharing, tick the boxes, simple. But, how do i put them in the same workgroup? And how do i access the shared files from the other Laptop / PC on the network?

[johnny02004976]

Can u see the shared folders in My Network Places?

[Duncan_Mon]

Can u see the shared folders in My Network Places?

When i go to My Network Places on the PC, i see nothing there at all.
Upon clicking veiw workgroup members at the left hand side this pc appears and upon clicking i can see the folders that are selected to be shared by this PC, the laptop does not appear there at all.

[directhex]

When i go to My Network Places on the PC, i see nothing there at all.
Upon clicking veiw workgroup members at the left hand side this pc appears and upon clicking i can see the folders that are selected to be shared by this PC, the laptop does not appear there at all.

what firewall software is installed on the machines in question?

[Duncan_Mon]

what firewall software is installed on the machines in question?

Both have Zone Alarm Free on them.

[directhex]

Both have Zone Alarm Free on them.

problems are likely to be caused by bad software firewalls such as zonealarm.

in the short term, ditch ZA and try again.

also, don't forget that windows has a home networking wizard which can help you with file/printer sharing

[cotswoldcs]

As mentioned before make sure all computers use the same Workgroup name. Right click on My Computer -> Properties -> Computer Name -> Change OR run the network wizard.

[Duncan_Mon]

Rite, ive not disabled Zone Alarm on either as i seem to have got past it atleast with the PC.

When i go to my network places, it is still completely blank on both the PC and Laptop, but on both when i click view workgroup computers, it shows both the PC and Laptop names.

On the PC i can double click the laptop name and access files selected to be shared.
But on the Laptop upon double clicking the PC name i get a error message

"//PCNAME is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of this server to find out if you have access permissions.
Access denied"

Any ideas?

EDIT:
When i go to my network places on the laptop, it has the folder i want shared there under the heading "Local Network"

[directhex]

does one of the machines not have SP2?

[Duncan_Mon]

does one of the machines not have SP2?

Both have SP2, laptop being Media Center, PC being Home.

[EllTheGamer]

Make sure that the firewall has a rule active to allow connections from ips in the same range and then you can rule out zone alarm as the problem. Also trying manual ip addresses should be something to try.

[Duncan_Mon]

Make sure that the firewall has a rule active to allow connections from ips in the same range and then you can rule out zone alarm as the problem. Also trying manual ip addresses should be something to try.

What range tho? 192.168.2.0 to 192.168.2.255 im geussing?

[ikonia]

why do you constantly refuse to disable your fire wall - just disable it while your testing to that its not something making the failures harder to diagnose