can't map a network drive. win 7 pro to win 7 ultimate.

Hi all,

I'm trying to map a network drive between two computers on a simple network. The network is comprised of two computers, one unmanaged switch (Cisco) and a router (Cisco). The two computers and the switch are behind the firewall. When I patch the two computers together I can map the drive no problem (\\computername\shared folder). When I plug both computers into the switch the computers cant find each other.

Also, I have tried several different switches. Different brands managed and unmanaged. The result is always the same.

Any ideas?

When I patch the two computers together I can map the drive

That suggests you are using a cross-over cable. For connecting to a Switch or Router straight-through cables are required. The two types are the same cable but the wires in the plugs are arranged differently and that could be the problem.

Are you saying that the two computers do NOT show up in the Network object (as my two MDR and DFW machines do in this screenshot)?



Are both machines defined to be in the same "workgroup" (not home network, but the workgroup):



Do you have "sharing" enabled for at least one partition (aka "drive letter") on each machine, through My Computer?



Do you have a userid/password present on both machines? If so, when you first try to access the second machine from the first machine through the network router/switch, Windows would prompt you for the userid/password of the target machine you're trying to connect to. There will also be a checkbox (that you'd normally check) to retain this login information so that from now on you won't be prompted whenever you want to access the second machine. This is normally how you'd operate, for the convenient "map network drive" dialog to assign a drive letter on the local machine to a partition on the remote machine.

Hi dsperber,

thank you for the questions and the tip! your questions reminded me to check the advanced sharing settings and that is where the problem was. (forgot to turn OFF password protected sharing).

thanks again!