Laptop Can't Connect to HomeGroup? WorkGroup?

chamlin said:

Hmmm...not sure. I know that for both computers, we do not have to currently enter a username or password.

You mean at Windows boot, you don't have a user account thumbnail that appears and that you click on to then enter your Windows password? You don't have a password to start Windows? Or do you?

Pretty sure I remember that we had to check the "remember my credentials" box, but...is there a way to check this?

We'll get to this.

But what's curious is that you have those two VMWare network adapters showing as "public network", and it's on both machines. Do you know what these are or where they came from? Do you have outside connectivity that you do from both machines? Something outside your house that you connect to, maybe for work? I honestly am not familiar with these or what they're all about. Are you running VMWare??

What's also odd is that your home network shows as "work network", when I'd imagine it would have been a "home network". We can change that.

I do see that the "Shanti's C drive" on the laptop (which you appear to have mapped as Z on your desktop machine) has a red X next to it. That doesn't look good. So if this thread is because you can't get to the drives of the laptop from the desktop (and vice versa??), this looks like an interesting clue.


The WORKGROUP for both machines is good.

I'd like to get you to have a "home network", and also to be sure we have user name and password credentials entered correctly (by deleting whatever is currently in place), and also to be sure you've set up drive sharing correctly on each machine to support proper access from the other machine.

One more screenshot needed, again for both machines...

Control Panel -> User accounts and family safety -> Credential manager

And one more pair of screenshots (one from each machine)...

I don't know if you want to share (i.e. make accessible to the other machine) EVERY partition on each machine, but whichever partitions you do want to make accessible you must define through "advanced sharing". And of course if you want to allow WRITE as well as READ from the other machine, you must specify "full control" in the sharing permissions, for "everyone" (which is convenient in a home LAN setup).

So, looking just at C on each machine to begin with, open Explorer, right-click on C and select "Share with" -> advanced sharing, to begin opening the Properties dialog window. Then push the "Advanced sharing" button to get the Advanced Sharing dialog window. Then push the Permissions button to get the Permissions window.

Spread the windows out so that you can take one screenshot of the whole area as one picture.

Got it. Working on all of this. Very grateful for your assistance!

Dinner break. After, I'll bring the laptop up to the desktop and go through all of this and catch up so I am clear on what to do and questions to ask.

Thanks!

Okay, reality struck. Midnight. Will do this better in the morning. Really, very much appreciating the help.
Chamlin

Yes, I use VMware Player on both systems. The network stuff was how VM sets itself up. VM has been there a long time so it wasn't a new wild card messing things up.

[QUOTE=dsperber;2958506]

I do see that the "Shanti's C drive" on the laptop (which you appear to have mapped as Z on your desktop machine) has a red X next to it. That doesn't look good. So if this thread is because you can't get to the drives of the laptop from the desktop (and vice versa??), this looks like an interesting clue.

I'd like to get you to have a "home network", and also to be sure we have user name and password credentials entered correctly (by deleting whatever is currently in place), and also to be sure you've set up drive sharing correctly on each machine to support proper access from the other machine.

HISTORY:

• It was all set up correctly in January 2014. It worked fine for the first 9 months, then I lost connectivity to the laptop.
• Then the 2nd network guy came out, made changes, fixing the laptop back in to connectivity. But it also resulted in much longer boot up times (have another thread right now trying to resolve the long SSD boot time).
• 7 weeks later, laptop connectivity is lost again.

Really important to me is that we do NOT have to enter usernames or passwords on a daily basis. I know that originally there were usernames/passwords entered and it worked fine. When the 2nd guy fixed the network, he first said we'd have to use the usernames/passwords daily, but after much begging and uncontrollable , he relented and found a way to make it work. Don't know how...and I'm a bit concerned that I am not certain that what I have written down for passwords are the passwords.

Yes, the major issue is laptop (Shanti) connectivity to the network. The desktop (Bodhi), with it's internal drives (C:, E:, F:, S:) and external drives (I:, T:) and networked printer (HP) are all functioning properly. Images below.

The laptop (Shanti) cannot connect with any of the above drives or printer. The desktop (Bodhi), cannot access the laptop, (mapped on the desktop as drive Z:).

What's also odd is that your home network shows as "work network", when I'd imagine it would have been a "home network". We can change that.

Is there a functional difference? Or just languaging?

The WORKGROUP for both machines is good.

Yes, I thought the original network was set up as a WORKGROUP, but in early October, the 2nd networking guy said he thought it should be a HOMEGROUP and made changes. I thought there was supposed to be a lot more flexibility with the WORKGROUP. How can you tell which it is???

But what's curious is that you have those two VMWare network adapters showing as "public network", and it's on both machines. Do you know what these are or where they came from? Do you have outside connectivity that you do from both machines? Something outside your house that you connect to, maybe for work? I honestly am not familiar with these or what they're all about. Are you running VMWare??

The VMware Player we use is to run, in home only, not outside the home, legacy XP programs that won't install in Windows 7. And it is able to, at times, get through the network to grab the documents it needs, but there's something not fully right with it's ability to do that. And the Desktop can't seem to access what's inside the VMware thing.

dsperber said:

One more screenshot needed, again for both machines...

Control Panel -> User accounts and family safety -> Credential manager

Here ya' go.

dsperber said:

I don't know if you want to share (i.e. make accessible to the other machine) EVERY partition on each machine, but whichever partitions you do want to make accessible you must define through "advanced sharing". And of course if you want to allow WRITE as well as READ from the other machine, you must specify "full control" in the sharing permissions, for "everyone" (which is convenient in a home LAN setup).

Yes, I want full control in all directions for all drives.