XP network

[Pannonian]

I have a desktop, running XP Home, which is connected to the internet. I have a laptop, running XP Pro, which I want to connect to the internet via the desktop. I have a switch, and 2 ethernet cables. I have run the network setup wizard on both computers, and both are now members of the workgroup Mshome. However, they appear to be members of different workgroups called Mshome, for they can see themselves in the workgroup, but not each other. They can ping themselves, but not each other. Both computers are logged on under administrator accounts. The desktop is running Sygate personal firewall, which isn't noted for blocking network connections (unlike Norton). The laptop is running Windows firewall.

Any suggestions as to what might be going wrong?

[caravel]

Set up the desktop with a static IP address of 192.168.0.1 and subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 and set that up with a shared connection and windows firewall disabled.

The workgroup is irrelevant as it is only used for file and printer sharing. If you do want file and print sharing and it's not working then it is highly likely that your firewall is blocking it.

Set up the laptop with another static address of 192.168.0.2 and subnet 255.255.255.0 with windows firewall also disabled.

You will only need to run the personal firewall on the desktop and this box will act as the firewall and nat router for the laptop - which will now be the most secure of the two.

You may also need to enter the primary and secondary DNS servers in the network configuration of the laptop. In fact I recommend you do this anyway. You can find them by opening a terminal on the dekstop and doing "ipconfig /all" look for the primary and secondary DNS server entries near the bottom and copy these into your network config for the laptop. Another way to do this if you can't find these is to enter the address of the dekstop PC (192.168.0.1) into the primary DNS field only for the laptop. This will also work.

It's worth noting that you don't actually need the switch for connecting two NICs together, only a crossover cable is required.

[Mouzafphaerre]

.
An irrelevant question (having caught a nerd defenseless ):

I want to clear my DNS cache (ipconfig /flushdns) but it returns an error:

Windows IP Configuration

Could not flush the DNS Resolver Cache: Function failed during execution.

It can't flush it via the maintainance tab either. What are the possible reasons and solutions?

XP Pro, modem has router onboard, no windows firewall.


.

[caravel]

Check that the dns client service is running. From a terminal do "net start dnscache".

[Mouzafphaerre]

.

net start dnscache
The DNS Client service is starting.
The DNS Client service was started successfully.

ipconfig /flushdns

Windows IP Configuration

Successfully flushed the DNS Resolver Cache.

Thank you!

Flushing the DNS cache didn't help bypass the state censorship but I learned something new.
.

[caravel]

You now need to do "sc config dnscache start= auto"

(Note the space between the "=" and the "a")

Or you can leave it on manual and start it up when needed (to flush the cache) using "net start dnscache", then flush the dns resolver cache and stop the service again by doing "net stop dnscache" - to avoid having it running all the time. Personally I find the DNS Cache to be useful and have it set to automatic.

[R'as al Ghul]

The desktop is running Sygate personal firewall, which isn't noted for blocking network connections (unlike Norton). The laptop is running Windows firewall.

Any suggestions as to what might be going wrong?

Both Firewalls block the other computer. Try to disable the laptop firewall and you'll see the laptop from the desktop-PC.
You can configure the sygate firewall on your desktop-PC by using advanced rules. You can enter the IP or, better, the MAC address, to be allowed to connect.