Problems setting up home network. Please help!!!!

I recently bought a new laptop and wanted to set up a home network with my desktop. I used the windows home networking setup program they have. My desktop is able to see my laptop when i click on view workgroup computers. But my laptop is unable to see my desktop. When i click on view workgroup computers i get an error saying that i dont have permission to use the network resources and that the list of servers for the workgroup is not currently available. I've tried alot of things but still no luck. Shouldn't i be able to at least see my own computer when i click on view workgroups? Also when i try to access my laptop from my desktop i get an error saying i dont have permission to. The account name and password is the same. Lastly the workgroup names are identical on both computers so that is not that issue. Could someone please help? is it possible to reset my network options on my laptop so i can run the windows home networking setup program again? Forgot to mention that im using an old SMC router if that makes any difference.

thanks

Justin

Few things.
First enable NetBIOS in the networking protocols.
Second you need a cross-linked cable to connect a PC to PC.
Third make sure you are logged on as admin on both comps.
Fourth make at least one thing shared on each computer, one good think would be "Shared Folder".

If you follow all of these it should work, feel free to PM me about anything you need to ask.

My desktop is able to ping my laptop. However, my laptop is unable to ping my desktop. Any ideas anyone?

Some dumb "personal firewalls" including the one from XP SP2 are dropping ICMP packets. That means they won't respond to pings. Maybe that's happening for you here.

klingens said:

Some dumb "personal firewalls" including the one from XP SP2 are dropping ICMP packets. That means they won't respond to pings. Maybe that's happening for you here.

Click to expand...

i would have to agree here. disable any firewalls and then check to see if you can access the computer. if you can, then check in your firewall that file shareing and icmp are enabled to receive and send(this is what made it work on norton for me)

Thanks for everyones help and ideas. I found out that it was Norton internet security on my laptop that was causing all the problems. I thought it wasn't on but really it was. I had to turn off the personal firewall on that. Thanks again.

make sure, both the laptop AND the other computer are on the same workgroup and your laptop and computer have enabled remote assistance