Home Network (XP HE)

[BobH]

Just took delivery on a new 3gHz system with XP-HE on it. My old system was a 300 mHz WinME system, but it has about 50 gb of data that I want to transfer to the new machine. There is no CD burner on the ME machine and no floppy drive on the HE machine. I thought I'd network them because I already have a Linksys 4-port router that shares the internet connection with 2 other machines. I did the cabling and went thru the network setup on all 3 machines, but for some unknown reason the new HE machine cannot see the old ME machine but it can see the other one (another ME 350 mHz machine). I've been through the process of displaying folders on each machine and sharing drive folders but to no avail.

Can someone point me to a good online tutorial and debugging site or tell me what I need to do?

TIA

[StuartR]

> Can someone point me to a good online tutorial and debugging site or tell me what I need to do?

Try looking at some of the articles on http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_...Windows_9598ME/, especially this article.

I am boing to move this post from the Windows XP forum toNetworking your Home as it is a home networking issue.

StuartR

[BobH]

Thanks, Stuart!

Sorry I didn't find the correct forum.

I went to the sites you recommended, but I'm afraid they are a bit over my head. Let me try to rephrase my question.

When I click START/MY_NETWORK_PLACES on my new XP system (after going thru the network setup wizard on all three machines the new "host" machine first), I get a window that has a heading of LOCAL_NETWORK and the only thing displayed in it is a folder titled "shared folders" and within it are folders for shared pics, music, video, and aol downloads (all of which are folders that must have been auto-installed because I didn't create them). I do NOT see the network icon that will lead to the other network device icons that I see on the other systems. Likewise, the other systems don't show the host system. The other systems are OS'd with ME and the host is XP/HE. I used the XP/HE CD to do the network setup on the ME systems because I have no way to create a floppy on the host.

Is the problem that the network I'm trying to set up consists of systems running different OS's? There is nothing in the XP HELP troubleshooting or tutorials that I've found that mention anything about this being a problem. In fact, in one place they state that mixed OS's is NOT a problem.

Thanks again for the response.

[JoeP517]

Bob,

Have you read the MS information starting with Home and Small Office Networking with Windows XP? There are multiple links for your reading pleasure. <img src=/S/grin.gif border=0 alt=grin width=15 height=15>

Joe

[BobH]

Howdy Joe!

Thanks for the link. I did the tutorials and the ones in XP HELP. I discovered that the router port that I had the old ME machine in was bad. Discovered this by trying to access the Internet from that machine.

I can now see the folders and files on the old machine from the new machine, but I can't copy them over. The file copying window (with the flying pages) comes up but then a message appears that says: "Cannot copy file: Cannot read from the source file or disc." I was trying to drag and drop the folder on the old machine's hard drive to a newly created folder on the new machine's drive.

Oh well, I'm inching ever closer. I'll figure this out yet.

Thanks for your help.

[StuartR]

Two steps forward and one step back, not bad so far...

Can you copy any files at all?
Have you tried copying one or two small files to see what happens?
Where are you copying from and where to?
Can you copy files in the other direction?

StuartR

[BobH]

Howdy Stuart!

No luck so far. The error message reads: "Cannot copy file: Cannot read from the source file or disk." I used Copernic to search the web for this message and found a site that mentioned a malware toolbar as the cause. I downloaded and ran it on the host system (XP/HE) and downloaded on the source system (ME) that I'm trying to copy from, but the software wouldn't install on the source system due to a problem with one of the unzipped files. Now I can't find the site I downloaded from.

Have you ever heard of a malware problem that gives this message? The site I visited said that it's NOT a microsoft message.

Curiouser and couriouser!

[StuartR]

I think that this could well be a genuine message. Let's break this up into stages to see if we can pinpoint the source of the trouble. Can you explain in a bit more detail...
<UL><LI>Which system are the shared files on (Windows XP or ME)?
<LI>What folder are the shared files in?
<LI>Have you tried using a different share to see what happens?
<LI>Can you copy files in the other direction?
<LI>Do you have an identical username and password on both systems?[/list]Some things you could try include...
<UL><LI>Try creating a shared folder on the Windows XP system and connecting to it from the ME one, then copy the files using the ME system. If you get problems then the tools on Windows XP may help us pinpoint the source of the trouble.
<LI>On the Windows ME system try creating a folder called C:TEST, copy the files to it, share it and try copying from that share.[/list]StuartR