Lan Wireless Access To Shared Folders Problem

[MinusZero 0]

Recently i bought a USB wireless adapter for a laptop and am having problems integrating it into my Lan.

 

Overview of LAN

Netgear WNR2000 Wireless Router

PC-MZ (192.168.1.5) - Wired

PC-D (192.168.1.2) - Wired

Samsung CLX-318FN Printer (192.168.1.4) - Wired

Acer Laptop with TP-Link TL-WN721N USB Wireless Adapter (192.168.1.6) - Wireless

Network name: Workgroup

Windows XP

 

Recently I updated to a wireless router and am having a problem regarding the wireless laptop. Currently I have 2 computers (PC-MZ and PC-D) and a network printer connected into my router. They all see each other, can ping each other and both PC's can print to the networked printer and share files and directories. Both PC's can also access the router setup 192.168.1.1.

 

I bought a TP-Link USB adapter for the laptop. I connected it to the router using the Quick Setup button on the USB and router. It works fine with the internet.

 

The problem i have is that the wireless laptop won't connect to the lan. If i go to my network places and view the workgroup i can see the other pc's but get a message that they are inaccessible. At first i thought my firewall was blocking it, but I have assigned IP addresses to all connections and opened them up in the firewall, so that isnt the problem.

 

To confuse matters, if i try to ping the other connections, it fails. Further confusion added when i try to access the router (192.168.1.1). I am unable to access it or even ping it. That seems strange given that i am using the internet through the router. Obviously it is connected to it.

 

I am relatively new to getting a wireless computer to work and share folders on a predominately wired network. I just cant understand why i cannot see the shared folders on the other computers.

 

I think there may be something i am missing with the setup, I just dont know what it is.

 

Help would be very appreciated.

[Myke 0]

Sorry that no one has responded to you yet. Here are a few things to check out. Some may be nothing, others may be something.

 

First, when tweaking the wireless configurations, always use a computer that is hardwired into the wireless router. This will avoid the frustrations of connecting wirelessly.

 

Log in to the router's administration page. Check for a setting under wireless security and make sure that you have disabled isolation within the SSID. This setting (in some is enabled by default) prevents any and all devices connected to the router from seeing each other. I'm assuming that this laptop has been connected to the router via ethernet before, hence why you can "see" the other computers in Network Places. With the isolation (within SSID) feature enabled, you shouldn't be able to ping anything. Since you obviously own the network, you'll want this feature disabled. It's mainly a good feature if you are setting up WiFi in a place like a bar or coffee shop, where you want people to be able to connect to the Internet but not see or connect to each other.

 

Another thing to check is your Internet protocols. I've seen people with IPX/SPX enabled not being able to browse the other machines in their network. Make sure that IPX/SPX is not installed if it is not needed; usually you only need this with something like Novell.

 

I know you said you checked your firewall, but make sure that you have File and Print Sharing allowed; by default it is not.

 

 

These are just a few quick items that I thought of off the top of my head. Hopefully they help. Let us know how that works out. And again, my apologies for the delayed response.

[MinusZero 0]

Thanks for your response.

 

I worked it out before checking back here. As you suggested Myke it was the Wireless Isolation. It must have been turned on by default in the router settings. I unchecked Wireless Isolation and straight away it all worked.

 

Its good now that I can access my files and network printer from my wireless laptop...just a shame i didnt figure it out ages ago.