So, for a little background, about 7 months ago I bought a new laptop. Previously, all I had was a desktop. Both have Windows XP. I managed to get them networked without too much trouble, that includes dealing with ZoneAlarm. By networked, I mean, both connect wirelessly to a router, and I had file/printer sharing enabled. I keep a few folders on the desktop shared to the network and the printer is connected to the desktop as well.

All was well until just a few weeks ago. One day I attempt to access a shared folder, and I get an error about permissions. As far as I know, nothing changed. I could see the other computer on the network. I could even see all the shared folders, but I just couldn't access them. Also, I could still print without a problem.

I wasn't too worried about it, and figured I'd get around to fixing it eventually. Before I had the chance to do that, I went ahead and upgraded the laptop to Vista (had a free upgrade deal, figured I'd use it). Once Vista was installed, I discovered I couldn't print anymore; I'd get an error. I figured I'd just try re-installing it, maybe Vista needed to reinstall the drivers. No luck. I could see the printer on the network, but I couldn't add it to the laptop!

Anyhow, initially I thought it was a ZoneAlarm problem; it can be tricky sometimes. But after some searching around, someone finally gave me the obvious idea of turning off the firewall, and seeing what happens. So, I do, and I still get the same sort of errors. So, I know it has to be a Windows Networking issue, I just don't know what. And, being so new to Vista, I'm not real famililar with all the network stuff, so I don't even know how to go about changing or fixing some things.

Also, one odd thing I noticed -- or at least, it seems odd to me, but maybe not. But, I was checking on my ipconfig's on both machines and I realized that a) the Subnet masks were different (255.255.255.0 vs 255.255.255.252), and the default gateway on the laptop isn't the same as the default gateway on the desktop, although the DNS and DHCP servers agree between both (which is the same as the gateway on the laptop). I thought that seemed odd, but maybe I'm wrong.

I definitely need some help, and I'm at a loss to where to start. And, I want to emphasize that everything did work fine until recently, and I have no clue what may have sparked any changes to be made. The upgrade to Vista happened AFTER all that.

Thanks in advance!

Both computers should be on the same default subnet for a class c network. That is 255.255.255.0. Make sure both computer have this. As far as the printer, vista has a bad time (without service pack yet), grabbing a shared printer from an XP machine. Some conflicts in drivers. I would have waited to install vista till the SP1 comes out.

I knew it seemed wonky that the subnet masks were different. What about the default gateway, should they be the same since they both connect wirelessly to the same router?

Also, I think I know, but just in case I'm wrong, how do I go about changing those?

Thanks.

Well, the gateway would be the address of the router. Same for your DNS servers. You can change these by going to Start>control Panel>Network Connections. Right click your Local Area Network and select properties. Go to the TCPIP properties and select manual enter.

Thanks! I knew it was something like that. I'm still having problems, though

So, now I got the subnet masks, default gateways, and DNS servers to all match up on the 2 computers, but I still have the same problem.

From my laptop I can see all the shared folders, even the printer I have shared, but if I try accessing any of it, I get the same error message:



It seems so weird I can see all the folders being shared, but I just can't access them. What can I try now?

Thanks.

So with a little more fiddling, I figured it out. Sometimes instead of me an "unexpected network error occurred" it would tell me something about there not being enough server storage, or something. I ignored that at first, because I thought it just sounded silly, what with all the free space I have, but I couldn't have been more wrong about what the message was trying to say.

Anyhow, after some searching I found out that there's a setting in my registry I needed to check, "IRPStackSize" that norton sometimes likes to change. Turns out upon inspection that variable was completely gone, so after adding it back and setting it larger than the default of 15, I was able to get things going again.

Thanks for your help!

It's always nice to see a happy ending.

Thank you for letting us know how you went about it.

Cheers