On 10 Apr 2007 at 2:07, Debbie wrote:

> My computer, my husband's computer & our laptop are networked via a
> Belkin router & all share a satellite internet connection. The desktop
> PC's are hardwired & the laptop is wireless. The Belkin router is
> password protected with security mode  WPA-PSK. I am running Windows
> XP, SP2. 

  That router configuration makes sure that only clients that have the 
password (Pre-Shared Key) can connect to the wireless, and that the wireless 
traffic is encrypted against eavesdropping.  It's a good choice for your 
situation, but shouldn't have any bearing on your problem.

>  From the laptop I can access all shared folders in both mine & my
> husbands's PC. 

  So there's no problem with sharing between the machines *if the laptop 
initiates the connection*.  This is a good indication that all of the 
networking components are working fine.

>  From my desktop PC  I can access shared folders in my husbands PC,
> but not the laptop. I get the following message: "Laptop is not
> accessible. You might not have permission to use this network
> resource.  Contact the administrator to find out if you have access
> permission. Network path not found." 
> (The above situation also applies to my husbands desktop PC; he can
> access shared folders on my PC but not the laptop.) 

> What do I need to do to make my out laptop accessible from both desktop PCs? 

  You haven't said what OSes are on the various machines, and that *may* 
make a difference.  Assuming for the moment that it doesn't, there are three 
other things to check:

1.  Firewall on the laptop?
  In my experience, this is the most common cause of "A can reach B, but B 
can't reach A" scenarios.

2.  User accounts and passwords?
  If these aren't the same across machines, you may need to pick "as another 
user" and enter the laptop user account and password to connect with.  
(Since it works the other way, this is less likely.)

  Other things to check are IPSEC policy (allow but not require encryption) 
and "Simple file sharing" (which I've never seen work).

David Gillett

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