I've finally got annoyed enough to try and fix something.

Small LAN - 4 PCs all W7 (1 32bit). My machine can be either wired or wireless - I use wired when in my office (I work from home) , wireless when I'm in another room. If I have the wire plugged in AND the wireless on then my machine doesn't show up on the list of computers in the LAN. Turn wireless off or unplug the cable and it does.

I've exhausted my knowledge in this area. Any suggestions?

Roy Lambert

On 3/24/2015 6:15 AM, Roy Lambert wrote:
> Small LAN - 4 PCs all W7 (1 32bit). My machine can be either wired or wireless - I use wired when in my office (I work from home) , wireless when I'm in another room. If I have the wire plugged in AND the wireless on then my machine doesn't show up on the list of computers in the LAN. Turn wireless off or unplug the cable and it does.
> I've exhausted my knowledge in this area. Any suggestions?

Since nobody else has tried here's my 2 cents.

I don't know for sure why it's happening but i'd check that your network
interfaces are set identically first (i.e. both set to "work" type for
example) and both have file/printer sharing enabled  (i'm guessing the
above is already set since you see the computer if only 1 interface is
active but no harm suggesting it still).

Windows is bit dumb IMHO when it comes to multiple interfaces on same
network - basically both interfaces might be advertising themselves (as
well potentially causing (ethernet level) collisions even though both
"stations" are same computer). Windows networking as i recall uses
broadcasts for computer to advertise itself so from other computers i'm
not sure what they would do if they repeatedly get conflicting info on a
station (i.e. MAC/IP flip-flopping).

Hence i would also suggest you manually configure interface metrics for
both interfaces (if it's still using automatic) and i suggest you make
sure wired is preferred (i believe it's lower value in there). This will
basically force the computer to use a wired connection if both are
available and if wired is unplugged then wireless would still work of
course since it's the only interface so metric value is not relevant

Raul

Raul

>I don't know for sure why it's happening but i'd check that your network
>interfaces are set identically first (i.e. both set to "work" type for
>example) and both have file/printer sharing enabled (i'm guessing the
>above is already set since you see the computer if only 1 interface is
>active but no harm suggesting it still).

Tried that, and tried setting to home, work, home just to see - its great fun running round 4 PCs rather than doing some work


>Windows is bit dumb IMHO when it comes to multiple interfaces on same
>network - basically both interfaces might be advertising themselves (as
>well potentially causing (ethernet level) collisions even though both
>"stations" are same computer). Windows networking as i recall uses
>broadcasts for computer to advertise itself so from other computers i'm
>not sure what they would do if they repeatedly get conflicting info on a
>station (i.e. MAC/IP flip-flopping).

Remind me sone day to tell you about the fun in the old days when one company's Windows PCs came with TCP/IP, IPX/SPX andNetBEUI all installed and operational.

>Hence i would also suggest you manually configure interface metrics for
>both interfaces (if it's still using automatic) and i suggest you make
>sure wired is preferred (i believe it's lower value in there). This will
>basically force the computer to use a wired connection if both are
>available and if wired is unplugged then wireless would still work of
>course since it's the only interface so metric value is not relevant

I was hopeful here cos I hadn't tried it. I now have and I'm no longer hopeful

I did some more testing and found that Windows Explorer will sometimes pick up my PC, and once its done that everything else will pick it up as well.

Thanks for the suggestions. At the moment I'm just grateful its not W8 - I had to help someone with the networking on that and its a nightmare.

Roy

On 3/25/2015 10:29 AM, Roy Lambert wrote:
> Remind me sone day to tell you about the fun in the old days when one company's Windows PCs came with TCP/IP, IPX/SPX andNetBEUI all installed and operational.

I did manage a few small Novell Netware networks long time ago so fairly
familiar with that. it was in 90s so even migrated few to NDS etc which
simplified things quite a bit.


> I was hopeful here cos I hadn't tried it. I now have and I'm no longer hopeful

Few other things that come to mind :
- do you have a HomeGroup defined ? (that i recall caused number of
issues by itself so ideally it's not)
- are you using simple file sharing/sharing wizard ? (again ideally not)


> I did some more testing and found that Windows Explorer will sometimes pick up my PC, and once its done that everything else will pick it up as well.

Does it always work if you use IP ? (i.e. access you share using
\\x.x.x.x notation). If it does then you know its just the name
broadcast issue.

> Thanks for the suggestions. At the moment I'm just grateful its not W8 - I had to help someone with the networking on that and its a nightmare.

My personal experience is that W8.1 + Start8 is the best Windows OS i
have ever run - fast and reliable. Some of the new config stuff is PITA
but again only first time generally.

Raul

Raul

>> I was hopeful here cos I hadn't tried it. I now have and I'm no longer hopeful
>
>Few other things that come to mind :
>- do you have a HomeGroup defined ? (that i recall caused number of
>issues by itself so ideally it's not)

I've tried Home, Work and a mixture of the two and it doesn't seem to make any difference

>- are you using simple file sharing/sharing wizard ? (again ideally not)

Nope

>> I did some more testing and found that Windows Explorer will sometimes pick up my PC, and once its done that everything else will pick it up as well.
>
>Does it always work if you use IP ? (i.e. access you share using
>\\x.x.x.x notation). If it does then you know its just the name
>broadcast issue.

I was getting all excited - then I realised I'd turned wireless off

I shall go and try properly

>> Thanks for the suggestions. At the moment I'm just grateful its not W8 - I had to help someone with the networking on that and its a nightmare.
>
>My personal experience is that W8.1 + Start8 is the best Windows OS i
>have ever run - fast and reliable. Some of the new config stuff is PITA
>but again only first time generally.

It is the config stuff I was talking about. Up to W7 I mostly knew where things were kept but W8 / W8.1 has had me hunting all over the place. I wonder if MS will ever realise that people like to find things where they where the last time they looked?

My other problem is that I'm staying with D2006 so also need to stay with W7. I'm starting to look at Lazarus and it looks nice but its going to take a lot of effort to migrate all my homebrew and find replacements for a few components like WPTools.

Roy

Roy Lambert wrote:

> Raul
>
> >> I was hopeful here cos I hadn't tried it. I now have and I'm no
> longer hopeful
> >
> > Few other things that come to mind :
> > - do you have a HomeGroup defined ? (that i recall caused number of
> > issues by itself so ideally it's not)
>
> I've tried Home, Work and a mixture of the two and it doesn't seem to
> make any difference
>
> > - are you using simple file sharing/sharing wizard ? (again ideally
> > not)
>
> Nope
>
> >> I did some more testing and found that Windows Explorer will
> sometimes pick up my PC, and once its done that everything else will
> pick it up as well.
> >
> > Does it always work if you use IP ? (i.e. access you share using
> > \\x.x.x.x notation). If it does then you know its just the name
> > broadcast issue.
>
> I was getting all excited - then I realised I'd turned wireless off
>
> I shall go and try properly
>
> >> Thanks for the suggestions. At the moment I'm just grateful its
> not W8 - I had to help someone with the networking on that and its a
> nightmare.
> >
> > My personal experience is that W8.1 + Start8 is the best Windows OS
> > i have ever run - fast and reliable. Some of the new config stuff
> It is the config stuff I was talking about. Up to W7 I mostly knew
> where things were kept but W8 / W8.1 has had me hunting all over the
> place. I wonder if MS will ever realise that people like to find
> things where they where the last time they looked?
>
> My other problem is that I'm staying with D2006 so also need to stay
> with W7. I'm starting to look at Lazarus and it looks nice but its
> going to take a lot of effort to migrate all my homebrew and find
> replacements for a few components like WPTools.

I also struggled to find stuff.  
Then one day I was at a Meet using my software and I needed to install
and share a printer in a hurry on W8.
I was banging my head on the desk in frustration when the mother of one
of the competitors asked sweetly 'why not try asking?'.
I looked blankly at her .. and she added 'I mean, ask Windows'.
She clicked on the search icon (I think it was), typed 'share printer'
... and in just a jiffy I was right where I needed to be!
She turned out to be a software trainer!
I still use W7 for most of my stuff, but I have used her tip several
times on W8 since that eye-opener.  If you know the key word or phrase
you will get pretty close, pretty soon.

Malcolm

Malcolm


>I also struggled to find stuff.
>Then one day I was at a Meet using my software and I needed to install
>and share a printer in a hurry on W8.
>I was banging my head on the desk in frustration when the mother of one
>of the competitors asked sweetly 'why not try asking?'.
>I looked blankly at her .. and she added 'I mean, ask Windows'.
>She clicked on the search icon (I think it was), typed 'share printer'
>.. and in just a jiffy I was right where I needed to be!
>She turned out to be a software trainer!
>I still use W7 for most of my stuff, but I have used her tip several
>times on W8 since that eye-opener. If you know the key word or phrase
>you will get pretty close, pretty soon.

I use that on W7 as well for things I use infrequently. However, I have noticed that Windows doesn't seem to understand "where the $%£& is it"

Roy

Just a minute while I throw that at my phrase book app...
.... Wow!  It says:  "You should ask Jeremy Clarkson!"  <BG>