Cannot see other computers on network in My Network Places?

Posted by Aseem on Tuesday, December 16th 2008

16
Dec

When you go to My Network Places on XP, is it blank or empty? Even if you are connected to the network, you may still not be able to see other computers on the same network for several reasons.

Firstly, you need to determine what kind of network you are on, i.e. a workgroup or a domain. If you are in a domain and you cannot see any other computer in My Network Places, it could be because DNS is not setup properly. You can read my previous post on how to setup DNS on Windows Server 2003 and how to troubleshoot problems with DNS.

In this article, I will walk through several settings and configurations you can check that would commonly cause My Network Places to be empty.

File and Printer Sharing is turned off

If File and Printer Sharing is not turned on, you will never see another computer across the network. This protocol must be installed in order to be able browse for it from My Network Places.

To enable File and Printer Sharing, go to the Control Panel, then Network Connections, right-click on Local Area Connection, and choose Properties.

On the General tab, make sure the following protocols are installed and checked:

Client for Microsoft Networks
File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks
Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)

If it’s not there, click the Install button and add the above protocols to the list and restart your computer. If these are installed correctly, then move on to the next check.

All computers are in the same workgroup

The second thing that needs to happen in order for another computer on the network to show up in your My Network Places list is that all the computers have to be in the same workgroup or domain.

You can check this by right-clicking on My Computer, choosing Properties, and clicking on the Computer Name tab.

Next to Workgroup, you will see the workgroup name. Each computer on the network has to have exactly the same workgroup name in order to be able to see each other. You can click Change to change the name of the workgroup.

Allow File and Printer Sharing in Windows/3rd party Firewall

Once you have enabled File and Printer Sharing, you still may not be able to see other computers on the network if you have the Windows XP Firewall enabled.

By default, Windows does not allow the File and Printer Sharing service access through the firewall, so you have to manually allow access. You can do this by going to Control Panel, clicking on Windows Firewall and then clicking on the Exceptions tab.

Make sure to CHECK the box next to File and Printer Sharing. Now the service will be allowed access through the firewall and you will be able to see if in My Network Places.

Note that if you have other firewall or Internet security software installed, it can also prevent Windows Networking features to function properly. One prime example of this is Norton Internet Security. You have to tell it which subnet to allow through the firewall or you have to uninstall it.

Open ports on your router

Another source of headaches could be the firewall on your router. If you have a newer router, some of them automatically enable their own firewalls! So you have to log into your router and open the ports manually.

The File and Printer Sharing port numbers range between 135 and 139, so if you open those up on your router, it should be enough to see the other computers on the network. You can also try disabling the firewall to test whether it’s the router that is causing the problem.

Ping other computers on the network

One other simple thing to do is to check whether you can even ping the other computers on the network. If you can’t ping them, then that means that there is something wrong with the network connection itself.

You can ping another computer by going to Start, clicking on Run, and typing in CMD. In the command prompt, type in ping x.x.x.x or ping computername.

Switch between Static and DHCP IP address

Another way to try and solve this issue is to switch the computer over to a static IP address and then switch it back to DHCP. When you switch like that, the TCP/IP configuration is reset and any corrupted IP settings like the Subnet mask, etc are fixed.

You can do this by right-clicking on Local Area Connection, choosing Properties, and then selecting the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) entry and choosing Properties.

Then click Use the following IP address and type in an IP address that would work on your current network. Also choose Use the following DNS server addresses and type in the IP address of your router.

Click OK and then OK again. After that, go back to that screen and choose Obtain and IP Address automatically for both and click OK.

This should hopefully fix any problems you are having with not being able to browse computers on your network. If this didn’t fix your problem, post a comment and I’ll try to help! Enjoy!

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30 Comments Already

catester Said,

December 26th, 2008 @1:35 pm

This was a great check list. I didn’t know about switching between DHCP and static IP until I read this, and that actually helped me fix something. Many thanks.

thebetafemale Said,

February 21st, 2009 @8:30 pm

Disabling the firewall helped me see the other computers. However, having no firewall seems like a pretty bad idea. Is there a more permanent solution to this problem?

Remy Said,

February 27th, 2009 @2:01 pm

To thebetatfemale:
If turning off your firewall allows you to see the other computers, what you need to do on your firewall is open the ports that the traffic operates on. i.e., FTP = 21, SMTP = 25, Kerberos = 88… Not too sure what ports you’ll need to open to allow network browsing via NetBIOS but a simple google should help out.

http://www.google.com/search?q=ports+WINS+NETBIOS&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&startIndex=&startPage=1

http://www.petri.co.il/what’s_port_445_in_w2k_xp_2003.htm

Regards,
Matt MCP, Net+

mdrieder Said,

March 26th, 2009 @9:41 am

What if the reverse is true? I can see other computers from this computer, and I can “see” this computer in that it shows up in my network, but when I try to access it, it says I might not have permission to use this network resource and that the network path was not found.

PLEHRER Said,

March 29th, 2009 @12:20 pm

I have followed all instructions in your very clearn note. However, I still can’t see other computers on my network from one of three computers. This is a Dell Latitude,

All computers run XP, with Norton antivirus and Windows firewalls, which I have turned off.

Other computers can read files from my laptop and write to it; they can read and write files to and from each other; however the laptop cannot see other computers or printers associated with them.

rudrpdls Said,

April 22nd, 2009 @8:30 pm

I recently had a new computer hard drive failure. The computer is running windows XP and worked fine on my network until it crashed. After getting a replacement hard drive and reinstalling windows XP and the drivers, I no longer can get my computer to see the other computers on my home network. I followed your list of instructions, but still no luck. I cannot ping the other computers, but can ping the problem computer. I also am able to access the internet and hook up to the network printer (wireless) through the router. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Rachel Said,

May 22nd, 2009 @1:29 am

I just got a new laptop. I want to connect to my PC that I have connected to my router. I have a wireless card on both computers. I can’t see my PC from my laptop when I pull up my workgroup. If I connect both computers to the router with an ethernet cable I am able to share files and connect to each other.

Once I remove the ethernet cable and try to connect wirelessly I cannot see both computers. I have a Belkin wireless G router. I tried pinging my PC from my laptop and it says that my request timed out. I connected my PC to my router with the ethernet cable and was able to see my laptop but it said that my accesst was restricsted. Any ideas what I need to do?

Chris Pat Said,

June 11th, 2009 @8:42 am

After a virus attack I guess, my firewall was disabled and grayed out that I could not change the settings.My local area network was working perfectly before this attack that i managed to destroy and activated my firewall. But the problem now is that one computer can see and access other computers in my network but these computers can just see it on the LAN but cannot access it .help!

secretarybird Said,

June 23rd, 2009 @2:26 pm

This is the best set of instructions I have seen yet for Windows troubleshooting. Sadly, these instructions did not work.

I have one computer on my network that is unable to browse any other hosts in the workgroup. My network is a mix of XP, Linux, and 98SE systems, plus a NAS drive.

The computer that is the problem child here is running XP Pro. She can connect to shares via Start-Run – and manually entering the host name to browse. But when I click on the workgroup in Windows Explorer, there is nothing except an error that says:

Bushytail is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of this server to find out if you have access permissions.

No more connections can be made to this computer at this time because there are already as many connections as this computer can accept.

I’ve tried everything I can think of to fix this problem short of sacrificing a virgin and other esoteric troubleshooting techniques. I must say, Windows has got to be the most retarded operating system ever excreted by any corporation.

eans Said,

August 31st, 2009 @6:04 am

I use windows vista. I want to see the other computers on my network, but they are on a domain and I am in a workgroup, what can i do to see all of them?

Syd36 Said,

October 4th, 2009 @2:53 am

Hi Aseem I have 2 pc’s running XP SP2 I have done all this step by step however I can not see my own pc (A) in my network places or the other pc (B). I am able to Ping from A to B and B to A but I can still not access either from either pc. B shows up in B’s Network Places but A does not show up in either pc can you help?
I am running the network through a hub. They are both under workgroup called workgroup and IP and DNS are set to auto.

Bracker Said,

October 30th, 2009 @9:52 pm

Ok, I’ve been pulling my hair out for the past couple of hours trying to get all 6 computers on my network to show in network places. I triple checked everything. I was able to ping all of the computers. I was able to find them while adding a network place but they still didn’t show up in the network places folder. After not finding the solution anywhere google pointed me, I did some plodding through every configuration I could think of and finally solved it. I hope this helps for you as well…

Start Menu -> Computer -> Tools -> Folder Options -> View Tab -> In the Advanced settings box, under Files and Folders, tick Automatically search for network folders and printers.

Spread the word =)

Nitin Said,

November 2nd, 2009 @12:59 am

Hi i tried above tutorial for networking but i can not network my computers. I have three computer and i want to network all three computer together and i have also have a printer that I want to share. thank you.

Manju Said,

November 25th, 2009 @4:27 am

I have D-link 300 wireless router, which is connected to two systems without cable….. Today I am not able to ping each computer, but I can see them in work group and access…I tried manually by using the IP address..Please help me to solve this problem..

Thanks in advance…..

nataraj Said,

December 8th, 2009 @12:49 am

I cannot see other computers in the network. I tried your suggestion but still the same problem. I am able to ping other computers, but can’t access shares, please help!

Thanks!

TT Said,

January 23rd, 2010 @5:15 am

The obtain IP address automatically section worked for me I just deleted the numbers that I had in the ip addresses and it worked for me I had been trying to fix it all day. Thanks alot. I really really appreciated it.

RockCity Said,

January 23rd, 2010 @8:20 pm

My problem is that I can not see my own computer when I goto My Network Places. I tried the tutorial and I am able to see the other computers on my network but one offending computer will not show itself to itself, nor can I see it from any of the other computers. any help would be appreciated.

Boccas Said,

January 25th, 2010 @7:20 pm

Best success yet in my quest for xp & win7 combo networking is

astonisher.com/archives/ripvanwinkle3.html

May not solve all problems but does work well.

rickghouse Said,

January 27th, 2010 @9:29 pm

What a great tutorial.

You just solved my problem. I can now see all the computers on my network.

The problem began when I ran WET (Windows Easy Transfer) on my old XP machine, transferring to my new Windows 7 machine. I soon discovered WET has bugs. It disabled my Contacts folder (Microsoft Office Outlook 2007) as an address folder. The fix was not an easy one.

Running through your checklist, I discovered “Client for Microsoft Networks” was no longer checked. Apparently this is another change that WET made.

Fortunately this was a much easier fix than the Outlook disaster.

Thanks very much!

Rick.

Jansen Said,

January 30th, 2010 @8:28 am

I still can’t see other computers on the network. I tried to share a folder from the server and when I viewed the network place, it still wont work. There is nothing but a blank dialog. Why can’t I see anything in network places?

chua Said,

February 1st, 2010 @7:17 pm

Hi I still unable to connect to my network. Please help me by contact by direct email

Thanks
chua

petermead@yahoo.com Said,

February 2nd, 2010 @2:21 pm

I have tried everything here and still my network places is empty. I am running xp sp3 on both machines, a laptop and a PC. I can ping the others I am on a dsl router all firewalls turned off.

Any other suggestions?

SOPHEA Said,

February 10th, 2010 @11:37 pm

Dear, Sir/Madam

Could you help me? I have computer network place and have one computer can not connect to other computer and have no show in the network place, when I connect to \\sophea-pc can not log on.

Thanks
Best Regards
SOPHEA

phil.read Said,

February 17th, 2010 @7:12 am

I had a problem whereby my Win2003 SBS server could see all the workstations (up to 40) except one. The workstation could see the server ok, and worked normally, but I could not do remote installs to it (eg Trend CSSA). From this article, I eventually realised that the workstation had no shared resources on it, no printer, no partitions or folders. I shared one partition and suddenly the server could see it and succeeded with the remote installs.

I conclude that each workstation’s shared resources need to be registered locally on all the other PCs on the network, and that the same list is what those PCs then consult in order to access the others. If you have no shared resources, you are invisible to others.

Mujeeb Said,

March 23rd, 2010 @1:43 am

We are connected in a network have domain and clients environment. We can access all the resources but we can not ping each other computer. Also I try the above steps but fail.

umair Said,

April 5th, 2010 @3:39 am

dear sir,

In LAN environment my computer has access / ping other computer but other computer have no access / ping. also when i restart the computer other computer can ping but when my system starts, the same problem again occured. please help.

Thanks and Best Regards
umair

Mominul Said,

April 13th, 2010 @8:47 am

I am able to ping other computers, but can’t access shares, please help me!

Vipin Said,

April 22nd, 2010 @8:08 am

i m using a office network and all pcs are connected in workgroup. On one pc i m getting a problem that I am not able to open any other computers while other network users can open my computer and see data. I can ping other computers but am not able to open shared drives on other computers. Please help.

Ivory Said,

April 30th, 2010 @4:48 pm

Hi, I’ve Got an old Dell P4600 server with 2k server installed & computer with XP intalled.
Just want to share a folder on the server and acces it with the XP computer to store files, for the love of god no matter what I do I can’t see any computer from either one….been on this 3 wks now..! fed up. Please can you guide me in the right direction?