Chapter 10
With the release of Windows XP, Microsoft has attempted to make the operating system as network-friendly as possible. Microsoft Windows XP is significantly easier to configure for networking than any previous version of Windows. Just in case you run into problems, though, you can troubleshoot them with some powerful tools included in the operating system.
When you encounter networking problems, we suggest that you work your way through the following checklist. This chapter deals with each point in detail.
Make sure that all TCP/IP information has been entered and configured correctly by using either the GUI tools or the ipconfig/all command.
Use the Network Diagnostics links in the Help And Support Center to scan all the network adapters. See the section entitled “Network Diagnostics Scanning,” later in this chapter, for information on how to run this scan. Make sure that none of the network devices has failed the scan. If anything has failed, correct the failure and run the diagnostic scan again.
Make sure that you can ping the loopback adapter address (127.0.0.1).
Make sure that you can ping the IP address of the host machine.
If the local network resources are not available and nothing else seems to be wrong, type the command netsh int ip reset c:\resetfile.txt to reset the IP stack to its pristine, freshly installed state.
Ping the remote host you want to access to see if it is available.
Tracert to the remote host to determine where the communications breakdown occurs.
POWER TIP
Some of the most common problems attributed to networking issues are actually related to improperly configured file sharing. If the problem is access to files or shares on the local area network (LAN), make sure that file sharing has been activated on the desired resource. Also make sure that the client account has sufficient privileges to access the desired network resource. See Chapter 4, “Tools for Protecting Data Files,” for a detailed discussion of file sharing tools and permissions.
