Network Conflict

I have an office with 6 computers, all connected via a peer-to-peer arrangement with a router allowing Internet access. The computer we refer to as our server is actually a computer running Vista with shared folders in the Public user. We have had no problem for some time now running this arrangement. The other five computers are all running WinXP (4 Pro, 1 MCE).

I have replaced one of the XPPro machines with a Win7 machine. All use static IPs on the local network to facilitate remote networking, and I have verified that there are no IP address conflicts. All have the same, unique, network name. When I turn on the Win7 machine, all works well for a short while, but soon, the shares become unavailable to the other computers. A search for the "server" finds it, but indicates that authorization to access it is lacking. Any ideas?

Try to disable IPv6 on the Windows Vista and Windows 7 machines to see if this allows visibility. Also make sure that the Network discovey is turned on. Finally please disable all software firewalls on both PCs.

1. Click Start

2. Type regedit in the Start Search box, and then click regedit.exe in the Programs list.

3. In the User Account Control dialog box, click Continue.

4. In Registry Editor, locate and then click the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip6\Parameters\

5. Double-click DisabledComponents to modify the DisabledComponents entry.

Note: If the DisabledComponents entry is unavailable, you must create it. To do this, follow these steps:

A. In the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD (32-bit) Value.

B. Type DisabledComponents, and then press ENTER.

C. Double-click DisabledComponents.

6. Type any one of the following values to configure the IPv6 protocol, and then click OK:

a. Type 0 to enable all IPv6 components.

Note: The value "0" is the default setting.

b. Type 0xffffffff to disable all IPv6 components, except the IPv6 loopback interface. This value also configures Windows Vista to use Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) instead of IPv6 in prefix policies.

c. Type 0x20 to use IPv4 instead of IPv6 in prefix policies.

d. Type 0x10 to disable native IPv6 interfaces.

e. Type 0x01 to disable all tunnel IPv6 interfaces.

f. Type 0x11 to disable all IPv6 interfaces except for the IPv6 loopback interface.

Note: You must restart your computer for these changes to take affect.

More information here.

Okay, that didn't work, though perhaps I just didn't take it far enough. When adding the subkey DisabledComponents to both the Vista and Win7 machines with a value of 0xffffffff did not resolve the problem, I got additional advice from a friend related to IP addresses and restarts.

1) Since this was a computer that was replacing an existing computer, in order to simplify the process of setting up remote networking, I ensured that the new Win7 machine had the same static IP address as the old XP machine. The first piece of additional advice I took was to use an entirely new IP address.

2) In addition to restarting the computer (and all other computers in the office, including the Vista machine with the peer served data), I also shut down and restarted the router and cable modem.

I know. None of this should have solved the problem, and it may be that the two later steps would not have worked without the registry modification. Or it may be that one or more of these steps was unnecessary, but the combination of disabling IPv6, choosing a new static IP address and restarting all equipment including router and cable modem has resulted in everything working.

Thank you for your help.