Removing (then rebuilding) a home network

[ChrisGreaves]

How do I throw a six and start again in networking?

I was going to post a question asking how to fix my home office network, but then thought that it wouldn't be fair to throw my mis-mash of names into the forum, so I think I should flush everything out and then carefully rebuild the network with logical names.
If I have to I can reformat each of 3 computers C: drives, and re-install Windows on each, but I'd rather not.

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The BBB400 is a WinXP SP3 system on my old Big Beige Box with a little-used 400GB IDE drive. The drive is partitioned into C: (about 15GB) and D: (the rest)
The LapA is an Acer Netbook Win7 Starter v 6.1 Build 7600 with just a C: drive (well, OK, recovery partition etc, but only one partition that I am concerned with). The LapA will host two external drives mounted as X: and Y: for backup purposes, but we'll come to that later.
The LapC is a Compaq Presario CQ62 Notebook with Win7 Home Premium v 6.1 Build 7600 and a SATA drive partitioned into C: and F:; the F: is encrypted and TrueCrypt mounts this device as drive T:. You can get the measure of my problem in noting that I seem to have named my drive T as "LapC" in a state of mental aberration.

My goal is to rationalize the naming convention and then try to resolve networking issues.
Up to today I've had the network almost-working in the sense that I can see and change files on some machines; I've been running my backup across the two Win7 machines each night. It's getting the backup to work from the XP to the 7 that stymied me.

I have in mind that there ought to be a straightforward method for eliminating the past history of networking from a Windows XP or Win7 computer, and that I should follow that procedure to undo the mess I have created by virtue of my inexperience, after which I will be in a position to give meaningful and distinct names to everything, making networking issues easier to identify and resolve.

(signed) "Feeling Slightly Stupid" of Toronto.

[StuartR]

Are you sure that Windows 7 Starter edition is able to share disks to other computers? I have never used this version and I'm not absolutely sure after reading a selection of articles on the internet.

There is lots of helpful advice in Networking home computers running different versions of Windows that might be helpful.

[Hey Jude]

I found this and bookmarked it when I was thinking about which version of 7 to purchase and chose Pro. There was a time I relied heavily upon ZDNet and I still use it as a frame of reference

Limits of 7 Starter

[Hey Jude]

There is lots of helpful advice in Networking home computers running different versions of Windows that might be helpful.

This is a great article Stuart. I am bookmarking this for future reference

[DaveA]

Chris,
All you need to do is rename the different computers to the names you want. The network will find and display the new name(s). It may also show a "Ghost" of the old names for a while. I have done this many times on different Windows versions.

If you have any links to the "old" names, they are now not much good. So you will have to edit all of those scripts and bat files that you have been tweaking for your Windows 7 machine.

[ChrisGreaves]

Are you sure that Windows 7 Starter edition is able to share disks to other computers?

Hi Stuart. Thanks for the great article/link. I've been working my way through it.
And No, I am not sure that Windows 7 Starter edition is able to share disks to other computers.

I now have 4 computers on the Home network Workgroup=ELRICO for all 4.
2 computers (BBB, IBM) are WinXP/SP3;
2 computers are Win7 (LapA netbook=Starter, LapC Notebook=Home Premium)

On the two Win7 machines I have set Network Location to Home. I'm the only one here and I trust myself on all 4 computers (although there are times ... grin!)

I have run through the section 3/4 way through the article "Control Panel. In the search box, type network, click Network and Sharing Center, and then, in the left pane, click Change advanced sharing settings." and turned on sharing as much as I can see. All radio buttons are "Turn On" except for "enable 50/56-bit encryption" (but I tried that for 128-bit too) and I have turnred OFF password protected sharing (I figure that for today I ought to eliminate as many potential blocks as possible; I can fine-tune later).

Both Win7 machines do have a password of the form 86eMlqR7V6 and I can't see how to disable that at all.

Currently:
Both XP machines can create files on the Home Premium machine LapC
Home Premium machine LapC can create files on Both XP machines
(So that's 3 machines behaving as I want)
From the Starter I can create a file on the Home Premium.
But from the Home Premium I cannot create a file on the Starter.

Hence my conclusion.
I am not sure that Windows 7 Starter edition is able to share disks to other computers.
However things like the password etc. confuse me, which is my main reason for thinking of flushing networks completely and starting again (with a little more knowledge and a lot more care)

I note too HeyJude's link Limits of 7 Starter which in part tells me that a Netbook-Starter system is more like a reading device (read data from external sources) rather than a repository of created data. If that is so then I ought not to try to make my Starter Netbook behave like a file-server.

I have already learned a lot, so thanks again, Stuart.

[ChrisGreaves]

Are you sure that Windows 7 Starter edition is able to share disks to other computers?

(10 minutes later)
I read a bit further "To share a file or folder" and decided to create a file on the Starter, EraseA.txt.
Then I right-clicked Properties and took a look at the sharing:

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This is quite detailed compared to other "sharing" dialogues I've seen on the Home Premiium. There i have been able to remove all sharing and replace it with a blanket "EveryOne=Full", so I think I should wander down that path a little ways.
The Starter computer was the first one I played with some 3-4 weeks before the Home Premium, so the Starter is the one in which I must have exhibited the most confusion in trying to see it across my then existing XP network.

[ChrisGreaves]

I found this ...Limits of 7 Starter

Thanks HeyJude. Good article. And as I noted in my response to Stuart, perhaps I should get my head around the idea that a Starter/Netbook is a reading device, not a file server.
(I was starting to think of the little Netbook as a place to hang my printer and backup drives, hence it would be a file server)

[ChrisGreaves]

All you need to do is rename the different computers to the names you want.

Thanks Dave; this will suit my purposes, as I have already written out on paper a schematic of what I want to achieve, with proper names etc.
It sounds to me as if one cannot expunge networking once started.
I suspect too that I could achieve a similar effect by starting a new workgroup and letting all connections on the old workgroup wither on the vine. But since I was unhappy with the computer names, renaming the computers seems to go back to the source of the confusion.
(Thinks: Perhaps I should rename the computers and attach them to a new workgroup ...)

[ChrisGreaves]

How do I throw a six and start again in networking?

(Next Day)

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Getting There.
I had to do a bit of jiggery-pokey. At one stage both the Acer (Starer edition) and the Compaq (Home Premium) both showed a shared drive LapA_C.
I could not see how to remove that share without first adding a new share.
I managed to add a new share "c" and set Everyone=Full permissions, after which I was able to Remove the share to the old mapping.
It seems to me that one cannot bow out of a network once one has entered.
Logically I think one ought to be able to withdraw a machine and make it a logical standalone unit for a period. An uncommon requirement, perhaps, but logical.

The difference in the system shows up as "Users" vs. "SharedDocs".
"Users" signals a Win7 system, "SharedDocs" a WinXP system.

[DaveA]

It seems to me that one cannot bow out of a network once one has entered.
Logically I think one ought to be able to withdraw a machine and make it a logical standalone unit for a period. An uncommon requirement, perhaps, but logical.

In my earlier post I stated that a "Ghost" of the old names MAY appear for a while. This will also make it a one machine only network if it is the only machine in the work group. BUT, now that Windows 7 can been on several networks at the same time, does open up another bucket of worms.

Yes, sometimes changing the Workgroup name will help in not seeing these Ghosts of the old machines, but see my note above about Windows 7.

I like to use a good name for any "Shared drive" that will hint at what computer it is on.

[ChrisGreaves]

In my earlier post I stated that a "Ghost" of the old names MAY appear for a while.

Thanks Dave.
I once knew a way under Win XP of deleting those traces. For now I'm content to let them wither on the vine (more important things to do) and make use of the network as it appears under the "Network" tree.

I like to use a good name for any "Shared drive" that will hint at what computer it is on.

I used to, but ran into problems of my own making, getting confused between the computer name, the computer description (which I used to abbreviate e.g. "BBB"), the drive letter, and the share name.
Now I have a slightly better grasp of naming conventions I'm going to try using the machines proper name (e.g "\\Acer") in conjunction with the name of the drive I intend to use (e.g. "C").

[DaveA]

We do not use names such a "Acer" as we have 4 Sony's one HP and one HDNW (Hard Drives Nortwest). The Sony's would get mix real quick.

Also remember that the "Computer" name will eat up some of the 255 characters of the full name path.

[ChrisGreaves]

the "Computer" name will eat up some of the 255 characters

True, and thanks for the reminder. I figure that I need at least 4 characters to identify something in a manner which will lodge in my memory. (ICL 1900-series heritage, I guess).

FWIW I have found a file with a name (and path?) longer than 255 characters, and Win7 objects to dealing with it. No deletions or renames allowed.
That strikes me as odd for two reasons
(a) If the name is too long, why not allow the user to rename the file, even to the extent of not trying to show the original name in the edit box but asking for a new, shorter name.
(c) If the path+name is too long, how did Win7 create it in the first place? And where is the check for this kind of behaviour.