Cannot find network path for computer in workgroup of home Windows XP PCs

Posted by John Galt on Server Fault See other posts from Server Fault or by John Galt
Published on 2010-07-17T18:02:22Z Indexed on 2012/03/19 10:08 UTC
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VMWare Workstation 6.5 is running as an app on a Windows Vista 64bit PC host. Thanks to Workstation we have 2 guest machines running: TerriVM and MattVM (both of these run Windows XP SP2). We are attempting to get virtual networking configured so we can access the files of both of these VM guest systems from other real PCs connected to this home network.

We think we are close but we can't quite get it right... Here is what we've done so far: * On VM Workstation, we set "Host Virtual Network Mapping" to use VMnet0 with the setting "Bridge to an automatically chosen adapter". * On each VM guest (i.e. using Windows explorer on XP), we rightmouse on the C disk, click "Sharing" tab, set shareName to "C_Disk" and check both boxes labeled "Share this folder on the network" and "Allow network users to change my files".

Symptoms:

On "JohnsRealXP" PC, we go to Windows Explorer, My Computer, Map Network Drive, type into Folder textbox: \TerriVM\C_Disk and assign drive letter T. We see all the folders on this shared drive and can open files on them. So that is good.

On same "JohnsRealXP" PC, we go to Windows Explorer, My Computer, Map Network Drive, type into Folder textbox: \MattVM\C_Disk and assign drive letter M. We get a message box "_The network path \mattvm\C_Disk could not be found_".

Alternatively, we type just \mattvm\ into the Folder box and click "Browse" and get a dialog box where we drill down from "Entire Network" to "Microsoft Windows Network" to "Workgroup" where both TerriVM and MattVM are listed as computers on the network. Clicking the + sign next to MattVM gives an hourglass and never enables the OK button and I have to cancel.

In summary, I think we've attempted to share both of these virtual machines using the same techniques and connect to them in similar fashion, but one connects properly and the other machine can be seen but no shared resources on it can be accessed. Can anyone suggest something possibly overlooked or something to try? Thanks so much in advance.

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