I just changed routers from a Netgear to a LinkSys. One of my computers found the wireless network but could not connect to it. It was stuck on “acquiring network address.” If I chose to repair the connection, I would get the message “renewing IP address,” but the system seemed unable to renew the IP address. The computer would connnect to the router fine with a LAN cable.

What fixed the problem for me was to remove the wireless Netgear entry from my computer (PC running Windows XP):

1. Click Start, Settings, Network Connections.
2. Right-click the icon for the wireless network and click Properties.
3. Click the Wireless Networks tab.
4. Below Preferred Networks, click the entry for your previous wireless router.
5. Click Remove and confirm the removal.

What happens, it seems, is that the wireless network entry for the previous router prevents Windows from renewing or releasing the IP address it was using so that IP address can be reassigned to the computer. By deleting the entry, you release the IP address and Windows can renew it for the new router.

If you try this solution, please post a comment to let me know whether it worked for you.

I have a small home network of three computers. Today, I could not access a shared folder from one of my computers. I could see the shared folder, but when I clicked its icon, a dialog box appeared requesting my username and password. If I right-clicked the shared folder and clicked Properties, I received the following error message:

You do not have the appropriate access rights for this server. For more information, contact your network supervisor.

Cause

I was using the same username on both computers, but not the same password. On the computer with the shared folder (running Windows 7), my username was Joe with no logon password. On the computer from which I was trying to access the shared folder (running Windows XP), my username was Joe with a logon password.

Because one Joe was using a password and the other wasn’t, Windows was confused.

Solutions

All of the following solutions worked for me (choose one):

• Change the username on either computer.
• Use no logon password on either computer.
• Use the same username and logon password on both computers.

Some folks recommend using the same username and password on all computers on the network to avoid problems altogether, but this sort of defeats the purpose of Windows User Accounts.

From Microsoft: Create user accounts on the computer that is sharing the files. Create a user account and password for each person you want to be able to access files—whether they will access the files from their own account on the same computer or from another computer on the network. If you create the accounts using each user’s existing Windows logon username and password, the file-sharing computer will recognize the users when they connect and will not prompt them for a password. (From me: If the user doesn’t enter a password to log on to Windows, don’t add a password to the user account on the computer that is sharing the files.)

Other Possible Solutions

If the shared folder is on a Windows 7 PC:

1. Choose Start, Control Panel, Network and Internet, and then Network and Sharing Center.
2. On the left, click Change advanced sharing settings.
3. Make sure the following options are selected:
   • Turn on file and printer sharing
   • Turn on sharing so anyone with network access can read and write files in Public folders
   • Turn off password protected sharing
4. Click Save Changes.

Here’s another possible solution – on the computer with the shared folder, edit the following Windows registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\LSA

Editing this registry key made no difference on my ability to access shared folders on my network, but some people claim it has solved their problem.

Warning: Errors in the registry can cause serious problems. I recommend creating a Restore Point and backing up the registry before editing any registry keys.

1. Run regedit.
   • In Windows 7, click Start, type regedit, press Enter, and click Yes.
   • In Windows XP, click Start, Run, type regedit, and press Enter.
2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\LSA
3. Right-click restrictanonymous and click Modify.
4. Make sure Value Data is set to 0 (zero) and then click OK.
5. If you changed Value Data to 0, reboot your computer for the change to take effect.

Other Resources

How to share files and folders in Windows 7

How to configure file sharing in Windows XP

How to use the RestrictAnonymous registry value in Windows 2000

Cannot Connect to Workgroup Computer on Network

Network problems can be caused by all sorts of things, including aggressive firewalls, a faulty network installation, and even a defective or disconnected cable. Recently, however, I stumbled across a problem that didn’t respond to the usual solutions. Everything was installed properly and even without any firewall running, I couldn’t connect to other computers on my network. When I tried, I would receive a Network Path Not Found or other error message.

After some research, I discovered the following article on Microsoft’s Web site entitled “You cannot view other workgroup computers on the network on a Windows XP-based computer.” The article recommends the following course of action:

1. Click Start, click Run,
   type regedit, and then click OK.
2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\
   Services\NetBt\Parameters
3. In the right pane of Registry Editor, delete the following values if they are present:
   • NodeType
   • DhcpNodeType

   Note If the NodeType value is present, this value will override the DhcpNodeType value. If neither subkey is present and if no WINS servers are configured for the client, the computer uses b-node mode. If at least one WINS server is configured, the computer uses h-node mode.

4. Quit Registry Editor.
5. Restart the computer.
6. Try to view workgroup computers on the network again.

Note: You may need to repeat these steps on every computer on your network.