Doesn't see computers on the win xp network. Windows XP does not see Wi-Fi: reasons and solutions

Any device is equipped with devices for connecting to networks – local and the Internet. modern computer, and to simply connect two machines to a network, nothing additional is needed, except for a cable. One computer can be directly connected to the Internet by connecting the provider cable to the network card connector, but to create a complete local network, which has a general Internet connection, you will need something else.

network hardware

If you want to connect several machines into a local network under Windows control XP and configure the Internet on each of them, you will need:

• network adapter, installed on each of the machines - usually built into the motherboard, but you can buy a separate one;
• for creating wired Ethernet connection– cable sections twisted pair” Category 5 and higher with 8P8C connectors at the ends;
• to connect a local network to the Internet - a router (router) or another additional network card for a computer that will be used as a gateway;
• To create a network of more than two machines without an Internet connection (or with one computer connected), you can purchase a switch.

Connection

• Make sure that the network adapters of each of the machines being connected to the network are installed correctly, that is, they have a driver and are correctly identified in the device manager. If the machine does not recognize or sees the adapter (it is defined as unknown device) – install drivers from the included disk motherboard, or using a PC with Internet access, download required driver from the manufacturer's website.
• Connect the cable at one end to the connector of the network card, and the other to the LAN port of the router, switch or computer that will be used as an Internet gateway.
• Connect the provider cable to the WAN or INTERNET port of the router. After concluding the contract, your provider will provide you with settings and instructions for connecting to the Internet.

Sometimes used to create local networks wireless equipment(Wi-Fi). To build such a network, each computer must be equipped with a Wi-Fi adapter. “By default,” manufacturers build Wi-Fi cards only into mobile equipment- laptops, tablets, netbooks, smartphones, etc., and for a desktop PC the device will have to be purchased separately.

Setting up a network connection on Windows XP

After connecting the equipment, you need to configure the network. This is not difficult and does not take much time - just assign an IP address to each computer and specify a gateway (access point) to access the Internet. To use shared resources, machines must be members of the same work group. Otherwise, it may turn out that one computer sees network printer, and the other one doesn’t see.

Creating a working group

• Open system properties by right-clicking on the “My Computer” icon.
• In properties, open the “Computer name” tab.
• By default, all computers are included in the WORKGROUP group. If you wish, you can continue to use it, or you can create your own. To do this, click the “Change” button at the bottom of the tab.
• Here you can assign a new name to the PC (the computer name should not be repeated twice on the network) and create a new working group. In the “Is a member” section, check the “Working Group” box and enter its name.
• Repeat the steps on each machine connected to the network.

• To see who is in your workgroup, open “My Computer” -“ network” and select “Show workgroup computers” from the menu on the left.

IP Setting

• Launch Windows XP Control Panel and open Network Connections.

• Select your connection and open its properties (from the context menu).
• Open the “General” tab and from the “Components used by this connection” list, select the “TCP/IP Internet Protocol” command and click the “Properties” button.

• Click “Use the following IP address.”
• In the “IP address” field, enter one of the addresses in the local range. If you are using a router, you should focus on the address assigned to the router. If it starts at 10.0, assign computer addresses from the range 10.0.0.1 - 10.255.255.255, if at 192.168, then the addresses should be within the range 192.168.0.0 - 192.168.255.255. Also in local networks, addresses 172.16.0.0 – 172.31.255.255 can be used. So, if the network consists of two computers and a router, and the router has an IP of 192.168.0.0, assign the address 192.168.0.2 to one PC, and 192.168.0.3 to the second.
• In the “Default gateway” field, enter the IP of your router or PC, which will be used to distribute the Internet to the local network. Leave the rest of the settings as default and click OK.

• To check the connection, run command line(From Start - All Programs - Accessories) and enter the command ping IP, where instead of IP you need to specify the address of the computer with which you are checking the connection. Example command: ping 192.168.0.2. If packets are exchanged, the network is created correctly and the connection is working. If there is no exchange, it means that your computer does not see the “neighbor”, because you made a mistake somewhere.

Printer sharing and network folders

To configure on Windows XP general access to folders and files, you need to enable the appropriate permissions in the properties of the folder you are going to share.

• Open context menu folder, select “Properties” and the “Security” tab.
• where it says “Sharing and security”, check the boxes “Share this folder” and together with it – “Allow modification of files over the network”.

• Now on each PC on the network, go to “Network Neighborhood”, click on the icon of the computer where the shared folder is located, and check access.

To access the printer from all local machines Windows network XP also needs some tweaking.

• On the machine to which the printer is connected, open Start and click “Printers and Faxes.”

• Select “Sharing” from the printer's context menu.
• In the properties, in the “Access” window, check the “Share this printer” checkbox, click OK.

• On each PC on the local network, go to the “Network Neighborhood” folder, right-click on the printer icon and select “Connect” from the menu.

Troubleshooting connection problems

The reason that a computer running Windows XP does not see the network is the following:

• faulty network hardware, incorrect connection, bad contact in cable connections, cable kinks;
• missing or damaged drivers;
• incorrect network settings, IP address conflicts;
• if it is impossible to connect to the Internet - incorrect input provider settings, lack of permission to use the connection by other network devices, blocking protective programs, viral infection or other various failures of the Windows network subsystem.

To troubleshoot, first make sure your PC can see the hardware. If it doesn’t see it, reinstall it network driver and check all connections. Removing the network adapter in Device Manager and then restarting the PC often helps.

• To delete network card, open system properties (right-click on “My Computer”), go to the “Hardware” tab and click the “Device Manager” button.

• Select the desired network adapter from the list, open its context menu and click Remove.
• Confirm deletion and restart your PC. After rebooting, the device will be re-recognized and reinstalled.

If after these steps the machine still does not see the network, try setting up the connection again. Make sure there are no duplicate device names or identical addresses on the network.

If the local network works but the Internet does not, even though the devices are working and configured correctly, check the following:

If the problem is not resolved - the machine still does not connect to the Internet or does not see the network, open the connection context menu and select “Fix”. After this, restart your PC.

In addition to the above, you can use third party application WinSockFix, which can restore and properly configure the network by reinstalling the TCP/IP protocol. To use this tool, you must be logged in as account administrator and run the program by clicking the “Fix” button - WinSockFix works without installation.

After fixing, restart your computer. Network operation will be restored.

Call a technician if there are seemingly minor problems with your work. computer equipment or you don’t always want to configure it. With some installation skills software and knowledge to eliminate system errors, the user strives to do everything on his own. The desire to find the reason why Windows XP does not see Wi-Fi without involving a service specialist is quite understandable.

Characteristic causes and their elimination

Purchasing a new device or router, changes in system software, reprogramming will result in a failure to connect to wireless network. There may be several reasons why XP does not see Wi-Fi:

• the router sending the signal is disabled or faulty;
• incorrect settings;
• the existing drivers are not suitable for the device or require updating.

When checking the router, you should make sure that it is functioning. When you turn on and send a signal, the indicator on the device should light up, indicating the active Wi-Fi signal. If it is not lit, then each router has specific buttons for connecting. You can familiarize yourself with their list in the technical data sheet of the device.

When win xp does not see Wi-Fi, it is worth checking that the settings are correct. Often, by default, the local network connection option is set in the computer equipment menu.

Installing and updating the driver package

Incorrect drivers for Wi-Fi work or their absence is the most common reason why Windows xp does not see Wi-Fi. Often, when reinstalling the operating system on their own, the user completely forgets that for correct operation equipment should be changed and components such as device drivers. When changing the OS, the service technician usually installs a package of utilities responsible for updating them. It periodically pulls up the necessary drivers from the network.

To check the availability of the necessary Wi-Fi drivers:

1. Go to “Device Manager” through the menu “Start – Settings – Control Panel – System – Hardware”. This section reflects all equipment connected to the equipment.
2. Next, select the subdirectory “ Network cards" If the subdirectory is missing, it means the device itself is missing or drivers are not installed on it.

If there is a triangular icon next to the device name with exclamation mark internally, this means that the user should reinstall the driver. Required package Drivers can be downloaded from the developer's official website. To do this, you must specify the parameters for which software and device require these components.

Hardware error

It also happens that xp does not see Wi-Fi when full-time work router, correct settings And complete package necessary drivers. Experts call this reason a hardware error, that is, the failure of one of the internal parts or the antenna.

To troubleshoot problems with the antenna, the device will have to be disassembled, which is not recommended to be done without a specialist. Interruptions in signal reception may occur due to a blockage at the antenna terminal or due to a broken connection. Both faults should be repaired by service.

Usually after purchase desktop computer people often buy portable devices- laptops or netbooks that are already equipped with a relatively new Windows version 7.

We can also say that a typical move in the future is to buy budget model Wi-Fi router for home use and connecting devices to a local network over the air, that is, via Wi-Fi.

In addition, in large cities of Ukraine they are “distributing” stitched TP-Link routers 741ND along with an Internet connection from a number of companies (like or).

Having connected the router and configured it, you will definitely encounter the problem that Windows 7 does not see XP over Wi-Fi. So, I have already answered this question in the comments to my posts on setting up routers and I will answer again - the equipment has nothing to do with it, the routers themselves do not limit anything, unless you set it up manually. You need set up a local network between Windows 7 and Windows XP.

Why is this happening?

The simplest answer that comes to mind: “By default, in Windows XP the workgroup on the network is MSHOME, in Windows 7 it is WORKGROUP. Also disabled in Windows 7 network discovery default. In addition, in Windows 7, local network access is usually password protected, which is not the case in XP.”

Setting up a local network in Windows 7 and XP (works over Wi-Fi too ^_^)

Let's start by setting up the Windows 7 network. Step one - open the properties of “My Computer” (WIN + BREAK button):

You need to find and change the workgroup settings (the “Change settings” button). In the window that opens, click the “Change” button and in the next window (yes, some things remain unchanged for Windows) enter a new workgroup. I set it as MSHOME. You can name the group as you like, the main thing is that it is called the same on Windows XP and Windows 7:

After saving the changes, you need to restart the computer and it will “tell you” about it. After the reboot, open the “Network and Sharing Center”. This can be done either through Start-Control Panel-Network and Internet, or by right-clicking on the network icon (near the clock).

In the control center window, we are interested in the item in the left menu called “Advanced sharing options.” Open it and set the following settings:

• enable network discovery
• enable file and printer sharing
• enable sharing so users can change files
• disable sharing from password protection.

We do all this for the “Home or Work” profile; for the general profile, it’s better to turn off all of the above. The screenshot below shows all the items to enable and disable:

Now let's move on to Windows setup XP. Here it is enough to install the same workgroup as in Windows 7. You need to open the computer properties (or the WIN+Break key). Then go to the “Computer name” tab and click the “Change” button. Install the same group and restart the computer:

If you did everything correctly, then in the network environment you will see this (screenshot of XP and 7 combined for clarity) -

What to do if you can’t configure anything?

• Disable antivirus software on both PCs and check the network again.
• Start the firewall on both PCs if they are disabled.
• Check step by step all the changes made, which I wrote about above, special attention You should pay attention to the “disable password-protected sharing” item. Since they may be able to see each other’s PCs, but from XP to Win 7 you will have to log in using a password.
• If all else fails, write, we’ll think together.

Hello! Several times I came across a problem in the comments in which it was written that when setting up a local network via Wi-Fi router problems arise with the fact that the computer that runs on Windows 7 does not see a computer running Windows XP. There really is such a problem, and I decided to look into it.

The problem here is precisely the features. network settings by default in different operating systems. And it doesn’t even matter how you connected the computers, via Wi-Fi, or network cable via a router, the problem may still occur.

I already wrote detailed instructions on setting up a local network via a Wi-Fi router, but I did not consider this nuance there, we will consider this article an addition to the general instructions.

Everything can be solved by changing some settings on the seven and XP. But let's first look at the reasons for the problem when Windows 7 does not see a computer running XP on the local network.

Why is this happening?

• Different working groups. Windows 7 has a workgroup WORKGROUP, and for Windows XP – MSHOME. And we already know that it is very important that both computers work in the same group.
• Password protection for local network access in Windows 7.
• In 7, network discovery is disabled by default.

This needs to be fixed, which is what we will do now.

Local network between Windows 7 and XP via Wi-Fi router

First, let's set up a computer that runs on the seven.

Setting up Windows 7

Let's change the working group first. Although no, why change the group on two computers. Let's leave WORKGROUP on seven, which is the default, and on XP we'll also set it up.

Let's check if WORKGROUP is the default. Press My computer right click and select Properties. On the left select Advanced System Settings and go to the tab Computer name and look at the working group. If WORKGROUP, then everything is fine, let it be like that. If different, then click the button Change and specify the working group.

Reboot the computer.

Let's continue with the setup. Right-click on the network icon (tray, right, bottom) and select Network and Sharing Center.

On the left select Change Extra options public access.

Then change some settings:

• Enable network discovery
• Enable folder and printer sharing
• Turn on sharing to network users could read and write files in shared folders
• Disable password protected sharing

Do this for general and home profiles, just in case. If everything is fine, then you can start setting up another computer.

Update:

They shared with me another solution to this problem, which is also suitable for Windows 8. You just need to enable access for devices that use 40-bit or 56-bit encryption.

Thanks Olga!

Configuring Windows XP to work with Windows 7 on a local network

Everything is simple here, we only need to install the same group as on Windows 7. Click on again My computer right-click and select Properties.

Then open the tab Computer name and press the button Change.

We indicate the same work group as on the seven (in our case WORKGROUP), click OK and restart the computer.

Now go to Explorer, network and see if the computers see each other. I hope everything worked out.

Often, similar problems when setting up a local network, they can occur due to antiviruses and firewalls installed on computers. Disable these programs for a while, this may solve the problem.

If you have any problems, write in the comments, I will try to help. Best wishes!