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If you should encounter any problems while trying to connect to a PCShare server you should verify the setup. In the following, we give some proposals for checking, step by step, that the software installation was successful and the connection is working.

Note: In a complex network you may have to wait several minutes after starting PCShare before a stable browsing hierarchy has been reached. You may not see the workgroup/domain in Windows' Network Neighborhood before.

When encountering problems please make sure to always look into the system messages for PCShare error/warning messages.

The following tips may be helpful if a Windows client cannot see the PCShare server:

Verify the Windows TCP/IP configuration by use of the "ping" utility, e.g. via the Windows command prompt:

Open Start > Programs > MS-DOS Prompt as shown in Fig. A-1.

Fig. A-1: Opening the "MS-DOS Prompt"

If the PCShare server is available by name "ping" returns the following protocol on screen (Fig. A-2):

Fig. A-2: "ping" program - requesting server by name

If the requested server (in this example "amun") is known to the network but, for any reason, not up and running the protocol returns the following message (Fig. A-3):

If the PCShare server name is not detected on the network "ping" returns Unknown host <PCShare server name>. In this case you should run "ping" again trying the server's
IP address instead (Fig. A-4):

Note: If the client PC is running firewall software, this software must be configured to allow access between the server and client. Refer to the instructions for the firewall software.

If you had success using "ping" with the server's IP address rather than its PCShare server name, the installation and configuration of the PCShare software was successful and you may have a WINS or DNS configuration problem.

If these means are no remedy check if your user name is known to the PCShare server:

Activate the Configure Users menu and make sure your user name appears in the list of the Select User scrollbox.

Note: The user name for the Windows network login must match the user name and password on the server. Otherwise Windows will return a "Network Error".

Under Windows 95/98/Me, you can only mount server volumes from the Network Neighborhood dialog using one unique user name on client and PCShare server. Under Windows NT/2000/XP, you can mount server resources under different user names.

To open the Windows search engine click the Start button and then select Find > Computer- as shown in Fig. A-5.

Fig. A-5: Finding a server with the Windows search engine

Then type the name of the server in the Named field and confirm with Find Now (Fig. A-6).

Fig. A-6: Using the Windows search engine

Type the IP address of the server, e.g. "172.16.0.8" instead of the name in the Named field and confirm with Find Now.

To check the Windows client's TCP/IP configuration settings there are two ways to obtain all the values at a glance:

The window IP Configuration appears (Fig. A-7) displaying the settings of the (physical) Ethernet Adapter Address, the IP Address, the Subnet Mask, and the Default Gateway.

Fig. A-7: IP Configuration window (default)

You may want to check more TCP/IP settings, e.g. about installed DHCP, DNS, and WINS server(s). To obtain this extended information do the following:

Click on the More Info >> button to get more detailed and comprehensive information from the IP Configuration window (Fig. A-8).

Fig. A-8: IP Configuration window (extended)

The configuration of your client's network connection is done in the Network Control Panel, where you can specify among other things DNS, WINS, and IP address settings. This can be done statically or dynamically (DHCP).

Open Start > Settings > Control Panel as shown in Fig. A-10. In the Control Panel window double-click on Network.

The configuration window Network opens (Fig. A-11):

Fig. A-11: Network configuration window

In the Network window select the Configuration tab and double-click the entry TCP/IP ->- network component.

The TCP/IP Properties dialog appears, allowing you to configure DNS, NetBIOS, WINS, and IP address:

Before you specify an IP address for your Windows client you have to know whether the IP address is to be assigned manually (i.e. you specify it once in the TCP/IP Properties dialog) or dynamically (via DHCP server).

In the TCP/IP Properties window select the IP Address tab (Fig. A-12). Activate the Obtain IP address automatically checkbox if the IP addresses in your LAN are administered by a DHCP server. Else, check Specify an IP address and manually enter the IP address and the subnet mask values which your Windows client has been assigned by your network administrator.

Fig. A-12: TCP/IP Properties dialog window (IP Address)

Note: If you chose to have the IP address configured dynamically (via DHCP) by PCShare the WINS, Gateway, and DNS configuration is done via DHCP as well. However, you will not receive any error messages from Windows when configuring WINS, Gateway, or DNS manually though real configuration is done dynamically (DHCP).

To establish a connection with TCP/IP nodes that do not reside on the same network segment (e.g. host requests within a wide area network) you will need an interface which connects different network types. For this purpose the protocols must be routed. Under TCP/IP this task is done by an interface (gateway). You have to "tell" the Windows client the default gateway host that has been configured on the PCShare server:

In the TCP/IP Properties window select the Gateway tab (Fig. A-13). Enter the IP address, which your network administrator has assigned to the interface, in the New Gateway field and click the Add button. The IP number appears in the Installed gateways list below. The first entry in the Installed gateways list is then considered the default gateway interface.

To configure the WINS server manually (compare 5.5.2 "Name resolution with WINS"), proceed as follows:

In the TCP/IP Properties window select the WINS Configuration tab. Activate the Enable WINS Resolution checkbox and type the WINS server's IP address, which you obtain from your network administrator, into the WINS Server Search Order field and click the Add button.

Then the IP address of the WINS server appears in the box below (Fig. A-14).

Fig. A-14: TCP/IP Properties dialog window (WINS)

The scope identifier, that can optionally be entered in the field Scope ID, defines a group of computers that recognize a registered NetBIOS name. Computers with the same scope identifier will be able to recognize each other's NetBIOS traffic or messages. This value is used to specify the Windows client's scope identifier if required on a network that uses NetBios over TCP/IP.

The scope identifier is made up of a character string of max. 16 characters (15+1) and is case-sensitive.

Note: Make sure that the Scope ID field must remain empty if you have NOT specified a scope identifier in PCShare.

For mere file sharing purposes within the LAN, a DNS server is not required since name resolution is done by WINS. However, if you want to contact servers outside the LAN, e.g. browsing the World Wide Web, and thus need host name resolution, you have to configure a DNS server:

In the TCP/IP Properties window select the DNS Configuration tab. Check Enable DNS (Fig. A-15) and enter the IP address of the DNS server, which you obtain from your network administrator, in the Host field and the domain in the Domain field.

Fig. A-15: TCP/IP Properties dialog window (DNS)


HELIOS PCShare 3.1 User manual

HELIOS PCShare 3.1 User manual