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FacetWin Browsing and Connection Problems


7/25/97

The number one problem reported by users calling our Tech Support department is that the user cannot see the UNIX server in the Network Neighborhood on a Windows95 or NT4.0 PC after installing FacetWin. This problem can be broken into 2 different scenarios:

  1. FacetWin may be working properly, only the UNIX computer is not showing up in the Network Neighborhood.

  2. There is a problem prohibiting the PC from contacting the FacetWin servers on the UNIX machine.

This will explain how to test which scenario you have and will direct you to the correct procedure to debug and solve the problem.

The first thing to test is to make sure that a basic TCP/IP network connection can be made between UNIX and Win95 or NT4.0. Test this by pinging the UNIX machine from the PC and vice-versa. From a MS- DOS prompt on the PC or at the UNIX command line, run the command 'ping hostname' or 'ping IP_address', where hostname and IP_address are the name and IP address of the other machine. If the 'ping' is not successful in both directions, then a problem exists with the hardware or TCP/IP configuration on one of the machines. This problem must be resolved to proceed further.

The next test will determine which of the above scenarios you have. Click on the Start button on the task bar of the PC, select the Run option, and type in \\ followed by the IP address of the UNIX machine. If a window pops up with your UNIX's IP address as the title and the window contains the 2 default shares (FacetWinPC and MyHomeDir) then FacetWin is working and you should proceed to FacetWin and Browsing. Any other result, such as "\\xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx is not accessible", then you need to go to Troubleshooting Basic FacetWin Connection Problems.

Another problem commonly reported is that the UNIX server shows up in the Network Neighborhood but the PC cannot access the UNIX machine. In this case, proceed to Troubleshooting Basic FacetWin Connection Problems.