Mapping Network Drive Error XP security issue

[Eclipse]

When trying to map a network drive in XP I am getting drive not found error. The path is correct, I am not even hitting the server. I had this same issue with XP and trying to get to my E-mail and web server. The fix was to open my SAM file "HOST" and add both mail and web server for XP clients to access that IP address. I figured this is a security issue with XP. I have tried to use a different drive, firewall is not on, there is no other firewall, edit host file, and installed service pack one. Does anyone have any suggestions?????

[Eclipse]

We discovered that the ISP for this XP Laptop had the Netbios Ports 137 & 139 Filtered. Just in case someone else runs into this problem.

[Eclipse]

We scanned all ports on this XP laptop we found port 137 and 139 filtered. He claims that his ISP said there is no firewall and that his firewall on the laptop is turned off. He has an assigned static IP address from his Wireless ISP that our firewall is accepting. He said he has not done anything new to his router. He can ping our server but not map to it. I am not famillar with XP. How can we find out from his end or within XP what ports are being filtered and open them. ANY suggestions would be great!!!! HELP

[ceh383]

Is the built-in firewall turned on?
If it is, look HERE (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308127) for directions on opening ports.

If it's not turned on those ports should be open.

See if you can connect to the resource by using the IP address rather than the NetBIOS name.
If you can, map the network drive by using the IP address rather than the NetBIOS computer name. Use the net use z: \\xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx\share name command, where z: is the drive letter you want to assign to the shared resource and xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx is the IP address of the computer with the shared resource.

You can also put an entry for the machine in question in the LMHOSTS file. The LMHOSTS file is similar to the HOSTS file, the difference is LMHOSTS is for mapping computernames to IP addresses. HOSTS is for mapping fully qualified domain names to IP addresses.

[Eclipse]

Thanks ceh383,

I sent that exact link to the client , plus I tried to map network drive WINS and DNS form, plus IP address and the drive is z. I also did edit both HOST and LMHOST sam file. This client swears its our problem even after I gave him a complete log of his scanned ports. This issue has to lie between ISP, router, and XP. Do I have others that agree...maybe disagree

[ceh383]

If the computer is behind a router that could be the problem. The ports 137 & 139 would need to be forwarded to the machine in question.

When you edit LMHOSTS.sam, you need to remove the file extension (.sam) for it to be used. The .sam makes it a sample file that won't be used.
Typically when using NetBIOS connections across a WAN you would want to setup WINS servers on both ends of the WAN link. Then you would set them up to replicate their databases to one another.
The thing is, when using either WINS or LMHOSTS you shouldn't need to open ports 137 & 139 these options resolve the machine name to an IP address eliminating the need to broadcast on the ports.