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There's three computers on this office room, all located on the building-level local network. All of them have internet connectivity.

  • "PC1" is running Windows XP (I know, I know...) and its IP is 192.168.32.217
  • "PC2" is running Windows 7 and its IP is 192.168.33.181.
  • "PC3" is running Windows 7 and its IP is 192.168.34.255.

The subnet mask for all of them is 255.255.252.0 Accodring to this tool, they are all in the same subnet ranging from 192.168.32.1 to 192.168.35.254.

There is a printer attached to PC1. From PC2, I can type PC1's IP on Windows Explorer and it shows its shared resources, including the printer. From PC3, it times out. I can ping PC1 from PC2, but not from PC3. (I can ping 8.8.8.8 and 192.168.32.1 -- the gateway).

ipconfig /all shows both PC2 and PC3 have the same DNS suffix, same gateway, same DNS server, same WINS primary server, and both having NetBIOS over TCPIP enabled. PC3 have a "DHCP server" line with the same host that is also gateway and DNS server, this line is not present on PC2 ipconfig.

Each machine's network adapter have the same settings for TCPv4 ("obtain automatic IP", "obtain DNS servers addres atuomatically", "automatic particular IP address").

UPDATE:

PC2's network is set to "public". It can ping and browse PC1. PC3's network is set to "corporate". It can neither ping nor browse. As far as I know, PC2 should not be able to browse, and PC3 should be, but the opposite is happening.

I've set PC2's network to "corporate" and after a reboot it stops working. (WTF?!) Setting it to "public" and rebooting again solves it. However, setting PC3 to "public" and rebooting doesn't solve the issue.

Typing \PC1NAME on PC2 opens the network share, but typing it on PC3 doesn't.

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  • Did you check the firewall?
    – Canadian Luke
    Commented Aug 21, 2014 at 16:35
  • do you have NetBIOS over TCP/IP on the nics, or a WINS server configured for the network? And really, using a .255 address is really looking for trouble, even if it is in the middle of the range. remember netmasks are only pertinent from a given perspective, and another system processing that IP but using a differant subnet mask (its entirely up to the host as to what mask to use) it will be treated as a broadcast address.
    – Frank Thomas
    Commented Aug 21, 2014 at 16:36
  • What's the Network type set to on PC3? Home? Work? Public? I think Pubic causes the firewall to block much of the network traffic that isn't to the gateway. I know it shuts down the file sharing service
    – Darth Android
    Commented Aug 21, 2014 at 16:36
  • @CanadianLuke the firewall (pfsense) has only a single blocking rule, for 111.111.111.0/24 (dunno why)
    – That Brazilian Guy
    Commented Aug 21, 2014 at 16:40
  • @DarthAndroid Interestingly enough, PC3 is set as public and PC2 as work. I've set it to public as well, without success
    – That Brazilian Guy
    Commented Aug 21, 2014 at 16:43

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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This is working as intended - The problem is that PC3 is configured such that the network is "Public".

This is a security feature for use in Public wifi hotspots and other areas where the local LAN is not to be trusted; Windows shuts down networked file sharing and blocks most of the local network traffic that isn't to the router/gateway:

This location is designed to keep your computer from being visible to other computers around you and to help protect your computer from any malicious software from the Internet. HomeGroup is not available on public networks, and network discovery is turned off.

Source

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