Can't ping Windows 7 computer from same network

[Squishy]

Alright, so there are 3 computers on my home network, 2 of them have Windows Vista and one of them has Windows 7. The two Vista computers can ping, see and access each other just fine, however neither of them can even ping the Windows 7 computer. The same goes for the Win7 PC, it can't see or ping the Vista machines either.

I've checked and made sure that all of the computers are in the same Workgroup, the Vista machines have the 'Private Network' option selected and the Win7 machine has the 'Home Network' option selected, and all of the computers have File & Printer Sharing and Network discovery on, as well as Password Protected sharing is off on all the computers.

Not quite sure what else to check or try to make this work. Maybe the Win7 PC is just anti-social:confused1:

 

[Skagnatti]

Alright, so there are 3 computers on my home network, 2 of them have Windows Vista and one of them has Windows 7. The two Vista computers can ping, see and access each other just fine, however neither of them can even ping the Windows 7 computer. The same goes for the Win7 PC, it can't see or ping the Vista machines either.

I've checked and made sure that all of the computers are in the same Workgroup, the Vista machines have the 'Private Network' option selected and the Win7 machine has the 'Home Network' option selected, and all of the computers have File & Printer Sharing and Network discovery on, as well as Password Protected sharing is off on all the computers.

Not quite sure what else to check or try to make this work. Maybe the Win7 PC is just anti-social:confused1:

To turn on ICMPv4 echo requests there are a few hoops you have to jump through to get this to work but once complete, your boxes will respond to pings.

1. Press the Windows key then type 'Windows Firewall. ONce the list begins to popoulate you will see "Windows Firewall with Advanced Security" ( that always makes me chuckle). Click this.

2. Now the dialog for the firewall will open. In the left-hand column you will see 'Inbound Rules'. Right click this and in the drop down choose 'New Rule'.

3. In the resulting dialog box, in the middle click the 'Custom Rule' radio button then click 'Next'.

4. In this step, in the left-hand column click the link for 'Protocols and Ports'. In here click the dropdown box 'Protocol Type' and navigate for ICMPv4. In the same area, go to ' Internet Control Message Protocol settings' and click 'Customize'.

5. In here click the radio button for 'Specific ICMP types' then check the box 'Echo Request' then click 'OK'.

6. The rest of the respones are trivial, you can just click next to the end and then name it what you would like then 'Finish'.

I would then reboot then test a ping and see what happens. Windows 7 really buried this and XP was not such a pain to drill it down. Come back with how that turns out!

 

[Squishy]

Nope, still not working.

I also tried doing this on the Vista machine (to see if I could ping them via the Win7 machine) but still a no go.

 

[Skagnatti]

Nope, still not working.

I also tried doing this on the Vista machine (to see if I could ping them via the Win7 machine) but still a no go.

Do you have any other anti-virus or anti-malware software installed and running on the Win 7 machines? If not, good. If so, that could be playing a role, blocking his type of activity in which case you could try with it off.

If the above does not apply to you, then do this: Control Panel > Windows Firewall > Advanced Settings > Inbound Rules and enable File and Printer Sharing (Echo Request - ICMPv4-In) for both Domain and Private profile (private might be green already).

Also worth a check, are the Win 7 machines in a Home Group? If so, take them out of it or remove the Home Group then try.

***Edit: I would venture to think, even though you are able to ping Vista machines with no issue, it is possible there is something in the router that is contributing to the issue. Try finding a firmware update for the router and apply it but only AFTER you back the router up and download the current firmware as a fall-back if things get ugly. I have seen in rare cases, router configurations acting finicky with Win 7 machines.***

 

[Squishy]

Nextday now, Vista machines wont see ping or see each other...and I didn't even do anything with one of them.

***Edit: I would venture to think, even though you are able to ping Vista machines with no issue, it is possible there is something in the router that is contributing to the issue. Try finding a firmware update for the router and apply it but only AFTER you back the router up and download the current firmware as a fall-back if things get ugly. I have seen in rare cases, router configurations acting finicky with Win 7 machines.***

And yeah, I honestly think it is the router, all these problems started when we picked it up a few weeks ago.

 

[Grimmaz]

It might be worth looking over the manual that came with the router to be sure there aren't any additional settings you need to change. One of the first things that is taught in a tech training class, such as A+, physical connections are checked first when troubleshooting as long as it's applicable. There are a few things you can do to troubleshoot. You could see if the router is at the most current firmware version, you can return the router you purchased if it's able to be returned and get a different one. If there is no change from your current situation you could start replacing ethernet cables to be sure. If you are connecting wirelessly then be sure to check your wireless settings within the router and make sure it's broadcasting what your wireless card can communicate with. For example your wireless card could potentially strictly communicate with 802.11n and your router is using b or g, etc. Here is a little reading on that so it makes sense: Wireless Standards

There are so many different troubleshooting steps we could take to truly test your scenario but these are a few ideas that come to mind off the bat. I hope this helps! Post with any further changes or results please.