I have an XP Home Edition laptop with faulty on board sound, so I have bought a USB sound card (dongle). Before using the dongle, I could always access shared files on my other machines through "My Network Places" (MNP). However, when I plug in the sound dongle (which is using the Microsoft generic USB sound driver) the other machines on my network can be accessed for only a few mintes, after which they are no longer visible through MNP. I can still map the remote shared folders onto a drive letter in Windows Explorer, and Internet access is not affected. Once the remote machines have disappeared from MNP, they do not come back again after a reboot, or even after using the System Restore tool to go back to a state before the dongle was connected. The only way I can get MNP working again is to restore the complete C: drive from an image backup. (Fortunately, my personal files are in a separate disk partition from the Windows OS.) Apart from abandonning the use of the dongle are there any other ways of getting MNP to be able to see the other machines on my network in a consistent manner? 1 person got this answerI do too

I don't have a solution for the MNP problem, but I have a possible workaround. To access another computer when MNP doesn't work, click Start > Run , type the computer's name in the box as shown below, and click OK : \\computerBoulder Computer Maven Microsoft Most Valuable Professional

Thanks, Steve. I tried your suggestion, and it allowed me to see the computer I had named after the \\. Next I tried \\computer\public This worked as expected, however, as a side effect, it appears to have restored access to my remote shared files through "My Network Places". So far, I have not managed to break it again. Again, thanks for your suggestion. Richard.

You're welcome, Richard. I hope that it stays fixed!Boulder Computer Maven Microsoft Most Valuable Professional