Can't connect other workgroup computers

[jeff194]

v4.1.14 running on new macbook pro, with winxp sp3 guest. All working pretty well with one exception.
For the vm to work for me, I need to be able to see other shared locations across my workgroup.
I've allocated fixed ip and dns to the vm, and can connect to the internet. The vm sees the workgroup in the network (ie it reports the name of the workgroup) but cannot display the list of computers and locations. So I'm presently stuffed.
I have the vm set up exactly as other physical machines re: ip and dns. I've shared the MyDocs folder on the vm, and other computers in the workgroup can see it and browse to it - but I cannot browse to others from the vm.
In the Network tab, I see Adapter 1 as Bridged, named En0:Ethernet, Adapter type is PCnet-FAST III (Am79C973), and have set Promiscuous Mode to Allow All.

I'm pretty much at the limit of my understanding - can you help, please?
Thanks for being here.

[Perryg]

Sounds like a permission issue on your LAN (workgroup)
Have you talked to the IT person responsible for your network?

[jeff194]

well, that would be me - and yes I talk to myself all the time
Access to the workgroup is set by ip address - and the vm is in the range, and is viewable within the workgroup to my mac and to one win xp computer (although not to one other win7 computer in the workgroup, which is kind of interesting...)
Other than setting ip and dns settings, and allowing access via the range of ip addresses in the software firewalls, I've never had tyo do anything else to get it to work. So I'm struggling to see what permissions I might need to set. Any suggestions?
Thanks.

[Perryg]

Access to the workgroup is determined by the workgroup name and to the allow bit of the person trying to access the particular share.
If firewalls are not the issue (windows 7) it might be virus software. Try looking around with wireshark and see if you can figure out what is stopping it.

Also make sure that the computer name is unique on the network. I do find it strange that other can see your shares and you can't see them. Sure sounds like something is filtering.

[jeff194]

Thanks - solved it. Your prompt about the virus software took me back into the software firewall settings. On all but one the ip range was set correctly, but one had the range specified incorrectly. Changing that made all workgroup computers visible. Thanks for your help!