Main Computer Does Not Detect Second Computer

Hi.

This is my first time posting on these forums. First off, I'd like to say that I've been using ISBoxer for about a year now, and this is the first problem that I've encountered so far. Up until this December, I 5-boxed using one computer. In late December (of 2013), I decided to 10-box using two computers. I followed this guide, (http://isboxer.com/wiki/HOWTO:Use_ISBox ... _Computers), and everything worked perfectly. I was back home for winter break, so I was on my home internet network. Now, I'm back in university, and thus I'm on the university internet network. When I tried to launch my 10-boxing team, only the windows on my main PC were activated; the second PC just didn't do anything. When I checked on the console in the second PC, I think it said something along the lines of "Connection to PC has failed," or maybe it didn't say anything (I don't remember.) Since it no longer worked, I decided to delete the set-up and restart it from scratch. However, since then, I've essentially been stuck at the beginning of the process, namely the part where you have to use the Computer Helper on the main PC to detect the second PC and to link them. When I right-click on "Computers" in the ISBoxer Toolkit, it says (among other things), "No Remote Computers Detected."

This is so beyond frustrating. Keeping in mind that it worked perfectly when I was back home, I still tried to toy around with my firewalls (even though there's no reason they would be the culprits). Both my computers' firewalls allow inbound and outbound connections. Both my computers have enabled incoming connections to port 10101 in the Configuration section of Innerspace. Both my computers have the computer helper enabled. When I go on google to check if Port 10101 is open, it shows that is indeed open on my second computer. On my main computer, however, it says that it's closed. Could that be the culprit? How can I open it?

I contacted the university IT department and they said that they don't block any ports.

Finally, I was wondering if it could have anything to do with the fact that my main PC's internet network currently appears as "Private." My second PC is set at "Public." They're both on the same network though. And when I try to switch my main PC from Private to Public...I just can't because I'm on Windows 8 and for some reason Windows 8 literally has no way of changing your network from Private to Public. I've tried right-clicking the network, I've tried launching tons of programs and everything...but I just can't switch it from Private to Public. Do you think this could be the reason the Main PC is not detecting the second PC?

Any help on the matter would be greatly appreciated! Please!

Thanks a lot in advance,
Frenchy

[lax]

Both my computers have enabled incoming connections to port 10101 in the Configuration section of Innerspace. Both my computers have the computer helper enabled. When I go on google to check if Port 10101 is open, it shows that is indeed open on my second computer. On my main computer, however, it says that it's closed. Could that be the culprit? How can I open it?

ISBoxer Toolkit uses port 10102. Inner Space uses port 10101. Port 10101 should be open on your second computer, but Inner Space does not need to open it on your main PC because only the second PC is going to be receiving incoming connections from Inner Space. Port 10101 does not apply to using the Multiple Computer Helper in ISBoxer, just to launching your team.

Because you're trying to troubleshoot Multiple Computer Helper (right clicking on Computers) and not the Inner Space connectivity, you should be working with port 10102 instead right now.

Finally, I was wondering if it could have anything to do with the fact that my main PC's internet network currently appears as "Private." My second PC is set at "Public." They're both on the same network though. And when I try to switch my main PC from Private to Public...I just can't because I'm on Windows 8 and for some reason Windows 8 literally has no way of changing your network from Private to Public. I've tried right-clicking the network, I've tried launching tons of programs and everything...but I just can't switch it from Private to Public. Do you think this could be the reason the Main PC is not detecting the second PC?

Yes, this is exactly why the main PC would not detect the second PC.

Is your main PC a part of a Domain?

The network sharing setting is only available for Wi-Fi, Ethernet, VPN (non-domain), and dial-up (non-domain) connections. It's unavailable for domain networks. On VPN or dial-up connections, you must connect to the network first, then press and hold or right-click the network name to change the network sharing setting.

If it's part of a domain and you're unable to access them this way, you will just need to skip using the Multiple Computer Helper. You can manually do everything it does for you without too much trouble; Exporting just does the same as a Copy from your main PC, a Paste into ISBoxer on your second PC, and then an Export on the second PC. Then just fill in your IP Address in the "Computer" defining the second PC so that it can connect by IP instead of the Computer name (because it cannot resolve the Computer name of the other Computer on a Public network).

Hey Iax,

Thanks a lot for your prompt reply. Glad to report that everything works now!

I'll just say what I did here.

First, I determined that my network was a Workgroup, so it could indeed be switched from Private to Public. After some more digging on the internet, I finally figured out a way to switch it from Private to Public on Windows 8.1 (for some reason, the conventional way which involves simply right-clicking the network does not work). When the network was Private, however, the Computer Helper still didn't detect my second computer. I have no idea why that still doesn't work.

Anyway, after that I decided to do what you suggested and to try doing the entire set-up without the Computer Helper; that worked. I am now able to 10-box again with no problems at all!

Thanks again for everything,
Frenchy