New Computer From Remote

it finds my PC, but cant add it. Errors out

[bob]

That indicates either a firewall blocking the connection or a required process not listening on the other end.

For the first, check firewall rules to ensure ports 10101 and 10102 for both UDP and TCP are open to allow incoming connections (or other ports if you happen to have changed them).
For the second, the Multi Computer Helper in the ISBoxer Toolkit needs to be started on all computers (the Toolkit needs to be open for this to be running).

my ports show that Isboxer and innerspace have "any" for TCP / UDP already allowed, Isboxer is open across them all with helper enabled

Disabliing the firewall allows the laptop to be found... even with ports allowed.

2nd laptop wont be found at all, even with firewall down... that laptop is Win 10. The 2 rthat now see each other are Win 11... if that matters

[bob]

The Helper process does use Broadcast packets to find each other. If your laptops are on different ranges/subnets, or your router blocks broadcasting (which some WiFi units do - some WiFi receivers also block broadcast packets but this is fairly rare) then that will cause issues, and you may just have to enter the details manually.

They're both hard wired.
I can create sets and have them exported to the laptop.
The laptop doesnt launch the set.

[bob]

The InnerSpace consoles will have the answer.

As linked on this page https://isboxer.com/wiki/HOWTO:Use_ISBoxer_With_Multiple_Computers the How To Troubleshooting post link explains how to read the console outputs to figure out why it wont launch. If you get stuck we need to see the output from both the main computer and the other non loading computer.

the launching PC's console says it all went according to plan ......... the laptop doesnt say anything, as if it was never told to even try.

[bob]

From the troubleshooting......

If the second PC does not launch, here's what to do.
Open up the main Inner Space console on both PCs -- right click IS in the system tray, and select Console (you may need to close the Patcher window to see the console).
When you launch your team, ISBoxer will output there what it's trying to do.

The first thing it's going to do when you launch your main Character Set is try to connect to your other PC, and send the instruction to launch the other set.
Watch the console on the second PC as you launch the main set.

If nothing at all shows up, then it probably failed to connect at all, and the main PC console will specifically indicate that;
This would usually be that either port 10101 is not open on the slave PC in the firewall, incoming connections are not enabled on that PC as per the guide, or outgoing connections are blocked on the main PC by firewall software (e.g. Windows firewall).

If required, make sure that the specific Computer defined in the ISBoxer Toolkit specifies the IP address. The DNS name can sometimes be flaky on with a group of non domain computers on a local router.


Additional and not covered by the troubleshooting:
If you check back on the main PC console and it does not even mention about connecting to the other PC that is not launching, then you are missing Step 9 from the HowTo use multiple computers

9. In the top pane, select the main PC's Character Set (from step 7). Then drag each additional Character Set (from step 8) from the top pane, into the bottom left pane so that they appear under Also Launch.