I have two computers on my network.  (I know Wow.)  Anyway I can't figure out how to back them up at the same time from one computer.  I see this "view network" tab so I figured that it should be possible.  I have two licences.  I just can't figure out how to set it up.  Or, is it even possible and I'll have to do separate backups at each computer.  OS is XP.

Any help would be appreciated.

ShadowProtect is capable of being managed from a remote machine, what you need to do is add create a node for the remote machine and fill out the necessary information in the Server properties page.

Network View-> Add

Server properties:
                            Server Name: What to name the new node
                            *Server Address: IPAddress or Hostname of remote machine
                            Group: The group that this node belongs to, usually used when managing a large ammount of machines
                            Server Description: self explanatory

                            Domain Name
                            *User Name
                            *Password

The items with the stars are required, everything else is optional.

Gather the necessary information for the remote machine and fill in the settings, the try to connect. From there we can troubleshoot connection issues.

You can get the IP address of a machine by going to Start->Run, typing cmd, then in command prompt type ipconfig and find your main network adaptor and look at it's address.

First make sure that both computers have ShadowProtect installed.

Make sure that both computers have a user account with a password.

Make sure that simple file sharing is disabled on both machines. Here is how:

http://www.storagecraft.com/kb/questions.php?questionid=185

If it still does not work, you may need to change the DCOM settings Here is how:

http://www.storagecraft.com/kb/questions.php?questionid=62

Once this is done, open the Network View panel in ShadowProtect and add a new Node

One server name, put the name of the computer, or a name you want 

On server address, put the computer IP Address.

Group you can leave blank.

In server description, you can put anything you want.

Under Auth Settings:

On domain name, put your workgroup name. Since you have two computers it is unlikely you are running a domain.

 In user name, put the user name for the user account on the network computer that is passworded.

In password, put the password for that user account that you are connecting through.

You should then be able to click connect at the top of the screen and connect to the other computer on the network.

Thanks.  I'll give it a try and let you know.

Looking at both replies I am unsure what user names you are referring to.  I have a profile on both computers.  I have only one user name and password for StorageCraft.  So I guess that I have one account with two licences.  Could you clarify what user names and passwords I should use.  Also, does it matter which computer I use as the main one, (server)?

Thank you.

The user account we are talking about is a Windows user account, and it needs to be an administrator account so that it can properly interface with the ShadowProtect service.

 If you are unfamiliar with Windows User Accounts. I would recommend spending a few minutes on the internet reading about them. A simple google search for XP User Accounts should bring up some decent articles on what they are and how they work.

You can simply try putting your administrator account information for the remote machine (the same credentials you would log in with on that machine) and the IP address, then try to connect, that is really all that you need. But it is always good to brush up. It doesn't matter which machine actually remotes into the other, it should be same for both.

Do you plan on having the external drive plugged into one machine and shared, then backing up both machines at the same time? That should work, though it is probably not the best idea; with that setup you would most likely have some pretty slow backups since the destination disk usage will be maxed out very quickly, it would be best to offset the jobs if you are going to backup to the same destination. Fortunately you can schedule all of this from within ShadowProtect so after the initial setup you shouldn't have to do too much tweaking.

I have finally gotton back to this.  Your directions did not work because it said that it does not work with xp home edition to disable simple file sharing.  I have tried your suggestions and "SBT's" but I get an error stating that the RPC server is unavailable.  I do not believe that either one of my computers is a server.  They are simply 2 pcs connected via a wireless router.

Do you think that the problem could be that I have the same ID and Password on both computers?

 No, it's not an ID or Password issue. It is really that we aren't able to support this feature on XP Home. Microsoft did not include the resources necessary in any of the Home Editions of their Operating Systems. Windows XP Home has simple file sharing on by force and does not allow it to be turned off, because of this. the two machines are not able to communicate in the way that ShadowProtect requires them to.

http://www.wikihow.com/Disable-Simple-File-Sharing-in-Windows-XP-Home-Edition