Home Network XP to Vista

I have a desktop computer with Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 3 connected to a router by Ethernet cable to which is connected by USB a printer and external hard drive. I also have a notebook Windows Vista Home Premium Edition Service Pack 1 which I connect by Ethernet or wireless to my router. Although both can access the internet I cannot get them to see each other. I would like to be able to print and access the external hard drive from the notebook. Can you help please.

Steve

 

Here is the complete procedure:

There are two basic operations, firstly put all the computers in the same workgroup then, secondly, choose the folders on each machine that are to be shared. Repeat this on all PCs, use the same workgroup name but, of course, a different computer name for each of your computers. This procedure is successful because no passwords are used and "˜Everyone’ is allowed access, which will make your computer a little less secure.

CREATE WORKGROUP
Add an XP computer to a workgroup by right-clicking My Computer > Properties > Computer Name and change the default Workgroup Name to something more meaningful to you, also make the Computer Name recognisable, e.g. MainPC or IBMPC. The computer should reboot.

Add a Vista computer to a workgroup by right-clicking Computer > Properties > Change Settings then change Computer Name and Workgroup Name. Make the computer name meaningful to aid recognition. The computer should restart.

FOLDER SHARING
XP
To share an XP folder, right-click it and select Sharing & Security > Sharing Tab > and put a check mark in Share this folder on the network and optionally, Allow Network users to change my files You only need to share the highest level folder, e.g. not every sub-folder. A little hand should appear on the icons of those that are shared. Alternatively, drag the folders you want to share to the Shared Documents folder (Public folder in Vista). In XP Professional you may have to turn off Simple File Sharing in Folder Options > View Tab > Advanced Settings at the end.

VISTA
First of all, go to Control Panel > Classic View > Network and Sharing Center and make sure you have Network Discovery, File Sharing and Public Folder Sharing all set to "˜On’ and, if you‘re not using passwords set Password Protected Sharing to "˜Off’, unless you want to set up identical usernames and passwords on all computers in your network. If you have it on, you will be asked for a username and password when you try to access a Vista computer from an XP computer.

To share a Vista folder, click it > Share on the Toolbar > Advanced Sharing, click "˜Share this folder’ > Apply > OK, etc.

If you don’t have Password Protected Sharing turned on, you have to change the security permissions on your folder to allow 'Everyone' access. Right-click the folder > Properties > Security Tab > Edit > Add and type Everyone (not the quotes) into the box and OK. Tick the boxes next to the permissions you want to allow, then Apply > OK, etc. You may see some screens coming up with message 'Error Applying "¦â€¦..'. These is normal and can be ignored by clicking Continue.

Two little people should appear on the icons of those that are shared. An alternative way of sharing is to drag the folders you want to share to the Public folder.

As you are sharing with a Vista machine, you may need to install the Link Layer Topology Discovery (LLTD) responder on the XP machine so that the computer shows up in Vista’s network map, get it here http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...1D-EE46-481E-BA11-37F485FA34EA&displaylang=en

GENERAL
Windows firewall is normally set to allow file and printer sharing but if you have a third-party firewall make sure file and printer sharing is enabled so that each machine can talk to the other(s). Don’t disable the Windows firewall if it’s the only one you’re running.

To see or copy files click the Windows Orb (Start) > Network (My Network Places in XP) and the computers/folders/files should appear. Using Windows Explorer, drag them from one PC to the other.

SHARE A PRINTER
On the machine that the printer is connected to, go to Control Panel > Switch to Classic View > Printers & Faxes (Printers in Vista), right-click the printer, click Sharing, check "˜Share this printer’. On the other machine(s) go to Control Panel > Switch to Classic View > Printers & Faxes (Printers in Vista) > Add Printer > and follow the wizard. Bear in mind that the printer and the PC that it’s connected to must be switched on, unless you have a "˜proper’ wireless printer/adapter.

 

OK done all that with the exception of LLTD, every time I try to install it I get the message "the service pack I am trying to install is older than the current one" and it stops there. Apart from that it still does not work.

Steve

 

If everything else is set up correctly, your firewall must be preventing the machines from seeing each other.

 

What BW said. Kill the firewall on both and let them see one another and then reload the firewalls.

I had similar problems when I added a Vista desktop to my home network with two XP based units already running.

 

I have tried disabling the firewalls on both computers but I still cannot get them to see each other.

Steve

 

Also check your anti-virus software as that too can have settings to prevent local access.

By the way: how are you testing if the two PC can see each other? Can you ping them by IP address?

 

Hi,

Sorry about the delay in answering.

Yes both machines can ping each other.
I have just connected my old laptop running Windows XP Pro to the system and it was detected immediately on the Vista notebook and I was able to open files over the network OK. It would therefore appears to be a problem with my desktop which has Windows XP Home version, which still is not appearing on the Vista network screen and in turn the Vista notebook does not appear on the desktop computer under show workgroup computers. Any ideas?

Steve

 

I have a similar problem to Steve's but I've gotten a little farther on than he has.

I have an old XP Home machine with SP3 and a newer Vista Home Premium machine with SP1.

The two machines can see each other.

Until today, the two machines could not get further into each other's file systems than seeing the names of the shared drives, folders and printers. I'm not sure what I changed (perhaps it was just I hadn't tried to get networking working between the machines since installing SP3), but as of today, the XP machine can get at the files on the Vista machine.

But the Vista machine can not get at the shared files on the XP machine.

It does not matter whether the machines are wired into my router/hub or are running wireless.

I'd be interested in any insights you might have.

Thanks,
David

 

Pardon me for butting in, but I found this on a diff. BB

-------------------------------------

Don't know if this helps any.. but I had the same trouble...same set up.. New Vista and old XP with the router.
First I had to download a patch from microsoft concerning network mapping in Vista..basically XP computers need the patch or Vista can't even see it.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...1D-EE46-481E-BA11-37F485FA34EA&displaylang=en

That done, Vista could SEE XP but not access it. I had to manually add the XP computer to my Vista's 'trusted computers' section in Norton protection. Obviously this only applies if you have Norton on your new Vista, but it does seem to come with a lot of computers!!

You *MUST* add the network you are on to your trusted networks inside of Norton.

Open Norton. -> Select the Norton Internet Security Tab. -> Scroll down to bottom. -> Select the Internet Security and Firewall Options link. -> Select Trust Control. Locate your network and add to trusted.

Once I'd done that. .. manually adding IP etc, my computers could all talk and share nicely

Obviously if you don't have Norton , ignore all the above!!!

-------------------------------------------
Sven

 

Hi Sven,
Thanks for the reply. I actually found that post also. The download from the Microsoft page doesn't work because XP's SP3 apparently includes the fix it offered. When the installation of the download is run, it quits and says that there are newer versions of files installed.

As for the rest, since I'm not running Norton, it doesn't really apply either.

I don't think that I have any security issues in the network settings, which is what the Norton settings he talks about relate to, but it's not working from Vista to XP, so I could be wrong.
David