Windows Vista Networking Vista to XP?

I don't have a Vista machine here and don't plan on it any time soon; but, I am called on from time to time to help someone cursed with Vista. (Ref: the number one biggest tech disappointment of 2007) My most frequent and perplexing problem is networking.

First Problem: Although I can more frequently get the XP machine to see the Vista machine, I frequently cannot get the Vista machine to see the XP machine.

Second Problem: File transfers between Vista and XP are most of the time so slow as to be an impossibility. Example: When attempting to copy a folder of about 200 Megs from Drive C on an XP machine to Drive C on Vista, it will predict a time of a thousand days or more--and it really might take that long (if it would finish); but, it usually aborts after an hour or so.

My Experience: I have set up thousands of Windows peer-to-peer networks from Windows 3.11 for Workgroups to XP so I'm fairly knowledgable of how it's done; but, there seem to be especially difficult roadblocks in Vista.

I would appreciate some suggestions on solving these problems, even unconventional ones.

 

what works for me

Alex, iirc what worked for me was using simple file & printer sharing, no firewall, behind a router. Also I only have as permanent shares the SharedDocs on the XP machine and the Public on the Vista machine. No password or user account setup. In fact this Lan is working much more smoothly than my XP SP1 to XP SP 2 network. Since I removed the XP SP1 machine and put in the Vista machine, I don't get access violations when trying to drag & drop files. The ethernet is 100 mb/sec and file copies are typically at 11 MB/sec.

If that's not enough security maybe you could start there then see about tightening it up later.

 

My home network includes my Vista Business laptop and my wife's XP Pro laptop. Sharing is turned off on mine but on for hers (mine is regularly away from home and online via 3G, WiFi or even company networks, so it's locked down fairly hard). I can easily connect to hers (XP) from mine (Vista), I can even log in and run it via RDC.

However, when going to my network connections, the XP laptop doesn't always appear in the list. If happens when the XP laptop is switched on second - if it's switched on first then it's in the list straight away but, if switched on second, then it takes a while to appear (even the usual ways to refresh the list don't make it show immediately). I've not got to the bottom of the issue but, knowing the situation, I can easily get around it and it's no problem.