Sharing internet between vista and xp

Hello, kinda stuck here.
I'm trying to connect my xp laptop to my vista laptop via an ethernet cord/cable, and i simply can't. something im doing im sure. ive looked at guides, none are making sense or working for me.

My vista is connected wirelessly to the router. it works fine.
I hooked up the xp to my vista and it comes up as unidentified network and the access is local only. i can send files to the xp through this, and i can ping it, i tried pinging the vista with the xp, and the ping fails, 100% lost.

How can i get the internet on the xp through the vista? is it even possible?

thanks in advance..

 

Why not just plug the XP pc straight into the router (or get a wireless card for the XP system)? That would be a lot easier that trying to share the Vista connection.