Windows Vista forum: File sharing problem adding Vista computer to an XP network

Bob,

Thank you for your comment. No I have not done anything with the accounts. What should I do with these?

My wife's computer was purchased about 5 years ago with XP Professional. The user account is her full name as Computer administrator - no password. There is also a Guest account which is off.

Mine was purchased nearly 3 years ago with XP Professional. The user account is simply D as Computer administrator - no password. There is also a Guest account which is off.

Both have been updated to SP2 and kept up-to date except for SP3 - an attempt to do this on mine crashed and I had to roll back to SP2 but I will have to try again sometime now that I have downloaded the large file for IT professionals.

Since these are used at home and no one else has access we have not set passwords for these two computers.

These two were networked successfully only last year with no problems and I did not have to do anything about the user accounts at that stage.

My daughter's (the laptop) with Vista was purchased only a few weeks ago. There is just the one user account which is simply her initials as Administrator and is password protected.

But I repeat that after carrying out the steps listed in my first post there is no problem networking between her Vista and my wife's XP. Also it is possible for me to access the shared files on the Vista laptop from my XP system and, for example, to copy from the laptop to mine using either computer.

The only thing that cannot be done is to access the shared files on mine from the laptop or, for example, to copy files from mine to the laptop using either computer.

So in effect there is only a 'one way' networking between the laptop and mine - but it DOES work in one direction even if this is the 'wrong' way to that which I really want.

So what I need to do is to get it networking both ways between the laptop and mine as it already does between the laptop and my wife's. Would it be possible to do this by changing something with the accounts and if so what?

However, why does it work for my wife's computer but not for mine? Could this be anything to do with how they are connected to the network - mine by a cable from a network card to the router and my wife's by wireless? I don't want to change mine to wireless as this might cause other problems and would give a slower speed for downloading. It is also not necessary as the telephone point is just behind my desk.

Derek

Bob,

Actually I would be interested to 'learn Windows networking rules' and try to succeed manually rather than use a computer program if possible. Please could you recommend any suitable references such as web sites.

However, I am rather puzzled as I did do quite a bit of research on the internet and printed out several documents before I started in my attempt to add the Vista laptop to our network and have now also studied the Vista help on this topic. For setting up a home peer to peer network NONE of these mentioned having to do anything with the user accounts.

Initially we had TWO computers, both with XP Professional. To network these I used the Network Set up Wizards, the Wireless Network Setup Wizard on my wife's since her computer uses a wireless connection and the Network Setup Wizard on mine since my computer is connected to the wireless router with a cable from the Ethernet card.
For both computers it was necessary to give a computer description and a computer name.

In My Network Places the shared folders for my computer show under Network Location as Local Network whilst those for my wife's show as The Internet.

However, this peer to peer network worked completely (and still does) without having to do anything with the user accounts as implied in your post.

Adding my daughter's (Vista) laptop involved more work as there is no Network Setup Wizard.

So I followed the documentation I had downloaded and in Control Panel, Properties (System) I entered a Computer Description and a computer name and then changed the Workgroup name to be the same as the XP network.
Then, still following the same documents, in the Network and Sharing Center I put on Network discovery, File sharing, Public folder sharing and Printer sharing.

Nowhere was there anything about having to do something with the user accounts.

The shared (Public) folder for the Vista machine now shows on my computer under Network Location as The Internet

I would also point out again that this setup now almost works. File sharing works between the laptop and my wife's. It is with mine that the problem has arisen, as previously described. So I ask what then is the difference between the setup of my computer and my wife's? The only thing that I can see is how they are connected to the wireless router (mine with a network cable and my wife's using wireless). The laptop also uses wireless and in the network map in Vista there are dotted lines linking the router to the laptop and my wife's (which is shown with an icon indicating wireless). There is then a double solid line linking the router to a switch and another double solid line linking this switch to mine. I dont know what the switch is though. Is that part of the router? However, this does not affect file sharing between the two XP computers. But might this have something to do with the file sharing problem with the laptop and if so what would be needed to rectify it?

Derek

I must say that I find your answer somewhat curt, especially as I did ask you if you could recommend any suitable references.

If there are none on the internet then I would certainly be prepared to buy a book as you suggest. Is there any one in particular that you could recommend please?

But I would still point out that there is full file sharing between my wife's computer and the laptop and between mine and my wife's which does not seem to fit with what you are saying.

Derek

Thank you, but I thought a recommendation for a book from an expert should be better than taking pot luck with Google, good though that might be.
Another possibility would be Amazon of course where there are often readers' comments.

Thank you for the link. I will study the article carefully.

It was you who suggested I should buy a book so I must see what I can find on my own. Have you written one covering this by any chance?

I did this on the XP pro, that is XP professional x64, computer.

Went to network connection
--->local area connection. open.
--->general tab. click properties.
--->double click internet protocol TCP/IP
--->general tab. click advanced.
--->WINS tab. click enable netbios over TCP/IP.
Done. Spent hours finding this solution from another thread. So I post it here to make it go viral.

After this is see all my files from the Vista computer. Now I cant say is see the files from the XP computer yet but I dont need to.