laptop can not see desktop

i just got my laptop today, and i can connect to the internet through wireless but one of the main things i want to do is access my desktop files and i can not do that for some reason. in the vista network map i can se the desktop but that is it , i can not see the shared folders. someone please help both computers are vista

 

http://forums.techguy.org/networking/552680-vista-laptop-can-t-find.html

add a password to the pc and network your printer. first thing is set printer in pc to share then gave it a name.

also go in and share whatever folders in your pc you want. I was unable to share even through everything was set to shared.

Laptop:

Go in to Printers and click add printer pick local then create a new port

then type in \\pc name\printer name then it will ask for password which is user/password of PC then print a test page.

After which you can auto save the password and to my surprise I was also now able to access my shared folders on my PC from my laptop.

 

try enabling home network on your firewall (if you have one) and make sure you have file sharing enabled on a folder on your desktop

 

Do you have XP service pack 2 or XP service pack 3 running on the XP machine?

 

i have vista. anyway after hours and hours on the phone with dell finally everything is working good. turns out it was the computer name. i thought you were supposed to have the same name on both computers but apparently not. first they told me that my warranty does not cover these issues, and i would have to be charged for the call. boy did i go off on them, i have spent thousands on dell products, they did let me get help for no charge after speaking with a manager but dell customer service is a horrible experience