Vista + XP = Network Place Problem

Hi.

(Yes I have searched and found nothing. )

Why on Earth have they complicated Vista so much for me to setup/connect to my Network Place? I've managed to connect my Desktop and my Dell Inspiron (both on XP) to connect to my same network and share all my files/drives withina clicks/minutes.

I've spent almost an hour on Vista now (SZ4 laptop) to connect to them. No success. Been online searching everywhere and the Vista help files isn't very good either. I manage to get to this stage finally...

After having to install a flipping file on the XP machines.

Got this far.



Please help me. :cry:

 

No one else have a problem or no-one with XP + Vista networking? Please help.

 

Make sure both computers are on the same workgroup. Right-click Computer > Properties > Change computer name/domain/workgroup.

Vista, by default, uses a different workgroup than XP. Why, I don't know. It actually seems really dumb to me, but that could very well be your issue.

If you have installed the responder to allow your XP machine to be viewed correctly on the Vista machine, then it's probably the way your workgoups are setup. Check Simple File Sharing in XP (Tools > Folder Options), and make sure password protected sharing is disabled in Vista (unless you want password protection, which means using the Vista login credentials).

Dollars to doughnuts it's a workgroup issue.

 

I'll let you know if this works... *fingers crossed* need to restart.

 

Changed Workgroup to the same as XP and it still doesn't work. Can still see it on my Vista machine on the network map but it won't let me click on it or anything.

 

Manual set it.

 

In Vista (and try in XP too):

Start > Run > \\**Computer Name** <----without stars, and exactly as it is listed in System Properties

If you get an error on either end, you may want to run the network setup wizard again.

 

No problem. Just opens the Network folder and display my Public folder (Vista). I can see my desktop on the network map, just can't connect despite setting the Domain to the same name.

 

I assume that by domain you mean workgroup. Because if either computer is set to be a member of a domain, that is the issue. They should both be workgroups.

So what happens when you try to manually open your XP computer on the Vista machine?

 

Yeh workgroup/domain thing is the same on all the machines.

My XP machine doesn't even display my Vista laptop but I can see my desktop machine on my Vista.

 

Can you manually, in XP, go to Start > Run > \\**Vista Computer Name**

What happens when you do this? It makes sense that the Vista machine does not display by default on workgroup machines. That can be changed. What you need to figure out is whether you can manually point to each machine and access the "public" or "shared" folder.

If you can do this on both machines successfully, what is stopping you from creating a new network place of the shared folder?