Three machines on the network. XP, Vista and Windows 7.Vista and 7 show the icons for the various drives on the network in the workgroup and it easy to access files on ALL three machines.The XP does not show the other drives and the only way I find is that all three computers appear in the workgroup, but the workgroup does not appear to be tied to the network - but of course it is since it shows up elsewhere.I have done the wizard several times and I am obviously on the network but XP does not show the other computer drives in "My Computer" etc. Everything is shared.Why is XP misbehaving and not simply displaying the drives on other computers?1 person needs an answerI do too

Check the firewall on XP and make sure it has user accounts/passwords that match the ones on the other machines. Problems sharing files between computers on a network are generally caused by 1) a misconfigured firewall or overlooked firewall (including a stateful firewall in a VPN); or 2) inadvertently running two firewalls such as the built-in Windows Firewall and a third-party firewall; and/or 3) not having identical user accounts and passwords on all Workgroup machines; 4) trying to create shares where the operating system does not permit it. A. Configure firewalls on all machines to allow the Local Area Network (LAN) traffic as trusted. With Windows Firewall, this means allowing File/Printer Sharing on the Exceptions tab. Normally running the Network Setup Wizard on XP will take care of this for those machines.The only "gotcha" is that this will turn on the XPSP2 Windows Firewall. If you aren't running a third-party firewall or have an antivirus/security program with its own firewall component, then you're fine. With third-party firewalls,I usually configure the LAN allowance with an IP range. Ex. would be 192.168.1.0-192.168.1.254. Obviously you would substitute your correct subnet. Refer to any third party security program's Help or user forums for how to properly configure its firewall. Do not run more than one firewall. DO NOT TURN OFF FIREWALLS; CONFIGURE THEM CORRECTLY. B. For ease of organization, put all computers in the same Workgroup. This is done from the System applet in Control Panel, Computer Name tab. C. In Vista/Win7, turn Password Protected Sharing ON . Create matching user accounts and passwords on all machines. You do not need to be logged into the same account on all machines and the passwords assigned to each user account can be different; the accounts/passwords just need to exist and match on all machines. DO NOT NEGLECT TO CREATE PASSWORDS, EVEN IF ONLY SIMPLE ONES . If you wish a machine to boot directly to the Desktop (into one particular user's account) for convenience, you can do this: XP - Configure Windows to Automatically Login (MVP Ramesh) - http://windowsxp.mvps.org/Autologon.htm Vista - Start Orb>Search box>type: netplwiz [enter] Click on Continue (or supply an administrator's password) when prompted by UAC Uncheck the option "Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer". Select a user account to automatically log on by clicking on the desired account to highlight it and then hit OK. Enter the correct password for that user account (if there is one) when prompted. Leave it blank if there is no password (null). D. If one or more of the computers is XP Pro or Media Center, turn off Simple File Sharing (Folder Options>View tab).MS-MVP - Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!

I have a question about firewalls. You stated that file sharing problems could be caused by running 2 firewalls - Windows and a 3rd party firewall. But in your next paragraph, you said DO NOT TURN OFF FIREWALLS. I'm running Kaspersky Internet Security and I also have a router with a built-in firewall. So which firewall should I be running or how should they be configured if I'm not suppose to turn them off?

You shouldn't run two software firewalls in Windows. All Windows machines should run a software firewall. The router firewall will normally not interfere in Local Area Networking but you would need to refer to your router manual or its tech support site for how to configure it correctly. If you must turn one off, I would disable the router firewall. But I'm not saying to do this. I've never had to turn off a router firewall to have LAN file/printer sharing work.MS-MVP - Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!

I forget to mention that I also have Windows Firewall. i'm not concerned about my router firewall. So if I'm not suppose to turn off firewalls, i would then have 2 software firewalls running which could then be causing problems.

If Kaspersky Internet Security has a firewall then you don't want the built-in Windows Firewall running too.MS-MVP - Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!