HELP!! I am losing the will to live and despite the ubiqity of information on the internet it seems no-one knows the answer to this. On my home network I have the following: An old desktop running Windows XP, a new workstation running W7 ultimate 64bit, a laptop running W7 home premium, and a Macbook Pro running OS X vers 10.6.6. I am trying without success to access a shared drive on the W7 workstation. So far as I can see I have enabled everything but it still doesn't work. Some more info: from the W7 laptop I can see and access all the shared drives on both the old XP desktop and the new W7 workstation; from the Mac I can SEE both the XP desktop and the W7 workstation, I can ACCESS the shared drives on the XP desktop but I CANNOT access the shared drives on the W7 workstation (Mac Finder simply reports 'Connection Failed' and connecting manually via smb:// does the same). From this I conclude that (1) I have correctly shared the drives, made the network discoverable, etc etc on the workstation or it could not be accessed from the laptop, (2) I have correctly setup the Mac to be able to access available shared drives on Windows machines, or it would not be able to access and use shared drives on the old XP desktop. It seems therefore this is some kind of basic incompatibility between W7 and Mac. Can anyone help? I am pretty techy, I believe I have tried literally everything, this is SUCH a common thing that surely with two brand-new operating systems setting up the networking should be a simple matter of configuration but it JUST WON'T WORK!!!! Since the Mac is successfully accessing the Windows XP machine, I have concluded this is a W7 problem (not a Mac problem) hence posting here. The next problem is the shared printer, but I'd like to solve the drive first and maybe that will also help me solve the printer... Thanks in advance, AlastairAlastair.

Hi, Before going any further, I would like to verify what error message did you receive when you access Win 7 share folder? Please following this article to share folder between Macbook and Windows 7: http://www.pcworld.com/article/184232-3/set_up_your_home_network_windows_7_edition.html Please Note: Since the website is not hosted by Microsoft, the link may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this information. Also there is a similar thread: http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7network/thread/5dec051c-cbf7-432a-a29c-1b9b14e8d9ea You can try the test which mentioned by spice uk: “Make sure you have client for Microsoft Networks Installed To Fix go to: control panel network and internet network connection Select the network adapter you use for the net wireless or LAN right click it an select "properties" Make sure "CLIENT FOR MICROSOFT NETWORKS" is there in the list under where it says ‘this connection uses the following items’ if it is not click install select "Client" then press "add" select "CLIENT FOR MICROSOFT NETWORKS" install and reboot and you're good to go hope this helps you as it fixed this 100%” Hope that helps. Regards, Leo HuangPlease remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.