I've been trying for weeks to connect my XP-SP3 laptop to my Win7 (both 32bit) desktop - with zero success. The Win 7 sees and accesses the laptop shared folder just fine. The XP laptop, however, when it tries to connect to Win 7, though it sees the machine, always gets the following message: \\[computer] is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator... Logon failure: the user has not been granted the requested logon type at this computer. Neither of these machines use passwords; Both machines log in with my name (Ed); Both machines have only one user; This is just a simple home network with 2 max 3 computers; I don't use the new "homegroup" option, am just using "workgroup" as I've always done; Yes, the workgroup names are the same on both machines; The problem persists whether I try to connect using ethernet or WiFi. I've read the threads, searched for solutions on the 'net, and while I find a zillion "solutions" none of them work. I know the networking rules have changed for Win 7, but nothing I've found explains what the new rules are and how the new OS backward connects to XP. This is going to be a big problem when 7 goes public. Lots of people skipped Vista and will want to connect older XP machines to newer Win7 ones, and they're all going to go nuts trying to connect. Just like me. So, does anyone have the answer? Please? Thanks, Ed

Have you tried to enable the Guest user account?1. Right click My Computer and select Manage2. In Computer Management expand Local Users and Groups3. Select Users4. In the right pane double click Guest5. Deselect Account is disabled6. Click OKUser accounts without a password are not allowed to access the computer from the network. This may cause your issue. Enabling the guest account allows access without authentication.Ray

Hello ejbSF,In Network and Sharing center under advanced sharing options, is public folder sharing enabled and password protected sharing disabled?-Scott

Have you triedaddressing using the Windows 7 IP address? So, instead of connecting to\\computername\share try \\IPAddress\share.

Thanks for the replies. Sorry it took so long to get back; I've been under the weather. Most advanced sharing options were already on for "Home or Work" network. I turned "password protected sharing" off, and "Use user accounts and passwords..." on. Under the public network profile, I left everything off. That made a difference. For the first time the XP laptop can "see" the folders and files in the Win7 public directory. I can copy a file from Win7 to XP, no problem, but I still can't copy a file from XP to Win7. I get this error message: "cannot copy file: Access is denied. Make sure disk is not full or write-protected..." I'm assuming there's some other setting to enable XP to write on the Win7 disk. Any suggestions? --Ed

Are the user names the same on both machines? Does either have a password? If so, they should match.