I am a bit stumped and have searched knowledgebases and forums for hours without finding a resolution to this issue. I can easily duplicate the problem and have in three completely different setups with 6 machines overall so at least it's consistent. It makes me think there is a simple option or incompatible feature that I'm just missing. Summary: From a Vista box (both home premium and business versions) I cannot access shares on an XP Pro SP3 box. The error that initially comes up states "Windows cannot access xxxxxx", clicking on the diagnose button brings up an error stating that "xxxxxx is not set up to establish a connection on port "File and printer sharing (SMB)". I have duplicated this issue between 3 different Vista boxes and 2 XP boxes.Details:The XP Pro Machine(s)XP Pro SP3 will all current updatesusername\password (administrative user)Shared folder that is accessible from other XP machinesNo Antivirus software installedNo Firewall software installedWindows Firewall offSimple File Sharing Turned OFF (no desire to use simplified file sharing, we understand permissions and such)The network discovery responder was manually installed (because the boxes are SP3) and the XP boxes show up in the network map on VistaThe Vista Machine(s)Vista Home Premium 64bit and Business 32bit and 64bitSP1 with all current updatesusername\password (same as on XP box, again administrative user)No Antivirus software InstalledNo Firewall software installedWindows Firewall OffUse Sharing Wizard turned OFFLocal Policies|Security Options|Network Security: Lan Manager auth level set to Send LM & NTLM responses Netbios over TCP explicitly turned on for the network connectionAll Sharing and Discover Options turned on, requiring passwords, except for Public folder sharing which is turned offNetwork is set to PrivatePertinent details:Each machine can ping the other via both pc name and IP. XP box can browse to, connect, and map shares on the Vista machines and XP boxes can browse to and map shares on XP boxes. All machines are in the same workgroup and on the same subnet. Browsing by IP returns the same errors. As mentioned I've been researching this for several hours over several days. I've read through the technet and msdn articles and overviews of networking with vista. I'm in search of ideas or an answers that I've not yet come across in the MS KB or through searching with google. It seems to me there is something that is probably rather simple, I just don't know what it is, to enable compatibility for access XP shares from Vista.Thanks,Joe

Hi Joe, Thank you for posting. I know that the Windows Vista failed to access the Windows XP shares and the error message xxxxxx is not set up to establish a connection on port File and printer sharing (SMB)." was received. Based on my research, I would like to suggest the following: 1. Please ensure that NetBIOS over TCP/IP is also enabled on Windows XP computers. 2. Please ensure that the File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks. is checked on the connection properties. In Windows Vista, go to Network and sharing center, then Manager network connections, right-click on your network connection and choose Properties and see if the item File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks. is checked. Please also check this on your Windows XP computers. 3. Please check if you can access the Windows XP share from the Windows Vista computer with the both commands "\\XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX\folder and \\computer name\folder [type them one by one in the Run command (Win+R)] to see if it works. 4. Perform a Clean Boot on the computers to check the issue: Clean boot ================= 1) Click the Start Button type "msconfig" (without quotation marks) in the Search box, and then press Enter. Note: If prompted, please click Continue on the User Account Control (UAC) window. 2) Click the "Services" tab, check the "Hide All Microsoft Services" box and click "Disable All" (if it is not gray). 3) Click the "Startup" tab, click "Disable All" and click "OK". Then, restart the computer. When the "System Configuration Utility" window appears, please check the "Don't show this message or launch the System Configuration Utility when Windows starts" box and click OK. NOTE: we can go back to normal boot by running msconfig again and checking on Normal Startup in the General tab. In the Clean Boot Environment, the third party services and applications are disabled, please check if the issue reoccurs at this time. If the problem does not occur, it indicates that the problem is related to one application or service we have disabled. You may use the MSCONFIG tool again to re-enable the disabled item one by one to find out the culprit. You can try this on Windows Vista computer first to see if it works. If the issue persists, please perform the following on all the computers to identify the issue: How to troubleshoot a problem by performing a clean boot in Windows Vista http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135 How to perform advanced clean-boot troubleshooting in Windows XP http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316434 Hope this helps. Thank you for your efforts. Nicholas Li - MSFT