I run a small 2003 domain with a mixture of XP, Vista Ultimate, and a new Windows 7 Pro system. Here's the problem I'm experiencing. The Windows 7 PC becomes unreachable by the XP PCs until the Win7 PC is rebooted. Then they can reach the shared folders on it with no problem for a certain length of time and then they can't access it until the Win7 PC is rebooted and then it starts all over again. The Vista PC can always access the Win7 PC so there's something about networking that is different between XP and Vista/Win7 that is still eluding me. I run a second small 2003 domain (no connection between the two domains) with a similar mixture of XP, Vista, and Win7. This inaccessibility from XP to Win7 never happens on this domain. On all PCs in both domains, the Windows Firewall is the only firewall used. I've gone through the firewall settings on the Win7 PC with the problem and have opened up just about everything but nothing helps. Anyone have any idea what to look for? I could disable the Windows Firewall on the Win7 PC to see if that fixes it, but if it does, then I'm stumped as to just what it is in the firewall that is causing the issue. But if that is the cause, then I don't understand why it doesn't do the same thing with the Win7 PC on the second domain. JL

You need to post what exactly you mean with "unreachable". Can't open shared folders? Cannot ping? Have you considered the possibility that you might exhaust the maximum number of concurrent share connections? Under Windows 7 it is only 5! _________________________ If this response resolves your problem, please click "Propose as answer" so that the thread can be closed. Thanks.

Sorry, I should have been more specific. By unreachable, I mean that it can be pinged and I can connect via Remote Desktops. No other type of connections can be made to it except from the Vista PC. This includes mapping to shares, including going to run and typing \\pcname and remote managment. I was not aware of a 5 connection limit on Windows 7 as I am of the 10 connection limit on XP. But if that is the cause of the problem, then I should also see the problem on the second small domain with the 2 Win7 PCs on it. But I never have a connection problem with them. JL