I have a fair few customers with 3 or 4 computers in the house these days. Most are a mix of XP, Vista Business and Windows 7 Pro 64bit. Some customers are business people with several networks in different locations, and they need to just appear at any of the offices and plug the RJ45 in and go, without having an IT degree .How do I make Windows 7 behave the way I want,the way that XP did it's discovery and shares. I understand that Bill likes the way Windows 7 network sharing works, BUT my customers and I do not.Thanks in advance,Viv.Regards, Viv.

In Win 7 do not use the Homegroup, the feature works only between Win 7 computers. Otherwise use in Win 7 what is called Work Groups, functionally it is the same type of sharing as it was in Win XP and Vista. Open in Explorer the folder that you want to share. Pull down the Share it Menu and choose specific People. Win 7 (like XP and Vista) has also Guest account that can be switched on for more open (but less secured) Network.Jack, MVP - Networking.

Please describe the detail of your requirement. Do you want to access other shares from the Windows 7 computer without entering password or access the Windows 7 computer without password? How does it work with Windows XP and Windows Vista systems? I suggest you disable "Password protected sharing" on the Windows 7 computer, and then specially allow Guest account to access the shared components. To turn off Password Protected Sharing:=============== 1. Click Start, enter "Network and Sharing Center" in the Start Search box .2. Click "Change advanced sharing settings" in the left pane. 3. Make sure that "Password protected sharing" is turned off.Arthur Xie - MSFT

In Windows 7 network sharing functionality is not the same for Workgroups as it is in Vista or XP. I have a small network with 2 XP machines, 2 Vista Machines and one Windows 7. The main file server on this network is one of the XP Machines. Vista to XP and Xp to Vista sharing works great. Vista to Windows 7 and Windows 7 to Vista works great. XP to Windows 7 sharing works great. Windows 7 to XP sharing does not work. Whenever a shared resource is requested from Windows 7 to Windows XP, a username and password dialog appears. Looking for an answer from somebody who has made this work in practice, not theory as I have already done all the "to-do's" to try to get this to work. Had a similar issue trying to share an external hard drive on one of the Vista machines a couple years back. Had to change some security policies to make that work, wondering if Windows 7 will require the same.

It is the same as the past, go back over the "to do list".See Arthur's post to correct the error (the user / password is the win7 system user / password)

Those to-do's are all done. The problem isn't with accessing the Windows 7 share, the problem is accessing the XP share from Windows 7. Found the "Fix" that requires a Group Policy edit, but guess what? Home Premium aint so premium as it does not include gpedit.msc. Solution: Upgrade to Pro or Ultimate. ***UPDATE*** If I type in the IP address of the XP Machine and not the computer name all is well. Guess I'll just map the drive.

The Group policy has nothing to do with your error,and yes I know what the error is and my answer stands as the correct one. you need to reread the post from Art.the GP edit has to do with older samba / older windows NOT XP / vista.and you will find the registry edit for that here as well

Nope Art's instructions followed to the T and still does not work. Only thing working is to type the IP address of the XP machine in Windows Explorer. I see all my shares, can read and write; it just works like normal. So there has to be something "Different" in the way Windows 7 handles peer to peer. On any other version (Vista, XP ) It's a straight forward setup. Now I have only ran into this problem in my lab and have not encountered it yet in the wild, so I may try 7 on another system here to see if the problem replicates itself. Thanks Bubba for your quick replies. '

google........ tcp over netbios

One detail I left out that this issue is happening on a wireless laptop. When I plugged it into the network, everything worked!

In that case I would look at IP 6, disable it on the wireless NIC, I am guessing the router is not win 7 on the compatibility list.7 works fine peer to peer, with over 120 win 7 pro boxes around three states connecting to anything from windows 2000 to 2008and printers of every make you can think of. We have had fewer issues than when we moved from 95 to 98, those where trying times, win 7 has been a breeze.

IP 6 was disabled early on. Noticing from other thread's that Wireless seems to be the issue across the board. I agree that 7 is a breeze compared with previous versions; couple of quirks here and there but not a deal killer like Vista was. My local router is on the compatibility list for 7.

No wireless is not a issue across the board, I use a netbook win7 pro everyday, I connect to MANY AP's everyday, I no issue at all.Most of the issue here are just the folks not understanding how things work.make / model / firmware of the wi-fi gear.as it is not a pro class OS I do not have much to offer here..I have NEVER run a home version OS.

Bubba, I think you've lost what the issue is. Wifi works fine, connection to the AP is not an issue. Connecting to the XP Share on the workgroup while using a Wifi connection fails everytime. Hardwire the laptop and every thing works as expected. I'll try 7 pro next to see if the problem is resolved, but this is looking more and more like a bug in 7 home premium.

could be but I doubt it MANY folks are networking the home versions.You need to stop looking at windows and start looking at YOUR setup.I do not run any home versions but know folks who do and they are very happy with 7 Home / Xp / 2000 sharing, if fact not 10 mins ago I remoted in and setup a win 7 home to access a xp pro and second win 7 pro laptop, sharing is working both ways all over a wireless systemI all did is what I do every time I setup networking, no magic needed.post ipconfig /all with wired and then with wireless.

screen captures of networked XP pro / Win 7 ult / win 7 Home prem nothing done other than the standard way of networking windows boxes..no magic needed. http://cid-6023ebece4b51064.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/.Public/networking