Hello all, I apologise for asking another question on networking between Vista and XP, I've read through a whole bunch of threads and tried to follow the tips etc but I'm getting nowhere so thought I'd ask for specific help. I have no clue about networking, so please bear with me! Most people seem to have trouble with file/printer sharing, but I can't even get that far. I can't even getany of the machines on the network to see each other. I have one desktop PC running Windows XP connected to a D-Linkrouter via an ethernet cable.I have one laptop running Windows Vista Home Premium connecting to the router wirelessly. Both computers are able to connect to the internet fine. I've attempted to ping the laptop from the XP machine but just get request timed out messages. I'd like to set up both machines so that you are able to share files/printers, play games etc. I've run the "Set up a home or small office network" wizard on the XP machine, and installed the LLTD responder. I've set the workgroup to "HOME" on both the Vista and XP machines. I've followed various bits and pieces from other threads, but I'll not list these incase I've not followed them correctly. This is about as far as I've got, I'm a bit stumped about where to go next, I have no idea how to get the machines to evensee each other. Any help would be greatly appreciated, Cheers, Bob.

Hi Have you specified on the Vista machine that the current netowrk is a "Private" Network ? File and printer sharing is turned off for public networks.When you go into the "Network" window, do you get displayed an information bar saying that "File and printer sharing" is turned off?Do use DHCP (the router assigns an IP adress at every conection) or did you define specific IP addresses for the 2 computers?

Hello again! The network is set to Private on the Vista machine, and file and printer sharing is switched on. Yep, using DHCP! I've noticed today that the network map in Vista displays my desktop XP machine, but I'm unable to access it.When looking at the list of workgroup computers in XP, the Vista machine is stillnot displayed. Cheers, Bob.

Hi Go to the Xp machine and create a username with the same name as the Vista machine. Set it as a computer administrator and set a password for it.Next, go to start > run > type in cmd > in the black box that opens, type in ipconfig /all > that will show you the IP of the XP machine. Write it down and go to the Vista machine : Open up Internet Explorer, and type in the address bar : \\IPofXP

Hello, I've already tried pinging both machines from each other, it just times out both ways! Cheers, Bob.

Hi I presume you are running a third-party firewall on the XP machine? Have you tried temporarily stopping it?Try shuting down the DHCP server on the router and set local IP addresses on the 2 computers. Say 192.168.1.3 on XP and 192.168.1.4 on Vista and the subnet 255.255.255.0. Set the default gateway to 192.168.1.1 (or whatever IP your router has) and your ISP's DNS servers. Make sure the workgroups are the same and try pinging then viewing the 2 machines.The fact that you cannot ping between the machines could indicate that the Vista machine is not being properly assigned the IP address. You will want to try and temporarily turn off the Vista firewall, and if you are succesful after you do that, turning it back on and we'll do some tweaking.