I have XP Home Edition on a laptop and XP Pro on a desktop. I recently instaled a broadband wireless router and am trying to share files between the two. I can see each computor from either one and can access the shares files on the laptop from the desktop, but I can't access the desktop frommthen laptop. I get the message, \\Desktop is accesible. You might not have permission to use this nnework resource.Contact the adminstratorof then server to find out if you have access permissions. Access denied.Can anyone help?1 person needs an answerI do too

Problems sharing files between computers on a network are generally caused by 1) a misconfigured firewall or overlooked firewall (including a stateful firewall in a VPN); or 2) inadvertently running two firewalls such as the built-in Windows Firewall and a third-party firewall; and/or 3) not having identical user accounts and passwords on all Workgroup machines; 4) trying to create shares where the operating system does not permit it. A. Configure firewalls on all machines to allow the Local Area Network (LAN) traffic as trusted. With Windows Firewall, this means allowing File/Printer Sharing on the Exceptions tab. Normally running the Network Setup Wizard on XP will take care of this for those machines.The only "gotcha" is that this will turn on the XPSP2 Windows Firewall. If you aren't running a third-party firewall or have an antivirus/security program with its own firewall component, then you're fine. With third-party firewalls, I usually configure the LAN allowance with an IP range. Ex. would be 192.168.1.0-192.168.1.254. Obviously you would substitute your correct subnet. Refer to any third party security program's Help or user forums for how to properly configure its firewall. Do not run more than one firewall. DO NOT TURN OFF FIREWALLS; CONFIGURE THEM CORRECTLY. B. For ease of organization, put all computers in the same Workgroup. This is done from the System applet in Control Panel, Computer Name tab. C. Create matching user accounts and passwords on all machines. You do not need to be logged into the same account on all machines and the passwords assigned to each user account can be different; the accounts/passwords just need to exist and match on all machines. DO NOT NEGLECT TO CREATE PASSWORDS, EVEN IF ONLY SIMPLE ONES . If you wish a machine to boot directly to the Desktop (into one particular user's account) for convenience, you can do this: XP - Configure Windows to Automatically Login (MVP Ramesh) - http://windowsxp.mvps.org/Autologon.htm D. If one or more of the computers is XP Pro or Media Center, turn off Simple File Sharing (Folder Options>View tab). E. Create shares as desired. XP Home does not permit sharing of users' home directories or Program Files, but you can share folders inside those directories. A better choice is to simply use the Shared Documents folder. F. After you have file sharing working (and have tested this by exchanging a file between all machines), if you want to share a printer connected locally to one of your computers, share it out from that machine. Then go to the printer mftr.'s website and download the latest drivers for the correct operating system(s). Install them on the target machine(s). The printer should be seen during the installation routine. If it is not, install the drivers and then use the Add Printer Wizard. In some instances, certain printers need to be installed as Local printers but that is outside of this response.MS-MVP - Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!

I am using Window Live Care for both computers and I can see access the files onthe laptop from the computer. The router has it own firewall, I think. Should I have to access to router to configure the firewall on it?I do have file sharing on on the desktop with XP Pro. But I don't see that option onthe laptop with XP Home . Iwill try your other suggestions.Thanks

Windows Live OneCare has a firewall. The router firewall isn't involved. If you can't access files on one of the computers but can on the other one, look for a misconfigured firewall (Windows Live OneCare), two firewalls (on the computer, not the router) inadvertently running, and/or a mismatch in user accounts. The file sharing option is in the same place on XP Home as it is in Pro but since I don't use Live OneCare I have no idea about its configuration. XP Home doesn't have Simple File Sharing and XP Pro does.MS-MVP - Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!