Desperate for some help!

[cjb]

Hello,

I'm coming to my wits end trying to make my xp desktop pc and my windows 7 laptop to be able to access one another.

I've set up the 'workgroup' network on both systems, created a folder on my xp machine that I'd like to share and followed every single piece of advice in the web that I've come across - but still nothing even resembling a network.

The closest I've got is to be able to 'see' the laptop on My Network Places on my xp machine, once I'd run 'View workgroup computers', but when I try to open it all I get is a message saying "\\(laptop name) is not accessible. You might not have permission..... "

As for windows 7, I can't even get to see my xp pc.

Please help me out on this one.

 

[cjb]

So, after some further adjustments - I can now access folders that I've made shareable on my xp machine by typing in the (now) static IP address of the pc.

This, however doesn't seem like an ideal solution - is there any way that I can have it readily available in my Network place?

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Try turning it off if it is on!

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

do you have a firewall running!

 

[Saga Lout]

So, after some further adjustments - I can now access folders that I've made shareable on my xp machine by typing in the (now) static IP address of the pc.

This, however doesn't seem like an ideal solution - is there any way that I can have it readily available in my Network place?

You didn't need to set a static IP to get this to fly and in fact it's better if you go back to a dynamic one. In the Windows 7, machine, did you try to go through the Homegroup procedure or did you stick to the original methods of networking? Did you share any folders from W7 to XP or just the other way around?

Forget about dragging folders into shared - if you want to share them and allow network users to change them, right click them, go to Sharing and Security and tick the appropriate boxes. That applies to both systems - some thigns never change.

[/#000ff]

 

[cjb]

I do have firewalls on both machines. First I tried allowing any kind of access - incoming and outgoing - then turning them off and neither made any difference.

I didn't go through the homegroup procedure, because I'd read that it won't work with older versions of windows.

The only folders that I shared were on my xp machine - but I did exactly as you outlined and right-clicked, following the relevant instructions.



What seems to work - which is just an extension of my earlier workaround - is this:

Once I've manually typed in the name of my xp machine's IP into any windows 7 address bar, I can then access the folders/files which I have set to be shared. I then created a shortcut to these folders onto (just for example) my win 7 desktop - then, thankfully I can get into them without any bother.

Although this works now, it does seem a bit of a Heath Robinson way of doing things - I'm honestly astounded that Microsoft have made it more convoluted than it needs to be.



As an aside, I'd also read somewhere that windows 7 build 7057 was the major culprit in all this - all previous versions seemed to handle the job adequately - but since that version there have (to the best of my knowledge) been some major problems sharing files with other versions of windows. My build number is 7600 which still, it seems, has these same issues.

 

[Saga Lout]

I do have firewalls on both machines. First I tried allowing any kind of access - incoming and outgoing - then turning them off and neither made any difference.

I didn't go through the homegroup procedure, because I'd read that it won't work with older versions of windows.

The only folders that I shared were on my xp machine - but I did exactly as you outlined and right-clicked, following the relevant instructions.



What seems to work - which is just an extension of my earlier workaround - is this:

Once I've manually typed in the name of my xp machine's IP into any windows 7 address bar, I can then access the folders/files which I have set to be shared. I then created a shortcut to these folders onto (just for example) my win 7 desktop - then, thankfully I can get into them without any bother.

Although this works now, it does seem a bit of a Heath Robinson way of doing things - I'm honestly astounded that Microsoft have made it more convoluted than it needs to be.



As an aside, I'd also read somewhere that windows 7 build 7057 was the major culprit in all this - all previous versions seemed to handle the job adequately - but since that version there have (to the best of my knowledge) been some major problems sharing files with other versions of windows. My build number is 7600 which still, it seems, has these same issues.

There really should be no need to involve IE and your IP address in any of this. In Windows 7, go to the Network and Sharing Centre and the Network, if any, will show in the left hand pane below the Homegroup - you may need to scroll down to see it. If it isn't, run the Wizard again in both machines.

I've networked twenty something of these mixed setups with only one problem and that was down to a software glitch in Sage Accounting - all others behave perfectly normally.

 

[cjb]

There really should be no need to involve IE and your IP address in any of this

Haha, so true...

I may have misinformed you though, I'm not using IE to access the folders, just windows explorer (usually from Computer) and, as I said, I have short-cuts now to those folders.

I tried the 'Set up a new network' wizard you mentioned - to be honest I'd never noticed it before as I've only had win 7 for a few days - but bizarrely that didn't seem to find my router, let alone anything else beyond it. Is this perhaps not the wizard you're referring to?

 

[Saga Lout]

There really should be no need to involve IE and your IP address in any of this

Haha, so true...

I may have misinformed you though, I'm not using IE to access the folders, just windows explorer (usually from Computer) and, as I said, I have short-cuts now to those folders.

I tried the 'Set up a new network' wizard you mentioned - to be honest I'd never noticed it before as I've only had win 7 for a few days - but bizarrely that didn't seem to find my router, let alone anything else beyond it. Is this perhaps not the wizard you're referring to?

I'll check that wizard when I get into the W7 system later this morning but the only problem I've encountered in W7 networking was that its Computer Browsing Service only seems to wake up and have a look round every twenty minutes against XP which did it every ten. That wouldn't stop it being able to see the router, though and I can only think it was only examining a connection which wasn't made - ethernet, if you're on wireless or perhaps vice versa.
[/#000ff]