Problem networking between desktop and laptop

Good Ol' Ramos

Good Ol' Ramos

New Member
Now, I wouldn't be asking for help, but this just has me stumped. My desktop is running Vista, and my laptop is running XP SP2. Nothing shows up automatically as it should, even after installing some patch from Microsoft to remedy the issues in a Vista/XP network. All I want is basic file sharing, and I can't seem to do it. Any ideas? Oh, and I can access each computer from the router, but I don't really want to do that if I could just go to Network Places and BAM! Any ideas?
 
I just got vista myself, have not networked it yet. I think it is basically xp underneath so I will tell you generically what you need for peer to peer.
I assume you have a router and does the router have dhcp ?
..or are you using cross over cable
incase of the router can you get to the net on both machines ?

you workgroup name needs to be the same
you have to be on the same subnet ( if using dhcp, not to worry)
you have to your log on account on the other machine and vice-versa
so if you log on with "fred" fred has to be an account on the other machine
turn off all firewalls
share a folder on both machines.
 
Viking said:
I just got vista myself, have not networked it yet. I think it is basically xp underneath so I will tell you generically what you need for peer to peer.
I assume you have a router and does the router have dhcp ?
..or are you using cross over cable
incase of the router can you get to the net on both machines ?

you workgroup name needs to be the same
you have to be on the same subnet ( if using dhcp, not to worry)
you have to your log on account on the other machine and vice-versa
so if you log on with "fred" fred has to be an account on the other machine
turn off all firewalls
share a folder on both machines.
Click to expand...

More or less that's all true.

Although, for basic filesharing, there shouldn't be any need for user accounts... that is, if you are using the "shared" folder. Otherwise, yeah, you would need authentication, permissions etc...

Just check the workgroup and make sure your router/firewalls are configured and functional.
 
Although, for basic filesharing, there shouldn't be any need for user accounts... that is, if you are using the "shared" folder. Otherwise, yeah, you would need authentication, permissions etc...
Click to expand...

If you do not have your user account on the other pc AND you have a shared folder, your account will not be present to include in the permissions list or in the security tab access list.
So then when you access a resource on the other pc you will ALWAYS have the box that will pop up saying something like , " type in the name and password of someone who has an account on this machine" so then you have to type in someones account name and password of that pc. This of course if you have simple file sharing turned off in xp professional and xp home you can not turn it off, so home will be different. Yes there are accounts even if auto log in too
 
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Viking said:
If you do not have your user account on the other pc AND you have a shared folder, your account will not be present to include in the permissions list or in the security tab access list.
So then when you access a resource on the other pc you will ALWAYS have the box that will pop up saying something like , " type in the name and password of someone who has an account on this machine" so then you have to type in someones account name and password of that pc. This of course if you have simple file sharing turned off in xp professional and xp home you can not turn it off, so home will be different. Yes there are accounts even if auto log in too
Click to expand...


I'm talking about the 'shared documents' folder that comes with every XP install. Anyone on the workgroup has access to it. Ofcourse you probably only get Guest rights.

This was how I installed programs on my LAN before I had internet access. Rather than swap CDs on each machine, I just dropped the the programs in the shared folder and let everyone install them that way. There was never any authentication needed remotely.

It's been a long time, but I am almost certain that any workgroup users can access this folder.
 
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Well, my router is DHCP enabled, and I do have access to both the internet and the router from both computers. All I wanted to do was share the "My Documents" folders on each computer so I could listen to the music library from my desktop on my laptop, and my movie library from my laptop to my desktop. For a while the user names were the same, and that still did me no good. I'll check the workgroup, but should that even matter with the router and its' "DHCPness"?
 
All the DHCP does is manage IPs. The workgroup has to be the same (windows permission reasons) and the computer has to have proper authentication to access it.

It's most likely a Windows issue and has nothing to do with the router.
 
..and you have to have your log on account on the other machine and vice-versa or you will get a pop up everytime you try to connect asking for a user name and password from an account on the machine you are connecting to, unless you have the home version which only has simple file sharing, which xp professional has set by default. Only in xp prof it can be turned off.
 
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It's actually XP Pro and Vista Ultimate. There aren't any pop-ups or anything. It just doesn't work. I'll keep messing with it and report back. :)
 
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