Vista - How to connect to my workgroup

Hello everybody,
I am new to this forum and also to vista.
I work in an educational organization. We have a local workgroup setup and five or six departments have been give net connectivity. All our computers have xp installed, and when a new computer is loaded with xp, it used to detect the internet connection straight away, and would connect to the net. Now I have been asked to use vista so that slowly our organization can migrate to vista. I loaded vista on another partition on my computer. Everything was okay. But vista has not recognized my net connection. It has been asking for isp username and password, which were never asked by xp. So now
1. How to make vista understand that I have already a LAN card on my motherboard and my computer is connected to the net through the central server? Our net administrator would not divulge the username and password. He asked me to find out other means:"When xp can, why can't vista recognize?" was his question.
2. Once the connection is established, how do I connect to my workgroup? Just as in xp, my giving the workgroup name?

Your quick help will be appreciated.

We need more info to help you.
Does your network have a router that connects to the internet?
Do your computers use wireless or wired connections.
Post the system spec or computer model of the computer you are trying to link up.

If you care connecting through a lan then gointo control panel and select internet options.
Under connections select lan settings.
Click on automatically detect settings.
Post your results.

Thanks for the reply.
I solved one problem of internet connectivity by reinstalling the mobo's drivers. Vista has not recognized my Ethernet card.

But I could not automatically connect to my workgroup. I gave the workgroup name in the workgroup, but it is showing my computer only.

2. My monitor is an LCD 17" with the recommended resolution of 1440x900. How to set the correct display settings for it? Even though I used the advanced settings, I think a few more settings should be applied. Any suggestions on that front?

Thanks again

For number 2, find drivers for your LCD - then Vista will set all the settings correctly....

Is your computer showing on the other workgroup computers?
You may need to configure your firewall to allow the other computers on it.
As a diagnostic test, turn off the firewall. If the other computers appear then you need to reconfig the firewall.
Click on network and sharing centre. Ensure network discovery is on.

Happy New Year
Sorry I could not thank you people for your advice, been out of town for a couple of weeks.
The workgroup problem is solved. But the monitor problem remained. No drivers were found for LCD monitors. Mine is INTEX 1709w. Even the intex site has showed none, when I emailed them, they simply said, windows will automatically detect it, and there is no need for any drivers.
The best resolution suggested in the user manual, and also stickered on the monitor is 1440x900.
I am using xp/vista dual boot.
Both Xp and Vista have been adjusted to that resolution. But, when I reboot and go into the other OS (from vista to xp/or xp to vista), the screen is shifting, and I have to use the auto button on the monitor to adjust it back.
Why is this so? When both are set to the same resolution, xp and vista should behave in the same manner, isn't it?
How to fix this? Is there some other setting for widescreen display.

There are two main settings you need to look at, the resolution and the frequency of the signal. Check which OS has the better display. Normally faster is better but it depends on your needs and what the monitor can display.

I set both at 1440x900 resolution and 60hz refresher rate.
I don't find any difference in display. My problem is screen shift. I have to adjust the horizontal shift by auto adjustment.
May not be a big problem, but still an irksome one when I move from one os to another.

I expect the screen shift is due to the slight diferences in the drivers between the two OS.
Look in the advanced settings to see if you can find a horizontal slider.
I think you may be stuck with the problem unless you can get two drivers that are nearly the same for both OS. As soon as you swich OS there will be a slightly different signal.
Can your monitor Auto Configure when it gets a new signal?
Most monitors will auto configure when they are switched on, the problem you have is that there is no break in the signal but it is changing forcing you to get the monitor to auto configure manually.

Sorry, again was busy with office work and away from home. I'll check whether any advanced settings would work. But there seems to be no monitor drivers to be found anywhere. Even on the manufacturer's site. All say the plug-n-play monitors don't need any drivers, and windows can recognize them.