I have a desktop running Vista Home Premium that is connected to a Ethernet
cable router. A cable modem is connected to the router, and the desktop can
access the internet this way.

There is also an access point connected to the router. I have a laptop also
running Vista Home Premium that can access the network and internet
wirelessly through the access point, router and cable modem.

But the two Vista machines cannot see each other. File sharing is turned on
for both machines. And there is a shared printer on the desktop. But the
desktop cannot access the laptop; and the laptop cannot access the desktop.



To make things even stranger, there is an old XP Pro machine connected to
the router. The laptop and the XP Pro machine can share files. But neither
can access the Vista desktop.

The desktop can ping the router and the access point, but not the laptop or
the XP machine.

Any ideas as to how to get the desktop to communicate with the laptop and
other computers on the network?

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..

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l.../bb727037.aspx

Have a read of the above link re Vista File and Printer Sharing.
How to give Permissions are there, too.

1st thing to do is make sure that the Workgroup Name of ALL the computers is
the SAME.

In Vista Network and Sharing:

Network Discovery: ON (So it can see the other computers)

Network set to Private (Public is for hotspots, airports, etc)

File Sharing: ON

Public Folder Sharing: ON (Vista’s Public Folder is the same as XP’s Shared
Docs)

Password Protected: OFF (unless you want to set up identical usernames and
passwords on ALL computers in your Network) If you have it ON, you will be
asked for a username and password when you try to access a Vista computer
from an XP computer.

Also, run the XP’s Home Network File and Printer sharing Wizard.


"Ken Peck" wrote:

> I have a desktop running Vista Home Premium that is connected to a Ethernet
> cable router. A cable modem is connected to the router, and the desktop can
> access the internet this way.
>
> There is also an access point connected to the router. I have a laptop also
> running Vista Home Premium that can access the network and internet
> wirelessly through the access point, router and cable modem.
>
> But the two Vista machines cannot see each other. File sharing is turned on
> for both machines. And there is a shared printer on the desktop. But the
> desktop cannot access the laptop; and the laptop cannot access the desktop.
>
> To make things even stranger, there is an old XP Pro machine connected to
> the router. The laptop and the XP Pro machine can share files. But neither
> can access the Vista desktop.
>
> The desktop can ping the router and the access point, but not the laptop or
> the XP machine.
>
> Any ideas as to how to get the desktop to communicate with the laptop and
> other computers on the network?
>
> --
> ..
>
>