Vista - File Sharing Vista to XP

Apparently like many others, I am baffled about how to share files between an
XP and Vista computer in my home network.

The workgroups are now the same on both computers

I can see all files I want on the XP system from the Vista system after
setting sharing at the folder level on the XP.

When I tried to share a small folder (18 files) on the Vista system, in the
dialog box I specify "Everyone". A box came up saying it was sharing and it
would take a few minutes. Four hours later it said the files were shared,
but when I go to the XP system, I can't see the files. (I had done this same
procedure with one file and it worked, but again, it took forever.)

I would like to specify one user on the XP system to be able to access the
files. Do I need to set up that same user name on the Vista system? If so,
why?
--
Lyle
Montrose, Colorado

Hello Lyle,

By default, password-protected sharing is turned on in Windows Vista. This
means you need to create an identical username and password for both
computers. Without additional information it is kinda hard to diagnose the
issue that you are having. If you haven't already, I suggest that you go
through the steps in this TechNet Article and see if this helps you.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/net.../vista_fp.mspx

--
Eric Cross
Microsoft MVP (Windows Networking)
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com


"Montrose Lyle" <MontroseLyle@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:777DFDDB-EB06-4263-A708-671FBA96D995@microsoft.com...
> Apparently like many others, I am baffled about how to share files between
> an
> XP and Vista computer in my home network.
>
> The workgroups are now the same on both computers
>
> I can see all files I want on the XP system from the Vista system after
> setting sharing at the folder level on the XP.
>
> When I tried to share a small folder (18 files) on the Vista system, in
> the
> dialog box I specify "Everyone". A box came up saying it was sharing and
> it
> would take a few minutes. Four hours later it said the files were shared,
> but when I go to the XP system, I can't see the files. (I had done this
> same
> procedure with one file and it worked, but again, it took forever.)
>
> I would like to specify one user on the XP system to be able to access the
> files. Do I need to set up that same user name on the Vista system? If
> so,
> why?
> --
> Lyle
> Montrose, Colorado

Hi Eric,

I spent the afternoon reviewing the web page you suggested. I set up
identical usernames/passswords on both computers, checked my firewall
permissions and got it to work, but only once. After the first success, I
couldn't get the XP machine to recognize the Vista system. I would go to "My
Network Places" and see the "Users" folder as I had before. When I tried to
access them, I was asked for user name and password. Neither of my two user
names/password combos worked. I finally shut both systems down and rebooted
them. I can now access the User folder and subfolders stored on the Vista
machine from the XP machine.

I went back to the Vista machine to share another folder. The "Sharing
Files" window opened, the message says "Sharing items.. This may take a few
minutes". That started over an hour ago. There is nothing of the file
folder information bar at the bottom that says "Files shared with ...". With
this afternoon's folders, that information appeared almost immediately after
I asked it to share the files. I could see the files almost immediately from
the XP system. The trouble was that after two hours the file sharing window
never went away and I cancelled the operation. Even though it was cancelled,
the operation still worked. This time, it doesn't appear to be working at
all.

There are only 3 documents in the folder I chose to share. What could be
taking so long?
--
Lyle
Montrose, Colorado


"Eric Cross [MVP]" wrote:

> Hello Lyle,
>
> By default, password-protected sharing is turned on in Windows Vista. This
> means you need to create an identical username and password for both
> computers. Without additional information it is kinda hard to diagnose the
> issue that you are having. If you haven't already, I suggest that you go
> through the steps in this TechNet Article and see if this helps you.
>
> http://www.microsoft.com/technet/net.../vista_fp.mspx
>
> --
> Eric Cross
> Microsoft MVP (Windows Networking)
> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
>
>
> "Montrose Lyle" <MontroseLyle@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:777DFDDB-EB06-4263-A708-671FBA96D995@microsoft.com...
> > Apparently like many others, I am baffled about how to share files between
> > an
> > XP and Vista computer in my home network.
> >
> > The workgroups are now the same on both computers
> >
> > I can see all files I want on the XP system from the Vista system after
> > setting sharing at the folder level on the XP.
> >
> > When I tried to share a small folder (18 files) on the Vista system, in
> > the
> > dialog box I specify "Everyone". A box came up saying it was sharing and
> > it
> > would take a few minutes. Four hours later it said the files were shared,
> > but when I go to the XP system, I can't see the files. (I had done this
> > same
> > procedure with one file and it worked, but again, it took forever.)
> >
> > I would like to specify one user on the XP system to be able to access the
> > files. Do I need to set up that same user name on the Vista system? If
> > so,
> > why?
> > --
> > Lyle
> > Montrose, Colorado
>
>