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Win 7 and home network

I have a client with 3 home workstations. 2 laptops connect via a wireless router. The third is hard wired to the router. The hardwired unit is Win XP SP3. One of the laptops is Vista Home. The third device is a Win 7 Home laptop. All 3 work great to the web, however, the problem is that even while all the necessary drives are shared, the permissions are in place on all machines, the Win 7 machine fails to connect to the other two devices and their respective shares. They are all in the same workgroup. I cannot find a reason why the Win 7 device can't, or won't, play nice with the other 2 machines. What have I missed?

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malkaj01

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John

Make sure in the Windows 7 machine that you are not trying to use Homegroup. Then try turning off firewalls temporarily to see if they are blocking you. Look at Control Panel -> Network and Sharing center -> Advanced sharing options -> Home and Work and make sure the sharing options and network discovery are all allowed.

Then try a command prompt connection:
NET USE Z: \\otherpc\folder and authenticate
What error do you get.

... Thinkpads_User

Jim White

ASKER

Hi,
Malkaj01. I believe the the everyone group is in the right place, but I'll double-check to be safe.
thinkpads_users. I'll double check your options and I'll try the command connection, something I have not done.

Thank you both and I'll let you know how I make out after the holiday.

jwhite

LeeTutor

Here is a good tutorial to share files and printers between Windows 7 and Windows XP:

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-7/share-files-and-printers-between-windows-7-and-xp/

And this article includes Windows Vista in the mix:

http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1405566
How to Network Windows 7, Vista, and XP Computers

senad

You must have file sharing enabled ....

Jim White

ASKER

Hi Senad,
Already done, but definitely easy to miss.

Thanks,
jwhite

senad

passwords on all machines ?

Jim White

ASKER

Senad,
Not that I remember. Tell me it's not that easy....

LeeTutor

jwhite273, any feedback?

Jim White

ASKER

Not yet. I was unable to contact the client as it was a holiday weeend and we were not working. We are back today so I'll give him a call and let you know.

Thanks,
Jwhite

Jim White

ASKER

Seeing client tomorrow. Will close this when I get back.

Jim White

ASKER

Ok. The Windows 7 laptop works to the Vista machine just fine now. The Vista machine can see the Windows 7 laptop but cnannot connect to it (username\password no good. Same username and password throughout. Any ideas? All units are doing remote sharing, all passwords are the same, all HDD are shared. Something is going to get kicked shortly.

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senad

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Jim White

ASKER

Password protection off. Able to see Win 7 laptop but unable to access users files. Public folder accessible. Checked to see if there is anything on user profile stopping me. Nothing so far.

Jim White

ASKER

Everyone was missing from one of the machines. Once connections were made, sharing was possible. Unfortunately, the XP box still cannot either Vista or Win 7 machines.