"Malke" wrote:

> yorksub wrote:
>
> > Desktop running XP wired to wireless modem
> > Printer                   wired to wireless modem
> > Laptop   Running Vista and wireless.
> >
> > That is my network.
> >
> > My Laptop can access my desktop and printer fine.
> >
> > My desk top can not access the Laptop.
> >
> > I have checked the sharing. The laptop is shared.
> > Both use the workgroup name of MSHOME
> > I have turned off the firewalls on both computers.
>
> Excellent, thorough, yet easy to understand article about File/Printer
> Sharing in Vista. Includes details about sharing printers as well as files
> and folders:
>
> http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb727037.aspx
>
> For XP, start by running the Network Setup Wizard on all machines (see
> caveat in Item A below).
>
> Problems sharing files between computers on a network are generally caused
> by 1) a misconfigured firewall or overlooked firewall (including a stateful
> firewall in a VPN); or 2) inadvertently running two firewalls such as the
> built-in Windows Firewall and a third-party firewall; and/or 3) not having
> identical user accounts and passwords on all Workgroup machines; 4) trying
> to create shares where the operating system does not permit it.
>
> A. Configure firewalls on all machines to allow the Local Area Network (LAN)
> traffic as trusted. With Windows Firewall, this means allowing File/Printer
> Sharing on the Exceptions tab. Normally running the Network Setup Wizard on
> XP will take care of this for those machines.The only "gotcha" is that this
> will turn on the XPSP2 Windows Firewall. If you aren't running a
> third-party firewall or have an antivirus/security program with its own
> firewall component, then you're fine.  With third-party firewalls, I
> usually configure the LAN allowance with an IP range. Ex. would be
> 192.168.1.0-192.168.1.254. Obviously you would substitute your correct
> subnet. Refer to any third party security program's Help or user forums for
> how to properly configure its firewall. Do not run more than one firewall.
> DO NOT TURN OFF FIREWALLS; CONFIGURE THEM CORRECTLY.
>
> B. For ease of organization, put all computers in the same Workgroup. This
> is done from the System applet in Control Panel, Computer Name tab.
>
> C. Create matching user accounts and passwords on all machines. You do not
> need to be logged into the same account on all machines and the passwords
> assigned to each user account can be different; the accounts/passwords just
> need to exist and match on all machines. DO NOT NEGLECT TO CREATE
> PASSWORDS, EVEN IF ONLY SIMPLE ONES. If you wish a machine to boot directly
> to the Desktop (into one particular user's account) for convenience, you
> can do this. The instructions at this link work for both XP and Vista:
>
> Configure Windows to Automatically Login (MVP Ramesh) -
> http://windowsxp.mvps.org/Autologon.htm
>
> D. If one or more of the computers is XP Pro or Media Center, turn off
> Simple File Sharing (Folder Options>View tab).
>
> E. Create shares as desired. XP Home does not permit sharing of users' home
> directories or Program Files, but you can share folders inside those
> directories. A better choice is to simply use the Shared Documents folder.
> See the first link above for details about Vista sharing.
>
> Malke
> --
> MS-MVP
> Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
> http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ
>
>