Home Networking - for dummies

[Bender]

I have 2 XP boxes working together correctly (sharing certain folders, and a printer).
However, I have a new laptop (Vista) and I want to get it networked with my XP box. I am a Vista noob (so far I hate it). The new laptop does print to my printer connected to one of my XP machines, so that works ok. Also, the laptop does find Shared Docs on my XP machine, but I don't use Shared Docs folders.

Anyway, what I want to do is make a folder on the Vista laptop seeable by my main XP desktop. What I have done so far, is mark "share" on the laptop folder. I went to my XP box and searched for network shares, but it did not find the laptop. It does find all other computers in the house though. What do I need to do?

[ChumpDumper]

I don't have my Vista machine here, but I guess you can make sure you have the network type set to "home" in the Network Center instead of "public" or "work." That should make all the shared folders on the Vista machine visible to the other computers.

[Cry Havoc]

Go into control panel, network status. Make sure network discovery and print sharing is turned on.

[Bender]

thanks CD, I'll check that out tomorrow. Laptop is shut off for the night.

The vista laptop sees every other computer in the house ok (4 total), but other computers do not see the vista laptop, so you are probably right.

[koriwhat]

at work we have a network that includes 2 xp machines and 2 vista machines. anyhow the machine i was wanting to share from was one of the xp machines... i had to change the permissions for the share folder to allow guest access not only in the share tab but also in the security tab(that was the issue). now that i did all that i moved on to the vista machine and bam! there were the folders i setup on the xp.

[ChumpDumper]

thanks CD, I'll check that out tomorrow. Laptop is shut off for the night.

The vista laptop sees every other computer in the house ok (4 total), but other computers do not see the vista laptop, so you are probably right.The public/private setting can be changed in the Network and Sharing Center by choosing "Customize" in the first screen, or you might be able to just turn on all the sharing on that screen itself.

[koriwhat]

so any luck?

[Bender]

so any luck? just got home from work. will check in later with results, good or bad...

OK, made some progress with the suggestions above. My desktop XP machine now sees the laptop. When I double click on the laptop to connect to it, the XP machine prompts me for the user name and password to connect. I enter both correctly, and it says "Connecting" but it never connects, just keeps asking for the name and p/w.

I changed the Vista laptop from "public" to "private". windows says that will make it "discoverable" by other computers. I also turned on file sharing on the vista laptop. Just need to figure out how to connect from the XP desktop now.

I wonder if it has something to do with the name of the home network. Back when I set up our XP and win2000 machines, I called the home network "HOME".

[koriwhat]

make sure your network name/workgroup is the same.

ie; on the xp machine workgroup=home, on the vista machine workgroup=home


OK, made some progress with the suggestions above. My desktop XP machine now sees the laptop. When I double click on the laptop to connect to it, the XP machine prompts me for the user name and password to connect. I enter both correctly, and it says "Connecting" but it never connects, just keeps asking for the name and p/w.

this was exactly what was happening at my office on our network. i don't know if you checked whether or not "guest" access was enabled in the security tab for that shared folder but that was my hangup with our xp/vista network.

[koriwhat]

ps: have you tried printer sharing yet on your vista? that was a pain in the ass for me to setup. i actually had to install the network printer from a vista machine by network address... ie; //Vista/Epson

i have never come across such a half ass way of setting up a network in my life. i can't recall any other windowsOS being such a pain in said department. it's usually click, apply, and wahla! but not with vista i suppose.

[Bender]

My canon printer is connected to an XP box (currently my son's machine). My xp desktop will print to that printer just fine, as does the new vista laptop...
I didn't really do anything on the vista laptop about printer sharing, it just found the printer I guess... luckily.

[Cry Havoc]

Go into control panel, network status. Make sure network discovery and print sharing is turned on.


ps: have you tried printer sharing yet on your vista? that was a pain in the ass for me to setup.

Your self-stated knowledge is becoming more apparent every day. :rolleyes

[koriwhat]

Your self-stated knowledge is becoming more apparent every day. :rolleyes

it works doesn't it?

you make it out as if i know absolutely nothing which makes me :lmao. you don't think i didn't try all the regular network bs wizards and whatnot first? then found other users online with the same exact problem i was having? these thoughts didn't cross your mind did they?

as much as i'd like to say the wizard was the end all, it wasn't. i found a workaround which wasn't "hard" as it was annoying. it works, the network works great, and there have been no setbacks or hiccups yet.

haters wanna hate... lovahs wanna love... i don't want none of the above... i wanna piss on you... pee on you... HATER.

[Bender]

man, I am hating vista more and more every day. I have made a little progress, but still can't connect xp to vista...

on the vista laptop, I changed my "shared" folder from a directory I created on C: to a folder in the Public area. I read that shared stuff has to be in the Public area. So I have a folder in Music, that is marked "shared". However, in Networking and Sharing, when I click on "show me all the files and folders I am sharing" - it says I am not sharing anything :bang

when googling networking problems with vista, you get tons of hits, and lots of people complaining about it... good job Microsoft !!

[ChumpDumper]

OK, made some progress with the suggestions above. My desktop XP machine now sees the laptop. When I double click on the laptop to connect to it, the XP machine prompts me for the user name and password to connect. I enter both correctly, and it says "Connecting" but it never connects, just keeps asking for the name and p/w.Are you using the account name and pw for your Vista machine when trying to access it from the XP machine? That works for me.

[koriwhat]

cry havoc, where ya at with all your solutions and great insight? bitch!

[FTL]

cry havoc, where ya at with all your solutions and great insight? bitch!

:lol

[Bender]

Are you using the account name and pw for your Vista machine when trying to access it from the XP machine?
yep


cry havoc, where ya at with all your solutions and great insight?

yeah, Havoc, you disappeared.... :depressed

[koriwhat]

yeah, Havoc, you disappeared.... :depressed

when they(haters) can't backup their own bs they go run and hide.

[ChumpDumper]

yephmm. Do you have an administrator account set up on the Vista machine? Maybe that name would override anything else that might be hampering it. I guess you could check your windows firewall settings or any other firewall software you might have, but I think they wouldn't have let you get that far in the first place. Sorry I can't speak authoritatively on this. Mine just works.

[Bender]

I'll check that when I get home. from what I remember, I set up myself as Admin on the vista machine... or maybe just a user... not sure.

I bought the laptop used from Mr. Laptop in san antonio. I should stop by there during one of my lunch hours sometime and ask them. The guys that work there are pretty up on all this stuff...

[Laker Lanny]

Why not use windows 98? It only takes 5 minutes!
Just put *Spurs season as a restore date. :lmao

[Cry Havoc]

cry havoc, where ya at with all your solutions and great insight? bitch!

Unlike others, I don't regurgitate what's already been said in a thread and then try to pawn it off as my own suggestion. Just what the hell have you said to the OP that has helped him one ounce lately? You with your 12 years of computer tech knowledge should be able to knock this out in 5 minutes, right? Right? koriwhat? Why haven't you offered any solutions yourself, Mr. Self-proclaimed PC fixer guy?

Nice that you finally admit you were just repeating what I had already stated, though. :king

[Cry Havoc]

I'll check that when I get home. from what I remember, I set up myself as Admin on the vista machine... or maybe just a user... not sure.

I bought the laptop used from Mr. Laptop in san antonio. I should stop by there during one of my lunch hours sometime and ask them. The guys that work there are pretty up on all this stuff...

Maybe you have a firewall up that's blocking it. What anti-virus are you running. Make sure you have the files you want in the public folder (most likely under your name), and make sure that when you go to access those folders you are not going through C:

Let me know what you find out with the admin setup that Chump suggested.

[koriwhat]

at work we have a network that includes 2 xp machines and 2 vista machines. anyhow the machine i was wanting to share from was one of the xp machines... i had to change the permissions for the share folder to allow guest access not only in the share tab but also in the security tab(that was the issue). now that i did all that i moved on to the vista machine and bam! there were the folders i setup on the xp.

hey CH i believe no one mentioned that but me? not saying it helped the op out or anything but i did contribute unlike...


Maybe you have a firewall up that's blocking it.
been suggested already...


What anti-virus are you running.
asked already...


Make sure you have the files you want in the public folder
suggested once again...


make sure that when you go to access those folders you are not going through C:
so with all my experience i am the dumbass? you are basically saying to the op, "hey you're a fuckin' idiot and i know you know how to get into windows explorer but you don't know the difference between c:, d:, //network, etc..."

why suggest anything if you are gonna assume the op doesn't know shit anyhow?

ps: i'm just trying to strike a nerve with ya CH. just trying to throw the shit back at ya like you do to me with all your twists and turns. all for shits and giggles. :king

[Cry Havoc]

hey CH i believe no one mentioned that but me? not saying it helped the op out or anything but i did contribute unlike...


been suggested already...


asked already...


suggested once again...


so with all my experience i am the dumbass? you are basically saying to the op, "hey you're a fuckin' idiot and i know you know how to get into windows explorer but you don't know the difference between c:, d:, //network, etc..."

why suggest anything if you are gonna assume the op doesn't know shit anyhow?

ps: i'm just trying to strike a nerve with ya CH. just trying to throw the shit back at ya like you do to me with all your twists and turns. all for shits and giggles. :king

Meh. I'm just trying to help the OP.

[Tenacious D]

"hey you're a fuckin' all for shits and giggles. :king


:lmao

[Bender]

Maybe you have a firewall up that's blocking it. What anti-virus are you running. Make sure you have the files you want in the public folder (most likely under your name), and make sure that when you go to access those folders you are not going through C:

Let me know what you find out with the admin setup that Chump suggested.

ok, let's see... I use Avast! as my AV, which I found out about in the "Free Software" thread.
Regarding the "public" folder, yes I have changed the shared folder to the public folder. I originally created a folder on C:, and then marked it shared. Then I read somewhere that shared info has to be in your public folder, so I moved it to my public folder.

[Cry Havoc]

ok, let's see... I use Avast! as my AV, which I found out about in the "Free Software" thread.
Regarding the "public" folder, yes I have changed the shared folder to the public folder. I originally created a folder on C:, and then marked it shared. Then I read somewhere that shared info has to be in your public folder, so I moved it to my public folder.

The public folder is located outside of your C:, right?

[Bender]

I put the shared folder in the My Music folder, which from what I understand is a Public shared location.

I just got off the phone with Mr. Notebook, the place where I bought the notebook, and their suggestion was "get on google"... :rolleyes

I'm tempted to buy another XP CD, and install it on the notebook, wiping out vista.

Or do you think vista is better?

[Cry Havoc]

I put the shared folder in the My Music folder, which from what I understand is a Public shared location.

I just got off the phone with Mr. Notebook, the place where I bought the notebook, and their suggestion was "get on google"... :rolleyes

I'm tempted to buy another XP CD, and install it on the notebook, wiping out vista.

Or do you think vista is better?

I guess that depends. I'm not a huge fan of Vista over XP, but I do like Vista better for my desktop because it's actually a significant improvement, performance wise. I have 4 GB of RAM, however. If I had a computer with under 2 gigs, I'd use XP.

Alternatively, you could take it to a local computer shop (other than that one, which is offering ridiculous advice). They might know how to try a few things that I haven't thought of.

[koriwhat]

i can't believe it's becoming so difficult for you bender. i thought the network problems i was having at work were a pain but damn this problem you have none of us can figure out. if i were there messing with the computer i might be able to get it going for ya... you in san antonio?

btw, the vista computers i setup at work on our network aren't sharing folders in the public folder. i just simply shared whatever i wanted to and all is good, so you might be able to eliminate the whole "shares have to be placed in a public folder".

[Bender]

koriwhat... I'm not putting a huge effort into solving this... I'm an impatient old guy, who just wants stuff to work, and not fuck around for hours on something that should easily work :lol That's why I took the lazy way, and asked about it here.

Yesterday, the computer networking company that handles our computers at work stopped by the office to check on things, and I asked the owner about the problem. He said with vista it could be a dozen things. he said he could help me out with it if I stop by his shop.

Cry Havoc... this is the only Vista computer I have ever used. I admit it seems to boot faster and shut down faster than xp or win2k. The laptop has 2GB of RAM.
I just noticed while viewing System Information, that my HP laptop says manufacturer is Dell..??

so far, I think xp is much more user friendly.

[Bender]

oops, looks like I was wrong about the public area. I though Music was in the public area, but it looks like there is another Music folder in Public Area (which is empty now). Oh well, tomorrows another day...