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Win 7 on an XP workgroup - any experience?

Simon_M
Grafter
Posts: 685
Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Win 7 on an XP workgroup - any experience?

Has anyone any experience of adding a Win 7 machine to an existing XP workgroup?
I've just been asked the following:-
"We have a small workgroup of XP Pro computers. One of the desktop PCs acts as 'server' for certain applications - all the data is accessed from the hard disk on that PC. The other computers have drive mapping set to see a folder on that PC as a drive letter (M:).
We plan to change a laptop currently running XP Pro for one running Win 7 Business."
I know that all the applications in question are fine with Win 7 when running in a fully Win 7 environment, so this is really a Workgroup networking question. Can Win 7 play happily with XP Pro in a Workgroup situation? Anyone tried it yet?
9 REPLIES 9
Oldjim
Resting Legend
Posts: 38,460
Thanks: 787
Fixes: 63
Registered: ‎15-06-2007

Re: Win 7 on an XP workgroup - any experience?

worked automatically with no problem at all but I don't know about drive mapping
orbrey
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 10,540
Registered: ‎18-07-2007

Re: Win 7 on an XP workgroup - any experience?

Just added a network drive to a virtual machine running Win2K from another Win7 machine and it worked like a charm. This was configured with advanced permissions so allows write access based on username/password and there's no issues there either.
So it should work fine.
Simon_M
Grafter
Posts: 685
Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: Win 7 on an XP workgroup - any experience?

Cheers guys. I know it *should* work, but it's always nice to have confirmation. Not sure how much store to put on the fact that W2k worked though - several networking things worked in W2k that seemed to suddenly stop working in XP.
My impression was that Microsoft expected all XP Pro machines to be connected to Domains & that XP Home would be used on Workgroups. So they rather forgot about Workgroups on Pro & there were all sorts of permissions oddities.
Be glad of any further observations if anyone else has tried it - even if it's just 'it worked'. It would be useful to know the respective versions of XP & Win 7 involved in any particular setup as well.
Thanks for your help.
Oldjim
Resting Legend
Posts: 38,460
Thanks: 787
Fixes: 63
Registered: ‎15-06-2007

Re: Win 7 on an XP workgroup - any experience?

XP home (I think that was what it was called) and Win7 Premium and Win7 ultimate RC
Simon_M
Grafter
Posts: 685
Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: Win 7 on an XP workgroup - any experience?

Ah, thanks Jim. That's not so encouraging then. I don't know if it's valid to carry through XP experience to Win 7, but while Workgroups & XP Home seems to work fine, XP Pro never seemed all that happy with them. Mostly it works, but it always seems to be looking over it's shoulder for a domain controller or something.
Unfortunately, networking at that level is not my area of expertise.  Embarrassed
HPsauce
Pro
Posts: 6,998
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Registered: ‎02-02-2008

Re: Win 7 on an XP workgroup - any experience?

Windows 7 has a new sharing concept called HomeGroup which applies to W7 only networks.
I've happily added W7 to my existing XP sharing workgroup network (non-domain) and (with a few printer driver issues) it all works like XP.
BUT I wouldn't want to set up a W7 system as the "core" of an XP style workgroup network.
Simon_M
Grafter
Posts: 685
Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: Win 7 on an XP workgroup - any experience?

Sounds encouraging - that's the same sort of configuration we are talking about here.
Which versions of XP & Win 7 are in use - Home or Pro/Business?
Oldjim
Resting Legend
Posts: 38,460
Thanks: 787
Fixes: 63
Registered: ‎15-06-2007

Re: Win 7 on an XP workgroup - any experience?

There was one thing I needed to do to guarantee the Win7 machine seeing the XP machine was to install LLTD on all the XP machines
http://www.tim.id.au/blog/2009/02/01/mapping-your-network-with-windows-7/
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922120
johpal
Grafter
Posts: 550
Registered: ‎20-04-2008

Re: Win 7 on an XP workgroup - any experience?

My wife's new laptop (64-bit Win7) integrated almost perfectly (and automatically) to my XP Home workgroup. The stumbling block was the printer: the network is set up on 32-bit XP home PC's. Got round this by "printing to file" on the Win7 machine and writing a little DOS batch file to copy the binary file (copy filename printername /b) to the printer instead.