XP / Vista Network Problems

[#1]

Im trying to network an XP PC with a new Vista PC. I have the internet connection up and running using a Belkin wireless router but im struggling to get them to see each other to share files. Both machines have the same workgroup name and the vista network is set to private with local and internet and I have even installed the (LLTDR) plugin from MS on the XP machine so that it can be seen on the vista one. Network discovery is on, file sharing is on, public folder sharing is on, no printer, password is off ,and media is on. What else can i try?
Any help appreciated.

[#2]

Having spent five days this past week trying to get my old W98SE box to talk to my new XP Pro machine, I can only speak from painful experience when I ask you such an obvious question:
What firewalls do you have?
The reason I say this is that there's a firewall on my (wired) Netgear router, so I disabled the built-in XP firewall (apart from the consideration that that is as much use as a one-legged man in an a**e-kicking contest), but I still couldn't get the 98 machine even to ping the XP one (the XP machine could get into the 98 one fine).
Turns out that my new machine came with a trial version of F-Secure Internet Security on it. I'd thought that it was just an AV program, but I realised there was a firewall on it as well, and that was set to block. Deactivated it, and my machines can now share (and enjoy!).
You may have similar software on one or both of your machines. If your router has a firewall, you should be safe switching the software ones off - at least to see if that's what's preventing the two machines from sharing.
HTH

[#3]

Hi, I assume that my Belkin has its own firewall and I am using Zonealarm also. I de-activated ZA temporarily on both machines to see if this was effecting it but alas no change.

[#4]

I have no specific advice but in preparation for going to Vista on my new machine I stored these bookmarks which may help
linky1
linky2
linky3
linky4
linky5

[#5]

Thanks Jim, most of the settings i have already done except Linky 4. Will try that shortly.

[#6]

Yeah firewalls are definately a pain on a network sometimes.
I remember my early days of networking... I'd install ZA on a PC remotely using Remote Desktop... it would get half way through a install and then the screen would freeze. Took me 1.5 days to realise that 1.2 way through the ZA install, it was blocking RD....
Even now I still sometimes forget to allow certain IP ranges for my network in a freshly installed ZA (which incidentally has the truevetor windows service for XP - despite the fact that zonelabs say there is no protection if your not logged on..)

[#7]

Vista wont let you connect to a pc if there is no password set. you need the same account with the same username and password on both pc's and logon to both pc's using the same username password.
You sometimes have to set the Vista fire wall to let you get in disable it to start with and the xp one to see if this solves it reboot before you try it.

[#8]

@samuria
Surely there must be a way round that as it would be absolutely impossible on a decent size home network.

[#9]

Thats why Microsoft have the Domain model, as well as the Workgroup model:
The administrative effort increases exponentially as the network grows within a workgroup, whereas the required effort increases much more slowly where a domain is used.
Its not hugely different to the way its always been for workgroups as I understand it, except that now blank passwords are prohibited.

[#10]

Quote from: samuria

Vista wont let you connect to a pc if there is no password set. you need the same account with the same username and password on both pc's and logon to both pc's using the same username password.

Quote from: James_H

Its not hugely different to the way its always been for workgroups as I understand it, except that now blank passwords are prohibited.

This is a significant change from XP/98 workgroups where there was no requirement to have identical username and paswords on each PC although blank passwords wouldn't work on the 98 machine.

[#11]

To access network resources, you have always needed to provide credentials that the machine hosting the resource could verify.
In the workgroup model, credentials are validated using the local SAM database, thus the user has to be in existence on that machine.
If you had used the default blank password for the administrative accounts on all machines in the workgroup, they would have been successfully validated against any machine hosting a network resource.
Vista prevents the use of blank passwords, thus the validation fails.

[#12]

If that is correct then all the users on the network need to have logins on every machine to access files which are shared and to access shared printers. Surely this can't be right.

[#13]

Yep, thats why Microsoft workgroups are universally hated!
High administrative burden, with little real benefit.
The domain model is the way to go for centrally managed security, but ATM it costs a good few quid, as you need a server OS to operate as a domain controller.
I believe the upcoming Microsoft Home Server may serve as a domain controller for your home network, but its an anecdotal suspicion based upon my somewhat vague recollection of a conversation I had a few weeks ago.

[#14]

just done a bit more digging http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/bb727037.aspx - relevant bit in bold

Quote

To enable password protected sharing, do the following:   1.  In the Sharing and Discovery section of the Network and Sharing Center window, click the down arrow next to Password protected sharing.   2.  Within the Password protected sharing settings, click Turn on password protected sharing, and then click Apply. Password Protected Sharing With password protected sharing enabled, other computers on your network will not be able to access your shared folders, including the Public folder, without a user name or password that corresponds to a user account on the computer with the shared folder. When a user on another computer tries to connect to the shared folder, they will send the user name and password of the account that they used to log on to their own computer. For example, if they logged on to their computer with the “Bob” account and a password, then the “Bob” name with its password is sent when connecting to a shared folder on another computer. If there is a “Bob” account with its password on the computer that is sharing the folder, the shared folder connection will be successful (provided the "Bob" account is specified as one of the accounts that can access the share). However, if there is no “Bob” account on the computer that is sharing the folder, the shared folder connection will fail and the user on the other computer will be prompted with a dialog box to type in a user name and password. At this point, the user on the computer attempting to connect can type the name and password of an account on the computer sharing the folder that is specified as one of the accounts that can access the share. To prevent shared folder connection failures, you can do one of the following:     *  Add the same accounts and passwords to all of the computers on your network       For example, if you have three computers in your home and four family members that use them, add all four accounts with their passwords corresponding to your family members to all three computers. When this is done, each family member can access the shared folders of the other computers, regardless of which computer they are using. This is the recommended method, which provides protection of shared folders and prevents shared folder connection failures.     *  Disable password protected sharing When you disable password protected sharing, the computer sharing the folder does not require a user account or password. Anyone on your network can access the shared folders of the computer (provided the folder was shared for the Guest or Everyone account). This behavior is equivalent to simple file sharing in Windows XP. To disable password protected sharing, do the following:   1. In the Sharing and Discovery section of the Network and Sharing Center window, click the down arrow next to Password protected sharing.   2.  Within the Password protected sharing settings, click Turn off password protected sharing, and then click Apply.

Just to add I picked this up from this link which may be useful http://forums.microsoft.com/technet/showpost.aspx?postid=1292268&siteid=17&sb=0&d=1&at=7&ft=11&tf=0&...

[#15]

Thanks for all of your replies, still no joy im afraid. I can now see the 'Vista' Pc under network on the 'XP' machine but cannot access any files.
Thinking now of ditching Vista for XP snd sending Microsoft the bill.....