Home Network with Vista & XP

[Bearcat Bc]

I have recently setup a home lan network using a linksys router connected to
Qwest DSL modem (wireless capable) and 3 computers and 1 network printer.
The 3 computers are: 1 laptop running XP Pro, 1 laptop running Vista Home
Premium, and 1 desktop running XP Home. Wireless is also connected via the
Qwest modem. All shared drives and folders map with no problems from all
computers. Problem: the vista laptop can see all terminals on the work group
but the xp terminals cannot see the vista terminal in the network. This not
necessarily a problem since all map and printer is available to all, just
curious if vista causes this problem?

Another issue : the xp terminals can share local printers but not the local
printer attached to the vista machine.
Bc

 

[Lem]

I have recently setup a home lan network using a linksys router
connected to Qwest DSL modem (wireless capable) and 3 computers and 1
network printer. The 3 computers are: 1 laptop running XP Pro, 1 laptop
running Vista Home Premium, and 1 desktop running XP Home. Wireless is
also connected via the Qwest modem. All shared drives and folders map
with no problems from all computers. Problem: the vista laptop can see
all terminals on the work group but the xp terminals cannot see the
vista terminal in the network. This not necessarily a problem since all
map and printer is available to all, just curious if vista causes this
problem?

Another issue : the xp terminals can share local printers but not the
local printer attached to the vista machine.
Bc

You could have several problems going on here.

1. Make sure that "network discovery" is turned on in the Vista machine.
2. If you are running a non-Windows firewall (esp. on the Vista box),
make sure it is configured to permit local network traffic.
3. It sounds as if you actually have two routers. If it is the source of
your wireless network, the Qwest "modem" is a router. It's likely that
the Qwest wireless router and the Linksys router are assigning IP
addresses in different subnets. Devices on different subnets can't
communicate directly. If the Vista box is connected via wireless and the
rest of the equipment is connected via wire to the Linksys router, this
could be your issue. Posting the results of ipconfig /all from all of
your computers might be a help.

Canned networking advice from MS-MVP Malke:

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. In Vista, turn Password Protected Sharing ON. 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:

XP - Configure Windows to Automatically Login (MVP Ramesh) -
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/Autologon.htm

Vista - Start Orb>Search box>type: netplwiz [enter]
Click on Continue (or supply an administrator's password) when prompted by
UAC

Uncheck the option "Users must enter a user name and password to use this
computer". Select a user account to automatically log on by clicking on the
desired account to highlight it and then hit OK. Enter the correct password
for that user account (if there is one) when prompted. Leave it blank if
there is no password (null).

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.

 

[Bearcat Bc]

Thanks Lem,
The problem was in the naming on the vista terminal for the work group.
Vista's default name "Workgroup" reverted after original setup for some
reason. Thought I had it correct the first time. Once corrected I was able
to share the local vista printer as well All is good.
Bc

I have recently setup a home lan network using a linksys router connected
to Qwest DSL modem (wireless capable) and 3 computers and 1 network
printer. The 3 computers are: 1 laptop running XP Pro, 1 laptop running
Vista Home Premium, and 1 desktop running XP Home. Wireless is also
connected via the Qwest modem. All shared drives and folders map with no
problems from all computers. Problem: the vista laptop can see all
terminals on the work group but the xp terminals cannot see the vista
terminal in the network. This not necessarily a problem since all map and
printer is available to all, just curious if vista causes this problem?

Another issue : the xp terminals can share local printers but not the
local printer attached to the vista machine.
Bc

You could have several problems going on here.

1. Make sure that "network discovery" is turned on in the Vista machine.
2. If you are running a non-Windows firewall (esp. on the Vista box), make
sure it is configured to permit local network traffic.
3. It sounds as if you actually have two routers. If it is the source of
your wireless network, the Qwest "modem" is a router. It's likely that the
Qwest wireless router and the Linksys router are assigning IP addresses in
different subnets. Devices on different subnets can't communicate
directly. If the Vista box is connected via wireless and the rest of the
equipment is connected via wire to the Linksys router, this could be your
issue. Posting the results of ipconfig /all from all of your computers
might be a help.

Canned networking advice from MS-MVP Malke:

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. In Vista, turn Password Protected Sharing ON. 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:

XP - Configure Windows to Automatically Login (MVP Ramesh) -
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/Autologon.htm

Vista - Start Orb>Search box>type: netplwiz [enter]
Click on Continue (or supply an administrator's password) when prompted
by UAC

Uncheck the option "Users must enter a user name and password to use this
computer". Select a user account to automatically log on by clicking on
the desired account to highlight it and then hit OK. Enter the correct
password for that user account (if there is one) when prompted. Leave it
blank if there is no password (null).

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.

--
Lem

Apollo 11 - 40 years ago:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/40th/index.html