Vista Home Premium

[Susan]

I am trying to help someone running Vista Home Premium setup his network to
share files and folders with his XP Home laptop.

Oddly enough, there are no share options AT ALL. No share buttons or no
share options in the context menus -- NOTHING.

We've named the network and simply went out to share a printer (which we
have the option to share) but it turns itself off. Same in Network and
Sharing Center. We turn the options ON and then turn themselves OFF. We've
done all the rebooting, etc. and still no go.

I have gone through all the disabling of the UAC and ownership and
permissions, et. al. but, can't get anywhere without the SHARE OPTION being
available. Is his install of Windows Vista Home Premium broken or needing to
be reinstalled? Could that be the problem? Could it have been setup
improperly?

I have successfully done this before on my Vista Business computer and my XP
Pro laptop and although i did have a few 'permission' problems, they were at
least workable.

Can someone help?
Thanks so much in advance.
Susan

 

[David Webb]

You may be better served by posting this question to a more relevant newsgroup,
such as microsoft.public.windows.vista.networking_sharing.

 

[Mick Murphy]

Susan; below is how I recommend to do it.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb727037.aspx

Have a read of the above link re Vista File and Printer Sharing.

Permissions/Share info is there as well.

If using Norton, McAfee, Trend Micro I.S., make sure file and printer
sharing is enabled in THEIR firewall (or LAN allowed, depending on how their
Exceptions are worded in their Firewall)

1st thing to do is make sure that the Workgroup Name of ALL the computers is
the SAME.

In Vista Network and Sharing:

Network Discovery: ON (So it can see the other computers)

Network set to Private (Public is for hotspots, airports, etc)

File Sharing: ON

Public Folder Sharing: ON (Vista’s Public Folder is the same as XP’s Shared
Docs)

Password Protected: OFF (unless you want to set up identical usernames and
passwords (passwords can be different) on ALL computers in your Network) If
you have it ON, you will be asked for a username and password when you try to
access a Vista computer from an XP computer, or a Vista computer.

Also, run the XP’s Home or Small Office Network File and Printer Sharing
Wizard to include Vista in your “New†Network, even if you had an XP Network
set up prior to adding a Vista computer to it(redoing the Wizard seems to
work for XP machines!).

In “My Network Placesâ€: “Set up a Home or Small Office Networkâ€
OR under Accessories > Communications > Network Setup Wizard > Allow File
and Printer Sharing.

 

[Susan]

Thanks so much! Unfortunately, i've tried all that -- except your very last
idea and will try that tonight when I'm able to access that computer again.

I'm so frustrated -- but i do love Vista! LOL... Been using it for a year
and really like much better than XP.

The weird part is, when you turn ON file sharing and the options in the
Network and Sharing Center, they turn themselves off. I can't get them to
stay on.

Thanks everyone for your comments!