WinXP/Vista Networking Problem

[havenomercy3]

I have Windows XP Home Edition with Service Pack 2. I also own a Toshiba
Laptop with Windows Vista Home Basic. I recently purchaced a Netgear Router
and connected it to my Main computer. The wireless internet works fine, and
accessing files on the laptop from the main computer is fine. When I try to
access files or a printer from the laptop, I get the message "Windows can not
access \\ALIEN" (ALIEN is the main computer). I would really like to be able
to use the printer sharing feature so I can print wirelessly from my laptop.
All help greatly appreciated

 

[Byte]

If your setup is a desktop and a laptop. My wireless router is NetGear also.
Host should be the desktop PC and Guest the laptop.
Install the printer on the Host PC. Then using Control Panel>Network
Setup Wizard, enable File & Printer Sharing and make sure you check the
box to allow others to print to your printers. Next under Start>Settings>
Printers, select the printer, check the box to share the printer and assign
a name. Keep the name short, no blanks, something like Printer2.

You should now be able to add the printer to your Guest PCs using Start>
Control Panel>Printers & Faxes>Add Printer. Check the radio button
"A network printer ..." and then either browse for the printer or enter its
name (using \\PCName\PrinterName) and continue until finished. Ensure
that the firewall on your XP PC is set to allow access to remote printers.
Note: Make sure to include the slashes (\\) in printer name.
If using XP's native firewall ensure that File and Printer Sharing is
enabled and that the box with he same name is checked in the Firewall
exceptions list. The PCName can be found at:

Rightclick My Computer icon on desktop>Properties>Computer Name tab.
It may look something like: "Home-66djksjcpv". Don't type the quotes.
Click "Next" and it should install the printer on the Guest PC when
it finds it.

Note: You can follow the same procedure to get access to
"Files" from one PC to the other.