File & Printer Sharing between XP & Vista

[sibot]

Hey all,

My dad's computer is running Windows XP on it and I'm running Vista. I had file and printer sharing with my dad's computer when i was running XP.

I wanted to know how to go about doing the same with Vista and XP.

I have set them on the same workgroup, added my Vista's IP to my dad's firewall. Enabled File & printer sharing on my computer.

I was able to access my dad's computers drives, via \\compname\D$, but I am not able to do the same with my dad's comp.

Upon searching for workgroup computers, my Vista's name was present there, but when I tried to access it, it asked me for a user name/password, which is very usual and as I used to log in as "Administrator" with XP, the same doesn't work with Vista, I guess since I am logged in with Administrator on my Vista.

Do I have to create a new user or is there any other way to go about it?

Thanks in advance,

Sibot

[Cosmin]

try with all firewall's disabled .

[Skoey]

On windows xp are you using Simple File Sharing option?

[sibot]

try with all firewall's disabled .

I am able to access my dad's computer where the firewall is installed and have entered my IP address (Vista) in the trust zone. File & Printer Sharing is enabled in Vista's firewall.

On windows xp are you using Simple File Sharing option?

No, not using Simple File Sharing.

PS: Do I need to create a new user on Vista for me to access from XP?

[sibot]

UPDATE:

So I ended up making another user on my Vista for the XP to access it with.

I Created a standard account, i was able to access the printer services but am still not able to access my drives using \\Vistaname\C$

I disabled "use the sharing wizard" in folder options in Vista.

Can I not do this without creating a new user? since it shows up in my welcome screen.

Thanks,

Sibot

[sibot]

any help?

[+BudMan MVC]

admin shares on vista are disabled by default in a workgroup.

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

For example, for the root of the C: drive on the computer named BobPC, Windows XP automatically shared \\bobpc\c$. The ?$? at the end of the share name means that the share name will not appear in the list of sharFor computers running Windows Vista that are members of a workgroup, these administrative shares exist but are blocked for network access for security reasons

To fix it!

1. Click start

2. Type: regedit

3. Press enter

4. In the left, browse to the following folder: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\system\

5. Right-click a blank area in the right pane

6. Click New

7. Click DWORD Value

8. Type: LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy

9. Double-click the item you just created

10. Type 1 into the box

11. Click OK

12. Restart your computer

[neo158]

What Firewall are you using?

I'm using...dare I say it :unsure: ...Norton Internet Security 2008 on both Vista and XP and I found adding the network into the trusted networks for both wired and wireless machines fixed the issue for me.

[sibot]

admin shares on vista are disabled by default in a workgroup.

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

For example, for the root of the C: drive on the computer named BobPC, Windows XP automatically shared \\bobpc\c$. The ?$? at the end of the share name means that the share name will not appear in the list of sharFor computers running Windows Vista that are members of a workgroup, these administrative shares exist but are blocked for network access for security reasons

To fix it!

1. Click start

2. Type: regedit

3. Press enter

4. In the left, browse to the following folder: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\system\

5. Right-click a blank area in the right pane

6. Click New

7. Click DWORD Value

8. Type: LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy

9. Double-click the item you just created

10. Type 1 into the box

11. Click OK

12. Restart your computer

Hey BudMan! Thanks for the reply.

I did as you said, but I'm still encountering problems. I have turned off Password Protected Sharing on my Vista machine (say name is VistaM) to ease things up a bit for now, and then did the registry tweak as said. When I tried to access my \\VistaM\D$, I am still asked for a user name and password and this is what happens.

I have only one user on Vista, i.e. AustinPowers, upon entering that, I get -

Do I need to create a new user on VistaM?

Thanks for the info =)

Regards,

Sibot

[+BudMan MVC]

"I have turned off Password Protected Sharing on my Vista machine"

:blink: Why would you think you would want to do that? Um your going to NEED that turned on to access an ADMIN share -- unless of course you put the guest account into your admin group :rolleyes:

If you authed to the machine as GUEST already -- your not going to be able to auth as anyone else either.

You can only ever have 1 account authed to a machine from the same location..

If for some you have a connection to that machine as guest or some other account already, you can not auth as a different account, be it admin account or not.

And your going to NEED password protection files turned on to access admin shares - plain and simple!

[Quasar2112]

Hey all,

My dad's computer is running Windows XP on it and I'm running Vista. I had file and printer sharing with my dad's computer when i was running XP.

I wanted to know how to go about doing the same with Vista and XP.

Microsoft has effectively dropped this functionality in Vista. Although there has not been a formal announcement, this simply does not work anymore. When you can get it working, it is abysmally slow. I strongly suggest you not try to fix it. The problem is not you. It's Microsoft. They just don't care about making this work anymore.

Microsoft is introducing a new platform, Mesh (mesh.com). This platform will enable sync'ing between computers. Mesh is the replacement for Windows peer-to-peer networking.

The upshot is that Microsoft will no longer make it easy for Windows desktop machines to send files directly to each other without sending a copy of the file to Microsoft first. Eventually I believe they will run various filters on the files, looking for customer lists, illegal data, items of interest, etc.

I strongly recommend that you simply buy a NAS device. This is a hard drive with a network interface. The built-in software is Linux, and thus Microsoft can't implement a "new feature" and break it. Furthermore, you won't have to send your files to Microsoft.

You can find NAS devices in stores and Internet shopping sites like Amazon, New Egg, etc, etc.

With a NAS, you store the files you want to share on the NAS drive. Then any computer on your network talks directly to the NAS.

Best of luck.

[Doli]

Microsoft has effectively dropped this functionality in Vista. Although there has not been a formal announcement, this simply does not work anymore. When you can get it working, it is abysmally slow. I strongly suggest you not try to fix it. The problem is not you. It's Microsoft. They just don't care about making this work anymore.

Microsoft is introducing a new platform, Mesh (mesh.com). This platform will enable sync'ing between computers. Mesh is the replacement for Windows peer-to-peer networking.

The upshot is that Microsoft will no longer make it easy for Windows desktop machines to send files directly to each other without sending a copy of the file to Microsoft first. Eventually I believe they will run various filters on the files, looking for customer lists, illegal data, items of interest, etc.

I strongly recommend that you simply buy a NAS device. This is a hard drive with a network interface. The built-in software is Linux, and thus Microsoft can't implement a "new feature" and break it. Furthermore, you won't have to send your files to Microsoft.

You can find NAS devices in stores and Internet shopping sites like Amazon, New Egg, etc, etc.

With a NAS, you store the files you want to share on the NAS drive. Then any computer on your network talks directly to the NAS.

Best of luck.

He doesnt need to use Mesh, thats going a bit too far. Its just file and printer sharing in his home network.

[+BudMan MVC]

Microsoft has effectively dropped this functionality in Vista. Although there has not been a formal announcement, this simply does not work anymore.

The upshot is that Microsoft will no longer make it easy for Windows desktop machines to send files directly to each other without sending a copy of the file to Microsoft first.

:blink: :blink:

Have no idea WTF your babbling on about -- But File and "PRINT" sharing works just fine between xp and vista..

Mesh is NOT a replacement for File and print sharing!!

[Incytatus]

Ok I think I have a similar problem. I have Vista on my Desktop and XP on my laptop. I can see the other computer and the shared files on the other computer in both cases.

I can access my shared Vista files from my XP laptop. However, while I can see my shared files on my XP laptop from Vista desktop, it won't let me access them. I have been exploring google for a while to no avail. I have tried disabling both firewalls with no success. Getting my Vista files to work was easy, why can't I do the same for my XP files. Any suggestions would be welcome.

[+BudMan MVC]

And are you using SFS (simple file sharing) on your XP box? If not what account did you auth to your xp machine with from your vista -- did you set the file/share permissions how you want?

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/304040/

How to configure file sharing in Windows XP

[AdzzzUK]

Try installing this patch on your XP box, it should do the trick :)

Ad

[+BudMan MVC]

The Link-Layer Topology Discovery (LLTD) Responder has NOTHING to do with file sharing - NOTHING!!!

All that does is allow vista to place XP machines on its useless network map -- like the user does not know his computers are all connected to his router :rolleyes:

Its has NOTHING to do with file or print sharing, or even workgroups for browsing for that matter, NOTHING!

[AdzzzUK]

ok, point made lol!!

[sibot]

I still couldn't establish a connection from my XP to Vista. I am able to access my XP flawlessly from my Vista machine, all the administrative share, RDP, et al. But from XP, I still keep getting that annoying message. I'll try to get my friends XP laptop and try to do the same, since it'll be easier for me as I won't have to run from one room to another. I have my exams going on right now, I'll try it out again from scratch after they end =) and will report back. Thanks everyone for all the help.

[+BudMan MVC]

So you made the registry change and rebooted.. As I already stated the ADMIN shares are not available until you make that change. And you have to Have Password files share protection ON!!

If not your using/forcing auth as guest..

I never understand why users have such issues with something as simple as file sharing.. Its just nuts!! Its not rocket science..

Turn off that nonsense SFS!! for starters -- and auth to the machine with a valid account.. How hard is that????

Your not going to be able to access admin shares, ie c$, admin$ until you make that registry changes I posted. And then auth to the machine with a admin account on that machine.. The easy thing to do is to make the same account on both machines..

ie if you log in with "billy" and password of "Password1" on machine 1, then on machine 2 create a 'billy" account with password "Password1" btw -- "blank" is not a valid password, and you will not be able to access file shares with a "blank" password.

If billy is an admin on machine2, he will have FULL access to everything on machine 2.. If you are logged in to machine one as billy -- you will not get prompted for anything -- and just have access.

That is if you have not auth to machine 2 as some other account already that does not have access rights.. And your firewalls are setup to allow for file sharing, etc..

Its as simple as creating 2 accounts and turning on file and print sharing.. It should take you all of 32 seconds to have full admin rights to any machine on your network.

btw -- its not a good practice to create usernames that are the same as the computer name.. ie your austinpowers machine with a austinpowers account.. Create an account -- use billy as an example.. But the username being the same as the machine name can cause some issues when it comes to netbios.

[hjf288]

Edit: N/m Saw Admin shares.. not normal sharing

[Incytatus]

If not what account did you auth to your xp machine with from your vista -- did you set the file/share permissions how you want?

Not quite sure what you mean by that. Could you please explain? I did disable simple file share and have authorized "Everyone" with full permission on all the folders in XP. I can see all the folders from Vista, it just won't let me open them. Sorry for these newbie questions but networks really are rocket science to me.

[Krux]

get on your xp machine

goto add new printer and create a new local port

when it asks you what the port name is going to be type in \\vistamachine\printersharename (fill in the name of your vista machine and the name of the printer share to whatever they really are)

then it will ask you for drivers for this printer get the cd or install them from a web release printer should install and you should now be able to print over the network.

[Krux]

went back and read some more of the thread instead of the last page i guess you dont need to be able to print just access a whole drive, never been able to get that to work right either so I just share single folder(s)

[+BudMan MVC]

To share the whole drive -- access the ADMIN share.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314984

This step-by-step article describes how to create and delete hidden or administrative shares on Microsoft Windows XP Professional-based, Windows 2000 Professional-based, and Windows NT 4.0 Workstation-based computers.

The account you auth to the machine with needs to be a member of the admin group to access admin shares. Ie put the billy account in the administrators group.

"I did disable simple file share and have authorized "Everyone" with full permission on all the folders in XP."

And what did you set for the NTFS permissions.. Sure setting everyone is fine for your share permissions -- since the NTFS permissions are what normally control access to the actual files/folders.

Set the security of the folders/files on your share and under --> right click on them select security.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/304040/

How to configure file sharing in Windows XP

Goes over file and share permissions.

So you feel its rocket science?? Have you bothered to take a few minutes and read over the HELP that comes with your OS?? How about clicking F1 and putting in the thing your wanting to learn about/use

Pretty much everything you should need to know to get started with understand/using file permissions on your system. with links to related and more info, etc.