Network desktop and wls laptop

I need the basics here. Both the desktop and the sony vaio laptop run xp. I ran setup a home or small office network on both machines. Now on the laptop I see in network places shareddoc folders for both machines -- good but on the desktop just its own shareddoc folder. Do I have to run "setup a wireless network for a home or small office"? since the laptop is wls or what? The desktop is wired.

 

so on the laptop can you actually, put stuff in, or get stuff from the desktop folder? there are alot of little steps, to be taken, but some might have been done?

edit - open up my computer --> tools, map network drive --> select a drive letter, then browse for the folder you are looking for, and select it.

i don't select the box, reconnect at logon. if you don't have your laptop on, and you bootup your desktop, and have that box selected, you might get an error that it can't connect to your laptop folder, etc (because it can't find it). i found it to be annoying, and more of a pain in the butt. so on my last os reinstall, i just manually connect if need be.

also, the folder that you want to share (on both comps), right click the folder, and make sure you have sharing enabled. if you can connect, then fine. if your not able to there could be other settings, or s/w (ie - your firewall). let us know how this works for now.

it also helps to have them on the same workgroup - "right click" my computer --> select properties --> "computer name" tab --> workgroup

this step might not be totally necessary, but it's always made it easier for me. g/l, sos

 

I guess I have to backup a step. I view workgroup computers on each machine and they doen't see the other

 

can you take some screenshots (did you look at my screenshots below)? have you checked to see if you are on the same workgroup? do you have a firewall (if so, have you tried disabling it, for testing purposes)? as i mentioned, it could also be blocking you from seeing each other. however, i would think you would get a warning on the other comp. you can try the setup, but i don't think you need to do that. also, have you checked to see if your folders are setup with shared permissions?

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=26019 <-- Taking Screenshots

edit - my desktop is wired also, my laptop, and other desktop in my study are wireless. i can access folders, and print from any computer in my household, to any printer in my household, provided that the comp that the printer is hooked up to is on (same with shared folders). of course i had to setup my firewall for this, as well as the other stuff i mentioned. - sos

 

Ahhhhhhhhh finally. Everything was good except the firewall. I didn't really get that was something that could be / must be configured to share files. I see all in my workgroup and I definally can share back and forth. Thankyou Have a good one.