Home Network XP Pro and Win 7 Pro - How?

I have a peer to peer home network with 2 XP-Pro Machines (wireless laptops), a Win 7 Home Premium wireless laptop, my 4th PC is a tower, ethernet, that was running XP-Pro, but now is running Win 7 Pro 64bit. I can get the workgroup name entered, and see ONE of the XP machines, but not the other, and cannot get to the Win 7 Home Premium other than the share folder. I suspect that it is because I cannot enter the WEP key for the Win 7 Pro machine. Any guidance on how to do that (and/or anything else I need to do) would be gratefully appreciated. XP was so much easier to network.

 

HI,


I have the exact same network setup, except I have 2 xp pro desktops and 2 Win 7 enterprise 64bit laptops. The first thing I did was to create a network/workgroup on one of the xp pro machines. Then I attached the other xp pro machine to that network/workgroup. Next, I checked my network settings on both of my Win7 machines.(make sure the network discovery is turned "ON"). After that, you should be able to attach your Win7 machines to the network/workgroup. then click the windows button, computer. Look on the left side and you will see a NETWORK tab. click to the left of the NETWORK tab and it should give you a list of all the computers on your network/workgroup. Hope this helps!

 

Win7 when configured on peer-to-peer Network has three types of Sharing configurations.

HomeGroup Network = Works only between Win 7 computers. This type of configuration makes it very easy to Entry Level Users to start Network sharing.

Work Network = Basically similar to the previous methods of sharing that let you control what, how, and to whom folders would be shared with.

Public Sharing = Public Network (like Internet cafe) to reduce security risks.

For best results log to each computer's System Screen and set all the computers to be on a Network with the same name while each computer has its own unique name.

http://www.ezlan.net/Win7/net_name.jpg


Make sure that the Software Firewall on each computer allows free local traffic. If you use 3rd party Firewall On, Vista/XP Native Firewall should be Off, and the active Firewall has to adjusted to your Network IP numbers on what is some time called the Trusted Zone (consult your 3rd Party Firewall instructions

General example, http://www.ezlan.net/faq#trusted

Please Note that some 3rd party Software Firewalls keep blocking aspects of Local Traffic even it they are turned Off (disabled). If possible configure the Firewall correctly, or totally uninstall it to allow clean flow of local network traffic. If the 3rd party software is uninstalled or disables, make sure that Windows native Firewall is On .

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If your network is comprised of Win 7 only and you want a simple Network, use this.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/help/videos/sharing-files-with-homegroup



After configuring the Homegroup scroll down to the Permission/Security section.

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Networking Win 7 with other version of Windows as Work Network.

In the Network Center, clicking on the Network type opens the window to the right.

Choose your type of Network. Notice the check mark at the bottom, and check/uncheck it according to your needs.

http://www.ezlan.net/Win7/net_type.jpg

Win 7 - http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/...mputers-running-different-versions-of-Windows

Win 7 Work Network specific folder sharing - http://www.onecomputerguy.com/windows7/windows7_sharing.htm

Vista File and Printer Sharing- http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb727037.aspx

Windows XP File Sharing - http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;304040

Printer Sharing XP - http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/networking/expert/honeycutt_july2.mspx

Windows Native Firewall setting for Sharing XP - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/875357

Windows XP patch for Sharing with Vista (Not need for XP-SP3) - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922120

When finished with the setting of the system it is advisable to Reboot all the hardware including the Router and all computers involved.

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If you have Permission and Security issues, check the following settings.

Point to the a Folder that meant to to be share. Right click and choose properties.

In the properties

Click on the Security tab shown in the pic bellow to the right) and check that the users and their permission (shown in the pic bellow center and left) are correctly configured. Then do the same to the Permission tab.

This screen shot is from Win 7, Vista's menus are similar.

http://www.ezlan.net/Win7/Permission-Security.jpg

In both the Security panel, and the Permission panel you have to highlight each User/Group and examine that the Permission Controls are checked correctly.

When everything is OK, Reboot the Network (Router, and computer).

* Note . The Groups and Users shown in the screen-shoot are just an example. Your list will look the way your system is configured.

**Note . You have to establish specific users. Everyone means all of the users that already have an account and been established as users. It does not mean Everyone that feel that they would like to login.

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***Note. Some of the processes described above are done Not for Windows sake but to compensate for different Routers and the way their firmware works and stores the info about the computers that are Networked.

 

don't know if you are still working on this or not as it's been a while since your last post, however, in the network and sharing center if you click on your wireless connection under active connections and then on wireless properties there should be a tab at the top labeled security that is where the wep key is listed on mine, also, if you are still having problems sharing between your win 7 and xp machines check the win 7 machines for client for microsoft networks. This is located by clicking on the wireless connection as above then clicking the properties button on the lower half of the page. Everything should work once both of those are done. If not I'm sorry but that is pretty much the extent of my knowledge on networking with win 7 as I've only owned it for a week now.