Connecting Vista laptop to XP desktop 1

[franket]

I'm trying to connect a new laptop running Vista Home Premium to a desktop machine running XP Pro over a home network with a d-link DI-524 router. Both computers are in the same work group.

Initially, I could not see the desktop at all. However, I've run through the various similar questions in Tek-tips and gotten to the point where I can now see the desktop in the Vista network. I can also connect via remote desktop to the desktop machine from the Vista machine, and I can ping the desktop successfully.

However, when i try to explore the hard drive on the desktop machine from the vista laptop, I get back a message that windows cannot access the desktop. "Diagnose" produces a message that "Windows sent the request to the DNS server and the server responded that the name was unknown." It may help to know that file sharing is turned on and I can access the desktop from other XP machines and a Mac running OS X. In the past I've connected successfully with a different Vista laptop.

Thanks to anyone who can help me with next steps to resolve the issue.

 

[tlcscousin]

What are you running for an anti-virus solution and does it have a firewall?

 

[linney]

Are you sharing the drive correctly? Try removing the Sharing from the drive in question, them redo the Sharing, checking both the Share Permissions and the actual NTFS file access permissions via the Security Tab.

Do you get any access if you try "Safe Mode with Networking" on both machines?

Will Vista allow you to "Map" and use the drive that way?

See if the Winsock Fix helps, it is applicable to both XP and Vista, from Vista use an elevated command prompt.

"Netsh Winsock Reset" is the command.

Look at your security programs on both machines.

File and Printer Sharing in Windows Vista

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

Windows Vista: Networking

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/networking.mspx

Simple File Sharing- enabled

http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/xp/filesharing.htm

Simple File Sharing - disabled

http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/xp_filesharing/index.htm

Windows Network Problem Solver

http://winhlp.com/wxnet.htm

 

[franket]

Thanks, tlcscousin and linney.

I've tried all the suggestions from linney, and there's no change. Regarding firewalls and AV, i'm running Norton Corporate on the XP and McAfee Enterprise on the Vista laptop. Windows firewall is running on both.

I've read through linney's links, and I tried the network problem solver. I can't say that i read every linked article in every one of the sites, but I tried all the specific suggestions, such as checking NETBIOS settings.

I do notice two things of possible relevance. IPconfig on the vista machine shows the "connection specific DNS suffix" as the work group name. The XP machine shows nothing on this line. Also, i notice that Vista machine (in the network folder in windows explorer) shows the XP machine's network location as "unspecified." Both the d-link router and the Vista laptop show the network location as the SSID.

Furthermore, the XP machine shows the work group name in the network view in windows explorer, but when i try to look at the workgroup by double-clicking it, I am told i do not have access rights to the work group. This seems odd because the XP machine is where the work group was originally defined.

At this point, I'm stumped. Ideas are welcome.

 

[linney]

The next step in troubleshooting might be painful as I am suggesting you uninstall (not just disable, as that is not sufficient) both Norton and McAfee programs. This is often necessary in order to eliminate security programs as a possible and frequent cause of connection problems.

This is what I see on my Vista Machine.

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx - removed by me
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.57
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1

 

[PRPhx]

Make sure you have a user with identical credentials set up on BOTH computers.

Also check the security settings on the XP machine. Check the permissions on the sharing and security page. Make sure you have sharing enabled.

Sounds like security/sharing isn't set up properly on the Xp machine.

 

[deek05]

Franket,

I did this for myself (last year) and my sister (2 weeks ago). I downloaded a program called netmagic (30 day trial), installed on both pc's and then uninstalled. Home network works great. Hope this helps! Good luck.

 

[linney]

Hi deek05,

Have you a link for that program in case anyone wants to follow it up?

 

[deek05]

my bad...it's call network magic

try:

http://www.networkmagic.com

and if I remember right I downloaded Network Magic Essentials (7 day trial not 30).