I have a home network. The main computer is XP sp2. The new computer is Vista. The Vista computer and see the main computer, but I get an access denied message when I try to look at files or the printer. I already had these things share for other computers. Do I need to do something on the main computer for this new computer to get access? Can Vista be the issue? I seem to be able to ping and I can see the computer on the network. Just getting the access denied when I try to look at files.

Hello and welcome to PC Help Forum.

Have you dragged the files to the sharing folders?

How to configure file sharing in Windows XP

http://www.pchelpforum.com/windows-t...ows-vista.html

They all must have the same work group name as Vistas default name.

Well I tried as best I could to follow the directions on the links but the docs were everything you wanted to know about file and printer sharing so I was not sure what to do and not do between simplified workgroups and private vs public and public shared folders and so on.

The Vista laptop is set to Private. The XP is set to simple. Both systems seem to have file and printer sharing turned on. Realize I could access the printer fine from my old XP laptop so I feel comfortable that the XP desktop settings at least worked with another XP machine. My workgroup name was NORRISNET. I noticed the Vista PC said WORKGROUP for the workgroup name so I changed it to NORRISNET. That did not work so I changed both back to WORKGROUP. Still no change.

Both systems have windows firewall disabled and the security package (Trendmicro on the XP and McAfee on the Vista) are set to allow remote users on the network to have full access.

I can ping the desktop XP machine by using the name. I cannot ping the laptop vista machine from the desktop even by IP. I can ping the laptop from the laptop just to be sure something crazy was not happenning with the firewall.

I am sure this is something I am overlooking. This should be easy. I appreciate any help you can give.

Change the workgroup to the same as the other machines on the network, open the network center in control panel, make sure File Sharing is on, Network Discovery is on, Public folder sharing is on.

You also need to install this on the Windows XP computers to see the Vista one:

Download details: Link Layer Topology Discovery (LLTD) Responder (KB922120)

Make sure to restart the Vista computer after changing the workgroup