Vista and XP networking

Hi Gators88,

Thanks for posting on Microsoft Answers community forum.

To set up Network Sharing between XP and Windows Vista, please look over the following information. File and Printer Sharing is different in Windows Vista than from the setup in Windows XP.

1) First, make sure the Workgroup name is the same on all of the computers in the network. On Windows Vista, the default workgroup name is "WORKGROUP". On Windows XP, the default workgroup name on Windows XP home computers is "MSHOME". On all other versions of XP Professional, it is "WORKGROUP".

On Windows Vista computers, Go to Control Panel, then Network and Sharing Center:
2) Network Discovery: ON
3) Network set to: Private
4) File Sharing is: On
5) Public Folder Sharing: ON
6) Password Protected: OFF

If you set up duplicate (the same) user accounts and passwords on All computers in your Network, you can turn Password Protected to ON. If you have the Password Protect set to On, you will be prompted for a user name and password every time you try to access a Vista computer from a Windows XP computer. If you encounter difficulties accessing computers that are visible on the network map, make sure the computer being accessed has an account with the same name/password as the system connecting to it uses to login.

On the Windows XP computers, please verify the following:
1) Look at the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article for information about having the Network Map display. On the Windows XP computer, you will need to install the software component that implement the Link Layer Topology Discovery protocol (LLTD) so the XP will show up in the network map for Vista.

KB 922120 - Network Map in Windows Vista does not display computer that are running Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922120

Run the update on the Windows XP computer that you want to appear on the Network Map.
On the Software Update Installation Wizard, click “Next.”
On the License Agreement page, read the license agreement, click I Agree, and then click Next.
On the final page of the wizard, click Finish.
If you are prompted to do so, restart your computer.

To verify the LLTD Responder is installed and running:
On a computer running Windows XP, click Start, click Control Panel, and then click Network Connections.
Click Local Area Network Connection, click Properties, and then view the list of items used by the network connection.
Ensure that the Link-Layer Topology Discovery Responder check box is selected.

For more information on Network discovery, look over the TechNet website:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb727037.aspx

Also, for information on networking home computers running different versions of Windows, I would recommend you to browse through the following link.
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/help/6ed24a90-6b57-4f0f-a3b3-e521ae945f331033.mspx

Please try these out and keep us updated about the status.

Take care.

Regards,

Avash M

Microsoft Answers Support Engineer