# Vista-XP File Sharing



## beesagtig (Jan 15, 2009)

Hey

This has probably been asked thousands of time but I can't find any on here and nothing I've found on google has helped.

How can I get file sharing working between an XP machine and a Vista machine.

Below is what the network map looks like. Olly-PC is vista and olly-2 is XP. So the vista machine can see the XP machine but when I go in the Network folder it doesn't let me see into the shared files of the XP pc. There is also another computer (XP) that is hard wired into the router, the two XP machines can see each other fine and can transfer files between each other.







I had it working between XP and Vista for about and hour a week ago when I decided to set file sharing up but then I restarted the vista machine and when I tried to go back and swap some more files but I could no longer see XP machine. I've tried everything I can think of and more and cant get the sharing working.

Any ideas?

Olly


----------



## JC316 (Jan 15, 2009)

I am very interested in the answer to this too. I was going to make my own thread about it this very night.


----------



## oily_17 (Jan 15, 2009)

This may help



> If you are always getting Access Denied errors when trying to connect to a XP computer,
> and you know you have the correct user names and passwords on the computer,
> the solution may be a simple registry edit.
> 
> ...



Source

You have probably went through these but just to repeat.
If you can not see the XP machine then check a firewall is not blocking it.Also check that your network and user names are the same on both machines.Make sure file sharing on and that you have some files shared.


----------



## beesagtig (Jan 15, 2009)

Done all that thanks though

It's less of an access denied than a just plain can't see it in the network folder.


----------



## oily_17 (Jan 15, 2009)

No problem..I know I had a hell of a time to get mine to work as well.

Also had to add the XP machine to the trusted IP's in my Antivirus/Firewall setup (Using NOD32)


----------



## LiveOrDie (Jan 15, 2009)

its ezy all you have to do is go though the network settup in xp and change the network name to WORKGROUP and at the end of the settup click  Share files and printers


----------



## js01 (Jan 15, 2009)

I have sharing between my vista and my bros xp machine, have you tried just typing in the address computer name then map network drive. The only thing my bro had to do was run the network wizard and then he showed up, but once in a while I can't see it but typing the computer name always works.


----------



## beesagtig (Jan 15, 2009)

Live OR Die said:


> its ezy all you have to do is go though the network settup in xp and change the network name to WORKGROUP and at the end of the settup click  Share files and printers





js01 said:


> I have sharing between my vista and my bros xp machine, have you tried just typing in the address computer name then map network drive. The only thing my bro had to do was run the network wizard and then he showed up, but once in a while I can't see it but typing the computer name always works.



Hasn't fixed it


----------



## js01 (Jan 15, 2009)

Can you ping the xp machine either by it's host name or ip address? You should be able to map a network drive to his share ex: \\computer name\shared docs.


----------



## beesagtig (Jan 15, 2009)

dunno how to ping by host name but heres the rest


----------



## beesagtig (Jan 15, 2009)

No idea how but its now working

Edit: However really slow transfer speed between XP machine and Vista (only 1MB/s on a 24?MB/s router)


----------



## spy2520 (Jan 15, 2009)

beesagtig said:


> dunno how to ping by host name but heres the rest



try taking the space out of that folder name (on both machines) and trying it.

I heard Vista-XP sharing could have issues if certain characters appear. 

No guarantee but it might work.


----------



## beesagtig (Jan 15, 2009)

Thanks, if it stops working again I'll try that


----------



## Pinchy (Jan 15, 2009)

1MB/s is normal. Your router is 54Mb, which is megabits. In megabytes, thats 6.75.

So with your 24Mb (bits) connection is actually 3MB/s (bytes). And being wireless, you wont hit your top speed of 3 megs.


If you havent already, go through your network setup wizard on the XP machine and when it asks about your connection method choose "Other" followed by "This computer connects to the internet via a hub. Other computers also connect to this hub" or something along those lines (its the first option iirc). Also as mentioned, change it from MSHOME to WORKGROUP.


----------



## beesagtig (Jan 15, 2009)

They are all on MSHOME so thats ok, done network setup wizard.

I've just checked the box for the router and it actually says 54Mb so is 1MB still normal?


----------



## FordGT90Concept (Jan 15, 2009)

I've had no problem with this...  It's past my bedtime so I will be brief:

1) On both computers, you need a good computer name (a-z, A-Z, 0-9, _, - characters ONLY; not case-sensitive).
2) They must have matching workgroup names (a-z, A-Z, 0-9, _, - characters ONLY; not case-sensitive).
3) They both must have file sharing enabled.
4) If you expect to find another computer, that computer must have something shared even if it is an empty folder, it will work.  You won't be able to find a computer that isn't sharing anything (this is a common issue).  You can usually enable sharing of an object by right-clicking it and selecting properties.  I would only share folders and not specific files/applications.
5) These steps will only add exceptions for Windows Firewall.  If you are using 3rd party software, you'll most likely have to set up exceptions in it as well.

Wired connections are strongly recommended for testing purposes.  Wireless may be your entire problem.  Once you know you can access files, then it is time to address any wireless connectivity issues.


54 Megabits / 1 second * 1 byte / 8 bits = 6.75 Megabytes / second

Figure in distance + signal strength + packet loss = not much

Seriously, I haven't been satisfied with wireless at all until changing to Draft n.  The performance and reliability is hideous on a, b, and g.  Draft n really doesn't have performance to gawk (connection around 100 Megabits/second) at but it is at least respectable.

I'm probably just used to unwavering reliability of wired 100/1000 networking. XD


----------

