Connecting Vista to XP Network

  • Thread starter Thread starter Peter Hallett
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Peter Hallett

As a 'Vista Virgin' I was quite pleased to have successfully connected a
Vista Premium machine to an existing MSHome Network serving XP computers. I
even remembered to change the workgroup. However, although all the XP
machines can 'see' the Vista computer as an apparently normal new resident on
the network, the Vista computer cannot 'see' the XP machines. It appears to
be the sole member of a network called 'Network2' which is connected to
another nework, which is presumably the original network but it cannot
identify any component of that network. It can, however, happily use the
wireless router through which all the original computers access the Internet.
Indeed, one of the first tasks after connecting the Vista computer was to
download the expected enormous list of Vista updates - perfectly successfully.

How do I incorporate the Vista machine into the LAN so that it behaves like
the other computers?
 
Thanks for the suggestions but the first link appeared to offer answers to XP
connectivity problems, whereas, in the case I described, it seems to be the
Vista machine which has the 'problem'. The XP machines continue to talk to
one another and the Internet without difficulty.

I could not find anything relevant in the second link, so I hope you won't
mind if I give your response a 'No' rating.

Having read many of the other posts I have concluded that the whole area is
a minefield for the non-expert and this has confirmed me in my belief that
the most appropriate action is to reformat the Vista disk, consigning that
monstrosity to the trash can, and then to install XP, leaving the network and
the users in a much happier state, whilst protecting the Vista computer from
the distinct possibility that, if something is not done soon, someone will
put a brick through the monitor!.
 
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb727037.aspx

Have a read of the above link re Vista File and Printer Sharing.
How to give Permissions are there, too.

1st thing to do is make sure that the Workgroup Name of ALL the computers is
the SAME.

In Vista Network and Sharing:

Network Discovery: ON (So it can see the other computers)

Network set to Private (Public is for hotspots, airports, etc)

File Sharing: ON

Public Folder Sharing: ON (Vista’s Public Folder is the same as XP’s Shared
Docs)

Password Protected: OFF (unless you want to set up identical usernames and
passwords on ALL computers in your Network) If you have it ON, you will be
asked for a username and password when you try to access a Vista computer
from an XP computer.

Also, run the XP’s Home Network File and Printer sharing Wizard.
 
I’m no further forward. I have read all the suggested stuff and confirmed
that the settings appear correct but I still cannot network the Vista
computer. It appears to connect correctly to the workgroup MSHome and
although it thereby gains excellent access to the Net via the router, it
refuses to see the other computers in the MSHome group, which, conversely,
see, but cannot communicate, with it.

At the point at which the Vista machine was connected to MSHome, the other
computer (XP) on the same default gateway, which had hitherto been behaving
as a perfectly normal member of the MSHome workgroup, stopped doing so,
claiming that it did not have the necessary permissions. It can still see
the other members but apparently not as components of the MSHome workgroup.
As for the Vista computer, this seems to be running its own private network
(Network3) of which it is the sole member, apart from the Internet router, to
which it connects without difficulty. Attempts to get it to connect to any
other networks result in the message that there no other networks. A fault
check, meanwhile, produces the response that everything is working normally.

I am decidedly out of my depth at this stage, with no idea how to make this
Vista machine a normal member of the existing MSHome workgroup. Unless I can
fix it, it will have to be abandoned and probably sold on e-bay. It is
virtually useless in its present state and may have to be replaced with a
non-Vista computer, just to get the LAN working. A very elderly XP computer,
which was previously plugged onto the Vista’s Ethernet cable, on a slightly
different IP address, behaved faultlessly (even if exceedingly slowly).
 
I’m no further forward. I have read all the suggested stuff and confirmed
that the settings appear correct but I still cannot network the Vista
computer. It appears to connect correctly to the workgroup MSHome and
although it thereby gains excellent access to the Net via the router, it
refuses to see the other computers in the MSHome group, which, conversely,
see, but cannot communicate, with it.
Click to expand...
<snip>

I had this same issue. I uninstalled Norton Internet Security (a
30-day free trial came pre-installed with Dell) and now the Vista PC
can be seen by itself, XP, and Win2000 machines. I'm using an
Ethernet switch.
 
Thanks, Phisherman & Clevo
I tried rerunning the Network Wizard, as suggested, and now appear to have
got MSHome back but in an unworkable state. It does not seem able to see
anybody. After a struggle, I managed to get my original computer back on the
Internet but the Network Bridge adaptor has 'disappeared'.

In desperation I called a professional network support company which
informed me that it advises its customers not to install Vista and to take it
out if they have. It is nothing but trouble, they claim, and some of the
problems are beyond their ability to fix. If computer pro's are up the Vista
creek, what hope is there for us mere mortals? (Are you taking note, Mr.
Gates?) So its back to XP, after recovering from the damage that the Vista
installation seems to have done to my network. Heaven knows how long that
will take to fix.

As to Vista, I'll be happy if I never have to work with it again.
User-unfriendly is the least abusive term I would apply to it. Microsoft's
Help suite has never been very helpful but on Vista its positively arcane.
Thanks Microsoft, but no thanks.
 
Peter Hallett said:
As a 'Vista Virgin' I was quite pleased to have successfully connected a
Vista Premium machine to an existing MSHome Network serving XP computers. I
even remembered to change the workgroup. However, although all the XP
machines can 'see' the Vista computer as an apparently normal new resident on
the network, the Vista computer cannot 'see' the XP machines. It appears to
be the sole member of a network called 'Network2' which is connected to
another nework, which is presumably the original network but it cannot
identify any component of that network. It can, however, happily use the
wireless router through which all the original computers access the Internet.
Indeed, one of the first tasks after connecting the Vista computer was to
download the expected enormous list of Vista updates - perfectly successfully.

How do I incorporate the Vista machine into the LAN so that it behaves like
the other computers?
Click to expand...
 
Check the network properties list in each of the WinXP systems for a component
called the Link-Layer Topology Discovery (LLTD) Responder. If the LLTD
Responder component is not installed on the Windows XP-based computers they
won't be seen in Vista's Network Map.

Here's a link to an MS fix for the WinXP systems. Note, if they are up to SP3,
the downloadable version (v5) probably won't to anything, so then simply request
the hotfix patch (v6) and apply to all WinXP-SP3 systems.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922120

Good luck!
 
Phisherman said:
<snip>

I had this same issue. I uninstalled Norton Internet Security (a
30-day free trial came pre-installed with Dell) and now the Vista PC
can be seen by itself, XP, and Win2000 machines. I'm using an
Ethernet switch.
Click to expand...
 
(e-mail address removed)


Phisherman said:
<snip>

I had this same issue. I uninstalled Norton Internet Security (a
30-day free trial came pre-installed with Dell) and now the Vista PC
can be seen by itself, XP, and Win2000 machines. I'm using an
Ethernet switch.
Click to expand...
 
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