Network Vista & XP machines

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
  • Start date Start date
G

Guest

Hi,

Could someone please give me simpole and clear instructions on hgow to
network a vista & XP computer. I have a Netgear DG834G router on my main
vista computer. and A netgear WG111 V2 wireless adapter connected to the
second computer. Both computers an access the internet with out problems. I
have enabled file sharing on the vista computer but beyond that I dont know
what to do. I am new to networking computers.

Any help would be very much appreciated.

Thanks
 
Martin said:
Hi,

Could someone please give me simpole and clear instructions on hgow to
network a vista & XP computer. I have a Netgear DG834G router on my main
vista computer. and A netgear WG111 V2 wireless adapter connected to the
second computer. Both computers an access the internet with out problems. I
have enabled file sharing on the vista computer but beyond that I dont know
what to do. I am new to networking computers.

Any help would be very much appreciated.

Thanks
Click to expand...

This link will take you through the Vista end very well and easily:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/network/evaluate/vista_fp.mspx

This standard networking blurb will take you through the XP end:

Run the Network Setup Wizard, making sure to enable File & Printer
Sharing, and reboot. The only "gotcha" is that this will turn on the
XPSP2 Windows Firewall. If you aren't running a third-party firewall or
have an antivirus with "Internet Worm Protection" (like Norton 2005/06)
which acts as a firewall, then you're fine. If you have third-party
firewall software, configure it to allow the Local Area Network traffic
as trusted. I usually do this with my firewalls with an IP range. Ex.
would be 192.168.1.0-192.168.1.254. Obviously you would substitute your
correct subnet.

If one or more of the computers is XP Pro or Media Center:

a. If you need Pro's ability to set fine-grained permissions, turn off
Simple File Sharing (Folder Options>View tab) and create identical user
accounts/passwords on all computers.

NOTE: I think it makes things easier to always create identical user
accounts and passwords on all machines, particularly in a small network.

b. If you don't care about using Pro's advanced features, leave the
Simple File Sharing enabled.

Simple File Sharing means that Guest (network) is enabled. This means
that anyone without a user account on the target system can use its
resources. This is a security hole but only you can decide if it matters
in your situation.

Then create shares as desired. XP Home does not permit sharing of users'
home directories (My Documents) or Program Files, but you can share
folders inside those directories. A better choice is to simply use the
Shared Documents folder.


Malke
 
I never was able to get Vista to "see" the other machines on my network (two
XP machines, one Mac OSX). I eventually gave up and set my XP's Documents
folder to be publicly shared.

Then on the Vista machine I mapped a drive to the shared Documents folder on
the XP machine (and visa-versa). That seems to have forced the Vista machine
to recognize the XP machines (and the Mac), so they all display correctly
when I click on the Network icon.
 
Back
Top