Trying to network Vista to XP

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

Guest

Hi. I bought a new Dell Vista laptop a few weeks ago and ever since have
been trying to get it to connect to my home network. I have an XP desktop
and iMac on the network and the Vista machine is seeing neither, but it can
hit the internet. The laptop *did* see the desktop exactly *once* 2 weeks
ago for a few hours until I shut it down. I never would have shut it down
had I realized it wasn't a permanent connection.

Here's what I've tried so far:

*made sure all computers belong to the same workgroup
*installed LLTD Responder on XP desktop
*rebooted wireless Netgear network router
*set Network Discovery to "On" on the Vista laptop
*turned on netBIOS over TCP/IP on the XP desktop
*rebooted both computers after doing all of the above
*disabled Norton firewall on Dell laptop
*studied
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/network/evaluate/vista_fp.mspx#EQBAE
extensively, especially the file sharing portion

I'm stuck and out of ideas. I can't print and I'm stuck pulling files off
my old desktop gigabyte by gigabyte via a portable hard drive instead of over
my handy dandy network. So much for pulling my fun new laptop out of the box
and getting right to work :/.

Thanks,
Heather
 
Heather,

You did almost things we can think about except username. If you turn off all firewall, can you ping the desktop by IP? Or these search result may help,

Step by step troubleshooting ...Create the same username and password on all shared computers. 8. You may try to disable Password protection sharing. 9. If you run Network Map on a Vista, ...
http://www.chicagotech.net/netforums/viewtopic.php?t=273 - Similar pages

Vista Troubleshooting Collections
Vista How to Collections http://chicagotech.net/netforums/viewtopic.php?t=260 Info: Step by step troubleshooting VISTA sharing ...
http://www.chicagotech.net/netforums/viewtopic.php?t=259



Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN Troubleshooting on http://www.ChicagoTech.net
How to Setup Windows, Network, VPN & Remote Access on http://www.HowToNetworking.com
Hi. I bought a new Dell Vista laptop a few weeks ago and ever since have
been trying to get it to connect to my home network. I have an XP desktop
and iMac on the network and the Vista machine is seeing neither, but it can
hit the internet. The laptop *did* see the desktop exactly *once* 2 weeks
ago for a few hours until I shut it down. I never would have shut it down
had I realized it wasn't a permanent connection.

Here's what I've tried so far:

*made sure all computers belong to the same workgroup
*installed LLTD Responder on XP desktop
*rebooted wireless Netgear network router
*set Network Discovery to "On" on the Vista laptop
*turned on netBIOS over TCP/IP on the XP desktop
*rebooted both computers after doing all of the above
*disabled Norton firewall on Dell laptop
*studied
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/network/evaluate/vista_fp.mspx#EQBAE
extensively, especially the file sharing portion

I'm stuck and out of ideas. I can't print and I'm stuck pulling files off
my old desktop gigabyte by gigabyte via a portable hard drive instead of over
my handy dandy network. So much for pulling my fun new laptop out of the box
and getting right to work :/.

Thanks,
Heather
 
I had the same problem...

Norton Firewall does not need to be turned off- Just set the file sharing
(Located in advanced settings in NIS 2007) permissions to allow.

When setting shares on Vista folders> right click folder> select share> in
the drop down box choose everyone and then add then click share.

Turn guest account on - on all the PC's.

This worked for me- good luck
 
Thank you for the input. Please be advised that enabling guest should work in most cases. However, it is not recommended.

Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN Troubleshooting on http://www.ChicagoTech.net
How to Setup Windows, Network, VPN & Remote Access on http://www.HowToNetworking.com
I had the same problem...

Norton Firewall does not need to be turned off- Just set the file sharing
(Located in advanced settings in NIS 2007) permissions to allow.

When setting shares on Vista folders> right click folder> select share> in
the drop down box choose everyone and then add then click share.

Turn guest account on - on all the PC's.

This worked for me- good luck
 
Just wanted to update you and let you know that changing the file sharing
permissions in Norton worked--even though I had the firewall turned off. I'm
trying not to think about that one too hard, just glad it worked.

I didn't turn on the Guest account. That's a little too much access for my
tastes. And I did bookmark Bob's links. They helped me the first go-around
and I'm sure I'll need them again.

Appreciate the help!

Heather
 
I just muddled thru this same issue over the past week(+), and after
several LONG nights of googling help files and changing settings on
both machines, I have succeeded in getting new Vista laptop to talk to
my XP desktop and share files & printers. (Believe me, If I can do
it, anyone can...)

Keys to success:
1) Download and install LLTD network discovery protocol on XP machine
2) Open ports 137-139 on Firewalls on both machines for your local
network
3) Ensure that Workgroup name is the same on both computers. (XP and
Vista use different default workgroups.)
4) Turn on file sharing on both machines
5) Turn on printer sharing on the desktop
6) Change Registry on Vista machine so that LAN manager recognizes
NMTVL1 protocol used by XP
1. Run the registry editor and open this key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa
2. If it doesn't already exist, create a DWORD value named
LmCompatibilityLevel
3. Set the value to 1
4. Reboot
7) Mount XP shared files and printers on Vista machine using \
\COMPUTERNAME\Printername (Names are CAP sensitive)
8) Mount Vista public directory on XP machine using \\LAPTOPNAME
\public

Results:
My Vista laptop now discovers my XP desktop on the network topology
diagram, and I can click on the XP machine icon to open up shared
files and printers. I can print to my XP desktop printer from within
any application on my Vista laptop, my XP shared folders are available
on my favorites folder list on the Vista laptop, and my Vista public
directory is available on my XP machine under network places.

The only work-around that I currently still have is that my Vista
machine is not listed under my XP workgroup. Since my Vista public
directory appears under my XP network places, and I can read/write
files to it, this is only a minor irritant.

Amazingly, I could not find a complete list of the above directions
anywhere on a Microsoft tech help file. Bits & pieces, but not a
complete list. So much for Vista backwards compatibility out of the
box, and MS customer service...

Good Luck!
Dave

*****************************************
 
Part of the reason you won't find all of these together is that they
shouldn't all be necessary....

LLTD deals with the network map and determining network topology, not
file-sharing.

Opening the NetBIOS ports is useful -- you might help XP detect vista by
also opening 445, the NetBT port.

Yes, all Vista versions use the default workgroup name that XP Pro did, so
if you use XP Home the defaults aren't the same. File & Printer Sharing on
both is an obvious requirement.

It's NTLMv1 that you're enabling with that registry change. XP did support
NTLMv2, actually -- it's older versions of Linux, as well as Windows 9x that
would need the registry change.
 
Back
Top