Obviously I totally missed something here. Are you using Windows 7 homegroup to connect to the XP machine? If so, Windows 7 can only connect through Homegroup with other Windows 7 PC's only, no other OS.[\quote]
That is what I was trying to do, so How do I connect to my son's pc? (Different pc, not the same one). As I our external hard drive is attached to his computer, I use it not only for certain files, but mainely for backups, and full disk copies, so I can just recopy if needed.
Do a search on your computer for msconfig.exe.
If found, move it the the c:\windows\system32 folder
see if these files exist in the system32 directory also:
msdt.exe
conhost.exe
spoolsv.exe.
No go to Start > Run, and type services.msc
Scroll down to Print Server and make sure it's set to Automatic and that it's current