Windows 7 Is it possible to have an XP system join the 7 Homegroup?

[mutant_builder]

I was going to print something from my 7 test rig, and found I cannot access my printers on my network.

My network is all XP machine's, and though I can find the homegroup for 7 on here, I cannot access it.

I cannot find any XP rigs through the 7 machine, although all of the XP rigs have had the little pop up asking for media sharing on the 7 rig.

Has anyone played with this?

I know on the 7 rig, it gives the password for other 7 based machines to access the homegroup, yet it leaves it there and rather vague.

Attached is the window I get when trying to access the Windows 7 rig from my primary gamer

 

[progster]

I did this simply by changing the name on the XP computer workgroup to the Windows 7 workgroup name and be sure to share the files on both ( or all ) computers that you want to share. Who ever wants access must have a user account on the Windows 7 machine that matches the user name and passsword on the XP machine. It works great, haven't had a problem and even backup my Windows 7 machine to one of my XP machines and visa versa

 

[jimbo45]

forget home groupos --"classical networking" should work and is easier.

Apart from the tips given in the previous post this should always work if the computers cam see each other. You shouldn't be forced to have the same user ID's / passwords on all the machines.

Networking is still slightly broken -- the little window that requests the User ID and password when you try and connect to the remote machine from W7 doesn't allways appear --not a Windows internals expert but it's something to do with the .NET framework not being 100% correct yet. (Note don't confuse .NET framework with NETWORK - it's simply a way of programming apps to work with windows).

For example if you need to share drive D
on the W7 machine in Network right mouse click and cchoose MAP network drive
now put Link Removed in the folder (or lan Ip address - e.g Link Removed) in the folder name.

You'll now see the logon screen (which you should normally get if the system was working properly). Enter User / password for the XP machine and Drive 'D' wilkl connect.

Now if you click the remoter computer icon in the Network list you'll see the rest of your shares without any problem -- it's a bit of a hassle but I really don't like having a bank of machines all with the same user id and password.

(If this doesn't work PING the machines -- normally failure here will be either via Firewall problems. AV software or Network shares not defined correctly. While testing internal Networks it's usually easier to turn off all firewalls and AV software.

Now for printing - especially if you are sharing a printer connected to a 32 bit machine and you are running a 64 Bit OS (or vice versa).

We have to "Poodlefake" the local machine (the one you are logged on to) to think that thge remote printer is actually attached to it rather than the remote machine. This avoids all sorts of printer driver problems - especially with 32/64 bit mixes.

So 1) Add printer -- but set it to add LOCAL (Yes I know the printer is on the remote machine but still set it as adding a LOCAL printer).
2) Create LOCAL Port
3) For the port name type in Link Removed
4) now your LOCAL machine will prompt you for a driver -- select your model and install the driver - if it's not yet available in W7 you'll have to get a driver --but there's loads of printers now added to W7.
5) Print
test page

(works both ways around --if XP needs to print something on a printer attached to a W7 X-64 machine do the same on the XP machine).

Ensure before you start that you can connect to the remote machine first --either via the user / password method set out in the previous post or by connecting initially to a shared drive as I've explained in this post.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[StRobert]

My motherboard got toasted on my old XP machine. So I had to install W7 on the new one and I ran into the same problem...No help from MS like you would hope there would be...anyway, here is what you do. Open your Libraries Folder>Network>The PC with Win 7>Users (Share)>Public. You will see several Folders with various names all starting with Public. Click/Copy or Drag what you want to share into the appropriate folder and you are done. You should be able to find what you just shared on any XP machine on your network.
Bud Meder
Webmaster
www.CathyMeder.com

 

[Videography Lab]

Simplest way to wireless connect

Videography Lab has two older Gateway ROG Pentium M notebooks running Windows XP Pro Service Pack 3 [32 bit]
and a new ASUS Quad Core laptop running Windows 7 Professional [64 bit]
All these notebooks connect to a Junxion Box wifi and all access AT&T wireless network nicely. All can stream video.

We have a negative and flatbed scanners that worked well on the older notebooks but have been difficult to connect to Windows 7 so that's one reason to start networking.

I've never been skilled at networking computers. Maybe even a bit phobic because i go way back to coaxiial cable networks that were constant problems. So I'm looking to keep it simple and appreciate simple talk.

My older XP Pro notebooks have an old outmoded Workgroup and I'd like to clean out all their network stuff and just do a simple USB stick setup as described in Windows 7 Help document here:

To add a wireless computer running Windows 7

1. Log on to the computer.
2. Plug the USB flash drive into a USB port on the computer.
3. In the AutoPlay dialog box that appears, click Wireless Network Setup Wizard. The wizard will use the settings saved on the USB flash drive and automatically connect the computer to the network.
You will get a confirmation when you are connected to the network.
4. To verify that you have added the computer successfully:
In Windows 7, click the Start button, click your user name, and then click Network.
In Windows Vista, click the Start button, and then click Network.
You should be able to see icons for the computer you added and for the other computers and devices on the network.
To add a wireless computer running Windows XP

1. Log on to the computer.
2. Plug the USB flash drive into a USB port on the computer.
3. In the USB flash drive dialog box that appears, double-click Wireless Network Setup Wizard. The wizard will use the settings saved on the USB flash drive and automatically connect the computer to the network.
You will be prompted to restart the computer.
4. After you restart, click the Start button, click My Network Places, and then click Workgroup. You should be able to see the other computers on your network.


I tried to follow this technique but the XP notebook just spun for a long time when I clicked Workgroup as described above.
How can I clean out the old Workgroups and start with a clean slate on the XP books and than apply the USB technique as described above? Is it the easiest way to go?

 

[Trouble]

Videography Lab has two older Gateway ROG Pentium M notebooks running Windows XP Pro Service Pack 3 [32 bit]
and a new ASUS Quad Core laptop running Windows 7 Professional [64 bit]
All these notebooks connect to a Junxion Box wifi and all access AT&T wireless network nicely. All can stream video.

We have a negative and flatbed scanners that worked well on the older notebooks but have been difficult to connect to Windows 7 so that's one reason to start networking.

I've never been skilled at networking computers. Maybe even a bit phobic because i go way back to coaxiial cable networks that were constant problems. So I'm looking to keep it simple and appreciate simple talk.

My older XP Pro notebooks have an old outmoded Workgroup and I'd like to clean out all their network stuff and just do a simple USB stick setup as described in Windows 7 Help document here:


How can I clean out the old Workgroups and start with a clean slate on the XP books and than apply the USB technique as described above? Is it the easiest way to go?

I'm not sure that you will actually ever be able to use the USB drive connect steps that you described, but setting up your network should be relatively simple. If the two XP machines have been networking fine, then cleaning out the network stuff, should not be needed. Just make sure that all your computers are members of the same workgroup on XP just right click on my computer and choose properties and go to the computer name tab and check the name of the workgroup, if needed you can adjust the workgroup name here and on the Windows 7 machine right click computer and choose properties and on the resultant page you will see the workgroup name and a link to change settings if necessary to conform with the workgroup name on the XP machines, they all have to be the same and the machine names need to be unique. Download and read the following document Link Removed due to 404 Error it's explained in detail there, better than I could do it in this post. Also you can use this link for some quick steps Sharing files and printers with different versions of Windows - Help & How-to - Microsoft Windows The networking of the scanners maybe more problematic, check with the manufacturer and see if there are any drivers for those that support the Windows 7 operating systems and we can go from there.

 

[Videography Lab]

Thanks Randy--

It looks like pretty simple and straightforward advice. I will take off my blogger hat and put on my "network admin" hat and give it a try. Will report back as soon as done.

Bob Kiger
Link Removed

 

[Videography Lab]

I'm not sure that you will actually ever be able to use the USB drive connect steps that you described, but setting up your network should be relatively simple. If the two XP machines have been networking fine, then cleaning out the network stuff, should not be needed. Just make sure that all your computers are members of the same workgroup on XP just right click on my computer and choose properties and go to the computer name tab and check the name of the workgroup, if needed you can adjust the workgroup name here and on the Windows 7 machine right click computer and choose properties and on the resultant page you will see the workgroup name and a link to change settings if necessary to conform with the workgroup name on the XP machines, they all have to be the same and the machine names need to be unique. Download and read the following document Download details: Windows 7 & HomeGroup: Downlevel Sharing it's explained in detail there, better than I could do it in this post. Also you can use this link for some quick steps Sharing files and printers with different versions of Windows - Help & How-to - Microsoft Windows The networking of the scanners maybe more problematic, check with the manufacturer and see if there are any drivers for those that support the Windows 7 operating systems and we can go from there.

Followed the instructions on "Sharing files and printers with different versions of Windows" and after disabling AVG firewall and using Windows Firewall allowing Sharing Files...
I now show all three computers on Network on the Windows 7 ASUS machine. When I click on either of the ROGs a Windows Security box comes up, subtitled "Enter Network Password" and asking for "User Name" and "Password"??

 

[Trouble]

Followed the instructions on "Sharing files and printers with different versions of Windows" and after disabling AVG firewall and using Windows Firewall allowing Sharing Files...
I now show all three computers on Network on the Windows 7 ASUS machine. When I click on either of the ROGs a Windows Security box comes up, subtitled "Enter Network Password" and asking for "User Name" and "Password"??

Typically you would respond to this prompt by type the ROG's machine name and then a backslash and a username on the ROG and then the password for that user on the ROG check the box that says remember creds and you should be good to go.
If the machine's netbios name is graceland and the username on that machine is ElvisP it should look like this
graceland\elvisp and then that user's password. Remember to check the box or else you'll be prompted every time.

 

[Videography Lab]

Typically you would respond to this prompt by type the ROG's machine name and then a backslash and a username on the ROG and then the password for that user on the ROG check the box that says remember creds and you should be good to go.
If the machine's netbios name is graceland and the username on that machine is ElvisP it should look like this
graceland\elvisp and then that user's password. Remember to check the box or else you'll be prompted every time.

OK. I have long noted a difference in the screens that my identical ROGs show when opening or closing XP. ROG1 opens a box showing my Username and Password and will not go into Windows until I respond.

ROG2 goes straight into windows and has no such box.

So when I click on ROG1 via the Windows 7 Network icon it goes directly to "Fonts, SharedDocs" and printers. When I go to ROG2 it asks for Username and Password.

I enter the "Full Computer Name" listed in ROG2 System Properties than \user [fullcomputername\user]
Since I never had a password to open Windows on that machine I'm not sure what to put under "Password". Tried just hitting enter but no go?

 

[Trouble]

OK. I have long noted a difference in the screens that my identical ROGs show when opening or closing XP. ROG1 opens a box showing my Username and Password and will not go into Windows until I respond.

ROG2 goes straight into windows and has no such box.

So when I click on ROG1 via the Windows 7 Network icon it goes directly to "Fonts, SharedDocs" and printers. When I go to ROG2 it asks for Username and Password.

I enter the "Full Computer Name" listed in ROG2 System Properties than \user [fullcomputername\user]
Since I never had a password to open Windows on that machine I'm not sure what to put under "Password". Tried just hitting enter but no go?

It may be that it's using some default username, like Owner or Default_User, or even, assuming that it's xp pro, the administrators account. You should be able to see this by either opening up the C drive and looking at documents and settings and see who is listed there, or going into control panel users and see the list, or if again xp pro, right click on my computer, choose manage, on the left side look for local users and groups expand that and highlight users and it should provide a list of users, you can then right click on any user and choose to set a password, Hope something in this helps

 

[Videography Lab]

It may be that it's using some default username, like Owner or Default_User, or even, assuming that it's xp pro, the administrators account. You should be able to see this by either opening up the C drive and looking at documents and settings and see who is listed there, or going into control panel users and see the list, or if again xp pro, right click on my computer, choose manage, on the left side look for local users and groups expand that and highlight users and it should provide a list of users, you can then right click on any user and choose to set a password, Hope something in this helps

It's all working now. I think a lot of my problems were from my phobia about networking. Once I got into the Control Panel > Users it became evident from the switching options why I did not have a log on screen for ROG2, so I set it up properly.
One last question. Now that I've got this network between the computers with "Fonts - printers - SharedDocs" is there a good resource document for using this feature and especially for those pesky peripherals, like printers and scanners?

Thank you for sticking with me!

 

[Trouble]

It's all working now. I think a lot of my problems were from my phobia about networking. Once I got into the Control Panel > Users it became evident from the switching options why I did not have a log on screen for ROG2, so I set it up properly.
One last question. Now that I've got this network between the computers with "Fonts - printers - SharedDocs" is there a good resource document for using this feature and especially for those pesky peripherals, like printers and scanners?

Thank you for sticking with me!

Wow, wouldn't that be great. No, I wish that there was some definitive resource that I could point you to or for that matter everyone to, it sure would make answering all these questions easier. I've been doing this a pretty long time and I have shelves of books going all the way back to lantastic but none of them could be considered a comprehensive resource guide. And the fact that networking technology keeps evolving doesn't do much to simplify matters much. It's like learning to type, you just put your fingers on the home row keys and keep the bottle of whiteout handy. You learn more by actually doing, then you ever will reading.