Windows 7 Sharing files Delimena in Windows 7 with vista and xp HOMEGROUP?

[aggieoo7]

Setting share files and printers seems to not be as easy as it was in XP and Vista.
I tried all the forums so far and have not found the trick. With all options tried in Windows 7 as the forums state, one can not see the other non Windows 7 pc in
a home that worked fine prior to Win7 with same hardware. Vista pc also can NOT
open any files or share any printers as it did in past. PASS WORD PROTECT OFF OR ON fails to allow one to open WIN7 files. Can see Win7 pc from Vista and can see Win7 from xp pro public files only but shows in xp all other files that can
be share but can not open any but those in public. Windows 7 share setup is too complicated
and that is it(no files can be opened). Did not start Mcafee with msconfig and AVG on win7. Did not resolve short of uninstalling both which I do not see why. Windows 7 Pro Installed and other than share prob. all working fine. ALL PCs used WORKGROUP name.
What is the hidden trick? FIREWALL OPTIONS IN WINDOWS 7 ? SUSPECT FIREWALL BUT NOT ABLE TO LOCATE where any are not checked for file sharing and printers within Win7.
This definitely one area in Windows 7 that needs revamping for sharing to older systems.

 

[Saltgrass]

I will give you my settings to see if you notice anything different.

Network Discovery: on
Fire and printer sharing: on
Public Folder sharing: on
Media streaming: off
Fire sharing connections: 128 bit
Password Protected sharing: on
Homegroup connections: Use user accounts and passwords

You may be right about the Homegroup connections settings, but someone else was having a problem and that fixed it.

I use the same workgroup for all computers, and even the same user. Occasionally I will get a sign-on dialog and other times not. I show a house (Home or Work) for the network and not a park bench (Public). And you do have items actually shared on the systems.

 

[aggieoo7]

Saltgrass,
My Media Streaming was ALLOW and I changed to Block. I presume that is what you said is OFF?
BTW, the special ultility (922120) would not install on either of my pcs. Now, please clear up what
one can do to share xp files from WIN7. From all correspondence with this forum and others, not
too sure whether this is a dead end. As I said, worked fine between vista and xp from what I remember sometime
back. I sure wish I could get Win7 to install on xp pc. It has PROMISE TECH. PCI ULTRA DMA for the hard drives
and you Win7 wants drivers. I have the diskette which came with the WDC HDD back in the xp days. I doubt
if that is what I need. Also, Win7 precheck says my HP LJ4 plus needs drivers. That I hear from forums is not
so that Microsoft fixed them but I guess the Prechecker needs updating to match. Thanks again for the help. Who
knows maybe someday I get Win7 to work on these pcs. BTW, the Vista Ultimate pc where I installed Win7
once as a upgrade and then wiped hdd clean and full installed. Both installs crashed right after the first updates
were downloaded by Win7. Restore seem to not fix. Note this pc requires RAID Option in bios even though
option is turned off to boot. I wish i had left Vista in it since now I need to find out why the very first updates
from MS on reboot will not work. Suspect something to do with this Raid in bios but no Raid later in the
INTEL RAID software that runs prior to Windows booting that worked ok in Vista. So, since SHARE failed for me prior
to this fiasco, I now to concentrate on getting my Vista back up or Win7 to work after updates.

 

[aggieoo7]

Finally able to share on three pcs like I did in good ole xp and vista days. After hearing how much easier it is in Win7, I sprang for
family pak and Win7 on the xp and vista pcs that gave me fits trying to share with Win7. My findings were:
Win7 password protect OFF allowed one in the HOMEGROUP to work. Attempting the password on option was futile and seemed
to block when used with next option NOT ALLOWING WINDOWS to handle as recommended.
As for the upper and lower case password required in sharing, I did put on each pc. BTW, firewall software was left on with the exception of allowing share thru was found checked.
CONCLUSION OR BOTTOM LINE IN CLOSING OUT MY REQUEST ON THIS FORUM, Windows7 still needs some work by MS to make more user friendly. Thanks Saltgrass and Stueycaster for attempting to resolve. Who knows maybe one can over password protect ! In my opinion, too many options in Win7 and NOT REALLY CALLED FOR IN
HIS OWN HOME unless he is a security freak or constantly worried that one may break in. I am quite secure with
with my hardware and software firewalls which is definitely PASSWORD encrypted and that is where it should be for outsiders.
Note software firewall allows for sharing as exception but rest are secure as Win7 showed. Hopefully, one day Win7 will allow
simple IN HOME SHARING with old OSes like XP and Vista which flaky to say the least...

 

[Basher]

If someone has offered the same advise then please forgive me as I cant be bothered to read the whole thread.

For me to see vista I make sure that all the computers (vista and 7) are sharing the same workgroup name and I have no problems. The default is "Workgroup". To find out right click "Computer" and then "Properties" and check the names there.

Basher

 

[aggieoo7]

All OS's worked at times but still remained flaky. Best solution I found was to put all on Windows 7 and problems went away. Suspect multiple or intermittant problems
caused by firewalls in router and software. To summarize, look for strange happenings when trying to share with older WINDOWS sytems. Thanks for those that tried to resolve.