Windows 7 with XP Shares

[nmfaxman]

I have 6 XP computers on a p2p network. All was fine until customer installed 2 windows 7 workstations and now I have lost all file and print sharing on the network.
I have added users on Win 7 and XP's to match everyone on the network.
I turned off password protected on the win 7. Now I can see some of the shares from some of the computers. The Win 7 computers see each other but only 2 of the XP.
Funny thing is scanrouter is still working.

[Paper_path]

You may want to check that all the XP machines are completely up-to-date. I believe Windows 7 uses a new version of SMB.

[alex@wocltd.com]

get an old workstation put linux unbuntu server edition on use as simple file/print server

[Stirton.M]

Well, for starters, all your computers must be part of the same domain.

Windows 7 practically insists on this for proper file sharing between the units.

Go to the control panel (just like XP) and look in the upper right side of the window where it says "Category", change that to "Small Icons" and you will get the full list of Control Panel applets.

From there, click once on "Network and Sharing Center". Then in the new window click on the blue link under "active network". It is likely named "Home Network". When you click on that link, a new window pops up. Click on "Work Network".

That setting allows the Windows 7 pc's to see the rest of the group and also makes them discoverable to the other pc's.

Also, on the left side of the "Network and Sharing Center" is a link called "changed advanced sharing settings" which also allows you to manually change specifics under each network type, be it home or work or public, which ever you are using.

You may also need to set firewall settings, though windows 7 should automatically configure those settings for you.

Also, Win7 does require a password logon be set for sharing to work seamlessly on those machines with any other computer on the network.

[Mr Spock]

Well, for starters, all your computers must be part of the same domain.

With a p2p network it would be the same workgroup name not domain if I remember correctly...

Otherwise I agree with Sirton.M

[TheOwl]

Another quick one to look at quickly is to make sure that everything has a different name on the network as machines with the same name will talk to each other correctly.

Maybe also just make sure that file and print sharing is still enabled on the 2 XP machines that you are having issues with.

[TheOwl]

Also, Win7 does require a password logon be set for sharing to work seamlessly on those machines with any other computer on the network.

You can turn off the requirement for password proctecting shares through the network and sharing. I believe and I could be wrong, that you can only select this option if you have designated the network you are on to be either "Work" or "Home" as "Public" locks everything down.

[Stirton.M]

you may be right about that.

I found that I had to enable the password to share files between my home pc (win7) and my laptop (XP).

I'll be updating my main hardware with a custom build super computer over the weekend, so I'll revisit that and take a closer look.

[Stirton.M]

With a p2p network it would be the same workgroup name not domain if I remember correctly...

Otherwise I agree with Sirton.M

semantics on the workgroup...I like to use the word domain (it is incorrect to use it the way I did) to differentiate the expression when referring to workgroup names like "workgroup" and "mshome" for example. It simply helps anyone who is unfamiliar with networking to see the relationship.

[nmfaxman]

Had them set their autoupdates to automatically update. Next morning file shares were back.