Networking between Xp, Vista basic, and 2 Vista Premiums

[hgffrank]

I have XP2 as my main computer, another desktop with Vista Premium, and a laptop with Vista basic.

I have a Linksys 4 port router with wireless g.

I have all computers set to same workgroup name.

All 3 computers show up in the networks page of each computers

All 3 are set to share the drive roots, which is my goal. I want to access any of my documents and files from any of my computers. Not trying to run programs remotely, just files, such as .doc,.xls,.mp3,wma,and such.

I can get on either of the Vista computers and gain full access to my XP files without a problem.

However when I try to access either of the Vista computers from the XP, I am denied access and told to contact administrator and/or check sharing permissions. Which I have checked a thousand times and have verified that EVERYTHING is set to share freely.

I'm also denied access when on either of the Vista compturs and trying to access the other Vista computer.

I have searched the microsoft site for solutions, have tried registry edits, and the closest I got was adding an "EVERYONE" to the permissions of the security tab of drive properties, however that only got me in the drive and once I got to the users I was denied furthur access, and the same trick didnt work on the sub-folders.

I then disabled the Firewall's on all the compturs and still nothing changed.

When on the Vista laptop and trying to access the other Vista computer I used the Vista Network diagnostics tool and it told me there is no automatic solution and that it pinged the other vista computer but did not recieve any response. When on the other Vista computer I couldnt try this because I got a username and password dialog box when I tried clicking on the first Vista computer.

In the beginning I thought it might be a router problem since I had a crappy Zyxel router with worthless Free Network Magic. But I went and bought a Linksys router and though the software was nice I still have the same problem with file sharing.

I really need to find a solution to my problem soon because as bad as my headache is now, its going to be even worse in about a week when my new desktop arrives and I have 4 networked computers to contend with. That one will also have Vista Premium.

I am not a computer expert by far, but do know the basics I think, so if anyone can help me out on this I'd be greatly appreciative. Just please try to explain things in laymans terms. My technical knowledge is limited.

I'll do my best to help with whatever information I can provide.

[hgffrank]

Can anyone help me?

[johnwill]

Can you ping ALL of the computers from the other ones by computer name? That's the first thing to get working. Then you can take a look at the following links for some more Vista specific networking information.

File and Printer Sharing in Windows Vista

Windows XP And Vista On The LAN Together

[hgffrank]

Originally Posted by johnwill

Can you ping ALL of the computers from the other ones by computer name? That's the first thing to get working. Then you can take a look at the following links for some more Vista specific networking information.

File and Printer Sharing in Windows Vista

Windows XP And Vista On The LAN Together

I've been through that first link several times, but for some reason my screen wasnt the same so I was a bit lost.

Can you tell me how to ping the computers in XP & Vista?

[johnwill]

Turn off any firewalls for debugging. If the firewall is the problem, you'll have to configure it to allow access to "trusted zone" addresses. Note that some firewalls must be completely uninstalled to stop them from affecting your networking.

Hold the Windows key and press R, then type CMD to open a command prompt for the following commands:

PING each remote computer by IP address, and if successful, PING by name. Open a command prompt as described above and type.

PING <ip address>
or
PING <computer name>

Where:
<ip address> - is the x.x.x.x IP address
<computer name> - is the computer name

A failure to PING is almost always a firewall configuration issue. Any failure to PING needs to be corrected before you go any farther.

Note: You can obtain the IP address and computer name of a computer by opening a command prompt (DOS window) and typing IPCONFIG /ALL. This should work for any Windows version. The IPCONFIG /ALL display will provide a wealth of useful information for debugging your network connection.

[hgffrank]

Originally Posted by johnwill

Turn off any firewalls for debugging. If the firewall is the problem, you'll have to configure it to allow access to "trusted zone" addresses. Note that some firewalls must be completely uninstalled to stop them from affecting your networking.

Hold the Windows key and press R, then type CMD to open a command prompt for the following commands:

PING each remote computer by IP address, and if successful, PING by name. Open a command prompt as described above and type.

PING <ip address>
or
PING <computer name>

Where:
<ip address> - is the x.x.x.x IP address
<computer name> - is the computer name

A failure to PING is almost always a firewall configuration issue. Any failure to PING needs to be corrected before you go any farther.

Note: You can obtain the IP address and computer name of a computer by opening a command prompt (DOS window) and typing IPCONFIG /ALL. This should work for any Windows version. The IPCONFIG /ALL display will provide a wealth of useful information for debugging your network connection.

PING test results:

XP desktop to: Vista laptop; successful
.....................Vista desktop; FAILED

Vista laptop to: XP desktop; successful
......................Vista desktop; FAILED

Vista desktop to: XP desktop; successful
........................Vista laptop; successful


so the only ping failure was from the XP desktop, and the Vista laptop to the Vista Premium desktop, all other ping tests were successful. So I am assuming at this point that the Vista Premium desktop is having a problem. How do I fix that?

[johnwill]

Well, the desktop appears to have a firewall blocking access. You need to identify and configure or disable it.

[hgffrank]

Originally Posted by johnwill

Well, the desktop appears to have a firewall blocking access. You need to identify and configure or disable it.

I went into the Firewall advanced area and added a new inbound custom rule to allow ICMPv4 and ICMPv6 Echo request packets. I set the rule to the IP addresses of my other two computers only, not the ANY option. Not sure if that was right or not. However according to microsofts support site I needed to exempt ICMP from the IPsec requirements for troubleshooting but when I open the properties dialog box I dont see an IPsec settings tab which microsofts support site claims is there.

Where can I find the IPsec settings tab at? Or what is it I'm doing wrong?

I uncuccesfully tried pinging the computer again after adding the two rules, but I'm assuming the IPsec is causing a problem according to microsoft.

[hgffrank]

I just found the IPsec tab, and after setting the ICMPto exempt, I still cannot ping the computer.

So at this point I have the firewall OFF, added 2 rules to allow ICMPv4, and ICMPv6, and have changed the ICMP IPsec setting to YES. NO PING

[johnwill]

I think there is some other firewall component that is blocking the access.

[hgffrank]

Originally Posted by johnwill

I think there is some other firewall component that is blocking the access.

Any idea's on what??????? If the firewall is off, how could it still be blocking?

[johnwill]

You probably have a 3rd party firewall that is, or was installed, and isn't fully uninstalled.

[hgffrank]

Originally Posted by johnwill

You probably have a 3rd party firewall that is, or was installed, and isn't fully uninstalled.

Thanks that was it right there. My McAfee program had a Ping setting that I had to change and once I did that it worked.

So now that all my computers are communicating nicely, what do you think my next move is to get all my files and folders shared with all the computers on my network? My Xp shares fine so its just the Vista's(3 of them) that I'm working with.

[johnwill]

Let us know if you run into issues there. Here's a reference to get you started: Windows XP And Vista On The LAN Together

[hgffrank]

Originally Posted by johnwill

Let us know if you run into issues there. Here's a reference to get you started: Windows XP And Vista On The LAN Together

Well after going through that and a couple other things I managed to get the Vista computers to share the public folders and the drives, but once the drives are opened you cant go any furthur into the subfolders. So the only thing available are the public folders.

[johnwill]

Turn of password protected sharing on the Vista computers.

[hgffrank]

Originally Posted by johnwill

Turn of password protected sharing on the Vista computers.

Password protected sharing has been turned off since the beginning.

[johnwill]

See if this site: File and Printer Sharing in Windows Vista helps you.