Thread: Windows Networking – Vista and WinXP

Here is a step by step guide on how to get a Windows XP Computer to network with Windows Vista:

OK. First take a deep breath and gather your patience. I wrote-up the below thread after my recent
experience in networking a new Vista laptop with two existing WinXP machines. It wasn't quick but it
did work, eventually.

Try some of these steps:

1) Firewall settings - one of the biggest hassles. To get started I suggest you FIRST disconnect your
network from the Internet (for your protection), then disable ALL firewalls (including Windows firewall)
on ALL machines, and then work to get your home network operating internally. What I learned on my
home network is below.

1.1) My WinXP machines have ZoneAlarm and I needed to ensure that all machines on the network
were in the trusted zone. Go to the Zone tab of Firewall settings in ZoneAlarm free version. Ensure
all of your machines’ IP addresses are listed, as well as that of your router or wireless access point.

1.2) My Vista laptop came loaded with Norton Internet Security. Go to Norton Internet Security tab,
open settings, scroll to bottom, open Internet security and firewall options, open advanced settings,
open configure, change default inbound NetBIOS, inbound NetBIOS name, and Block Windows File
Sharing to ALLOW. Configuring this beast of an app required a lot of trial, error and googling the
Symantec site and others.

2) Ensure sharing is enabled on all machines. It is quite different for Vista vs WinXP. The procedure
is fairly straightforward and is well documented on the MS site and elsewhere. In Network and
Sharing Center it is critical on Vista machine that you have your network configured as Private and
that the Sharing and Discovery Settings are set to ON except for Password Protected Sharing.
Link for Vista: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/net.../vista_fp.mspx
Link for WinXP: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

3) Workgroup name. Ensure you are using the same workgroup name on all machines. WinXP
and Vista machines have different default workgroup names.
WinXP: http://www.microsoft.com/resources/d....mspx?mfr=true
Vista: http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Win...fcead1033.mspx
and
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/baab4f1a-2461-482d-bb2e-c996a197e35f1033.mspx

4) Download and install Link Layer Topology Discovery (LLTD) onto the WinXP machines. Just a nicety,
this enables the network map in Vista to show all machines on the network.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=4f01a31d-ee46-481e-ba11-37f485fa34ea&DisplayLang=en

5) And the final step: check the registry on your WinXP machine per MS article 913628 that I found
by searching MS for "error message when you try to access a Windows XP-based network computer:
"You might not have permission to use this network resource". See the article at: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/913628.
This finally did the trick for my network.


You should have a working network between XP and Vista.
Enjoy