Mixed OS's home network.

Hello,
My level of understanding IT is not great, but so far I have managed to get a desktop PC ethernet connected to my router and a laptop PC wirelessly connected to my router and both to access the internet. What I cannot do, is get these PCs to communicate with each other, or the laptop to acces the printer wired to the desktop PC.
The desktop PC is XP(3), the laptop is Windows 8 and the router is Sagem Livebox 2 fr.
Is there any kind soul out there able to tell me how to make these bits of kit talk to each other please.
All the Best
nebb

Have you turned File & Printer Sharing ON on the network connections of the individual PCs?

Having the same username and password on them all can help, otherwise Guest access may be required - otherwise you're a nobody on a PC that hasn't heard of you as a user and doesn't do guest access.

Hello,
Have just checked and sharing is on for both PCs.
Re the username and password, no security is set yet, I am the only user and so have admin status.
Thanks.
All the Best
nebb

You need to set a password on your XP account and use an identical username to the Windows 8 PC (and vice versa) for you to be able to access any files shared within your user account, otherwise the machines will not delegate credentials between themselves to prevent anyone who hasn't set a password from inadvertently giving strangers complete access.

Ensure the system time is correct between both the machines.

Ensure the Windows 8 PC is connected to the "Home" network and also has file sharing and network discovery enabled.

The very first troubleshooting step is to connect to your other PC by typing \\PCNAME into the address bar in Windows explorer, it should successfully open up and show you a list of file and printer shares. If at this point it pops up asking you for a username and password, then the user account names and passwords are not matching.

Edited by Pipexer (Thu 27-Dec-12 17:26:08)

In reply to a post by Pipexer:

If at this point it pops up asking you for a username and password, then the user account names and passwords are not matching.

Then it shouldn't matter that they are not matching if you can login at the prompt.

Incorrect, this login prompt is designed for domain-joined computers and does not behave reliably in a workgroup environment.

Hello
Thanks for the observations, I believe I have set a password on the XP account now and the usernames are the same on both PCs.
I am not sure what system time is.
Windows 8 machine is connected to the "home" network and has file sharing and network discovery enabled.
Tried your trouble-shooting step and got "known but unable to connect".
Thanks for your help thus far, but my observation is, how is an ordinary person in the street like me, supposed to figure these things out, is MS primitive or what?
Excuse my frustration, and thanks again
All the Best
nebb

Have you installed Link Layer Topology Discovery (LLTD) Responder on XP?

System time is basically the clock. Make sure the clock on both machines is within 5 minutes of each other.

It should be extremely simple but there's a lots of things that get in the way of it. On Windows 7 and above, you can set a homegroup which would have made things easier, but not to worry as I prefer the conventional way you're trying to do.

I am not familiar with any "known but unable to connect" error message, could you tell what the exact error message was?

Have you actually shared the printer by going into Start > printers and faxes > right click the printer > properties > tick "Share this printer".

Have you run the home network setup wizard on the XP machine?

Is the workgroup name the same on both machines?

In Windows 8, on the desktop, type "network", and go to "Network", this should take you to control panel on the desktop, is the XP machine listed there?

Do you have any 3rd party firewalls on the machines? Disable them temporarily and try again...

Hello,
Thanks XrayspeX, did that but I am unclear what should be the outcome. I am not detecting anything different.
Pipexer, thanks for coming back, real time on both machines is the same.
The message I got before was:- From "Search Computer" a box labeled Network Error, the message in the box was "Windows cannot access \\XPComputer"
I hit the diagnostics button and eventualy got:- "Troubleshooting has completed" then "Problems Found" with the message "your computer appears to be correctly configured but the device or resource (XP Computer)is not responding.
Re the printer, which is physically connected to the XP machine, I have done all the "share this printer" routine.
I have run the wizard on the XP machine which ended with a message on a USB key which I stuck in the Windows 8 PC, Windows 8 was not impressed and this did not seem to take me much further on.
The workgroup is the same on both machines.
The XP machine is not listed in the control panel.
I have disabled the 3rd party firewalls.
Aint Windows 8 'orrible?
Is there more I can do please?
nebb

Did you literally type in XPComputer or did you type the actual name of the XP computer in?

there could be a name resolution issue, can you find out the IP address of the computers and try \\IPaddress instead

usually they are going to be something like

\\192.168.1.10
\\192.168.1.11

etc

Edited by Pipexer (Sat 29-Dec-12 17:58:16)

enable Guest access on all machines without a password ?

In reply to a post by nebb:

Thanks XrayspeX, did that but I am unclear what should be the outcome. I am not detecting anything different.

OK, I just found that LLTD on XP helped my networking with Vista, but I can't remember at what stage.

Hello,
Please excuse my absence, family things!
But guess what, this morning having been messing round with my router settings, I reset to factory and now I've got a working network.
I don't know what enabled me to make the connection, which is a shame, but anyway I'm up and running.
Thanks Piperex, XraySpex and Yarwell for your help, I've learned a lot trying out your ideas.
Bye for now.
All the Best
nebb