Your basics get us no further than the original basic method of trying to connect (that's via Windows Explorer BTW ) to XP from Vista/Win7's Network.

1 & 2: Yes, pings both ways.

3 & 4: No, gives the same "Login failure: user has nor been granted requested login type at this (unclear which this is) computer" as does trying to connect directly from Network.

In reply to a post by Pipexer:

5: Create TEST account on both machines with SAME password, try again.

Aye, there's the rub! As I indicated earlier, seems impossible to network XP with Vista/Win7 when they have no user names in common. One has to artificially create unnecessary users.

6, 7 & 8: Yes

9: No point.

In windows 7 if you can see the shared folders on the XP machine, then try right clicking on them and selecting the option to map the a network drive. select a drive and OK.

If it fails repeat, but this time tick the box to "connect with different user credentials". This time when you click OK it will come up with a username and password box. Enter the details that are usually used on the XP machine.

edit

I have it all working here W7,XP,Vista and linux, though adding a new linux machine can be a nightmare as I do not really understand Samba security and have probably left the machines rather to open for public use.

Edited by philippercival (Thu 07-Jul-11 19:29:26)

one more
The only obvious way I could stop win7 accessing shared files on xp was to untick the file
and printer sharing in the exceptions of the firewall. This should have got ticked though when
running the home network wizard, which, even if not done manually, should have happened when
the first folder was shared. Worth checking just in case.

Thanks to everyone who have tried to help me on this issue. I still haven't achieved my goal which is to access files and folders on my wife's XP computer from my Windows 7 machine. I am now using Teamviewer (Free) which, although not ideal, at least makes it easier to communicate between computers.

If all else fails then another solution is to set up a dropbox account on both machines with the same Dropbox login details. This will in effect give you a 2GB shared folder with the advantage that it is backed up to and available from the net.

Another possible advantage of this is if you set it up through this (was a link) then I will get a little extra free space others are welcome to click it as well.

Edit link removed Sorry

Edited by philippercival (Fri 08-Jul-11 23:16:46)

and break the BBS rules most likely, referrals etc are not allowed.

I have tried this as you have advised but it doesn't work for me either!!

This non-techie had the same problem with XP machine linked to home hub by Ethernet and home hub acting as router to my new W7 which has USB to printer.
Spent almost two days trying to get XP to print never mind network with W7 machine. Eventually found Kaspersky was blocking my efforts. After setting up permissions in KIS the network worked, sort of. Bought another W7 machine last month, network self-connected in seconds.
Sorry if this states the obvious but it drove me scatty!

One thing that I have to do occasionally to maintain networking (WORKGROUP) between XP sp3 32bit and Win7 Home Premium 32bit is: on the XP machine to go to My Network Places > view workgroup computers (both can sometimes be slow to open) and open the Win7 machine - this usually gets communication between the machines working again or indeed during the initial networking set up also.

A change of router can also cause problems: often I forget to change the Kaspersky IS 2011 firewall settings to local network on the Win7 machine which is connected wirelessly.

This might help if all the steps for setting up networking between XP and Win7 mentioned in this thread are not getting a result.

Here's the latest on my dilemma. I am now testing 4 computers on the network and the results are as follows:-

1. Advent 8315 Laptop, Vista with SP2 can see and access files and printers on all computers on the network

2. HP dv9000 Laptop, Vista with SP 2 - ditto -

3. Asus EeeBox B202, XP Home with SP3 - ditto -

4. HP Pavilion Slimline s3240uk desktop, Windows 7 SP1 can see all computers, can access the Vista machines but cannot access the XP machine.

What frustrates me is the fact that I have tried all the suggestions put forward on this and other forums (including Microsoft) yet Windows 7 still refuses to communicate with the Windows XP machine. Could it be a bad Windows 7 install or is it that Windows 7 just hates XP ... why is it that the other three get on so well together?

Had it been that none of the computers could interact I would have suspected router settings or antivirus software (I don't use a third party firewall) but the problem seems related to Windows 7 only.

Edited by deleted (Wed 10-Aug-11 20:22:49)