Windows xp home network

goaliehammy

Hi

I just networked my laptop and my desktop which are both running windows xp. The network completed ok and I was able to see and use files from both computers, so all ok. Except that my wifes laptop which is running windows vista was excluded from the network and could not connect to the internet. I tried to add it to the home network that I had just created but still couldnt get it to connect.
I had to delete the home network from all the computers to get hers working again.
The question is what did I do or where did I go wrong? or is it just another of the vista issues that are sent to drive you mad.

asc99c

I've not had much luck using the quick configuration tools whenever trying to mix different versions of Windows. I've got a network with a Vista server, an XP laptop and an XP desktop, and it can all work together, but it's done using the manual settings, and not using workgroups etc.

Are you trying to access the internet on the laptop via one of the other computers, or do you have a separate router provided by your ISP?

exup

are you running Norton antivirus on the laptop ? It may be blocking the laptop from connecting
Also - from another forum

"Network discovery may beblocking you from seeing other computers and devices. To turn on th network discovery setting, follow these steps:

1. Open Network and Sharing Center by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking Network and Internet, and then clicking Network and Sharing Center.

2. If network discovery is off, click the arrow button to expand the section, click Turn on network discovery, and then click Apply. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation."

Spank

You need to make sure that all machines are in the same workgroup. XP uses by default "MSHOME" while Vista uses "WORKGROUP". Both the Vista and XP machine should have the same workgroup name in order for sharing to work properly! Hope this helps.

goaliehammy

Hi
I have a separate wireless router supplied by sky.
when the network was up and running I appeared that the laptop runing vista was connecting to the router but not to the internet. There was a diagram that showed something similar to this;

laptop-ok-ok-ok-ok-ok-unknown network

---

internet

but I could not get vista to connect to the new network; to see if this would allow connection to the internet. Or get past the hurdle above.

I could see the new network on the laptop but could not do anything with it.

cheers