Win 7 – XP file sharing

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I recently upgraded my PC to Windows 7 and must admit the learning curve is a steep one. So far I’ve managed to steer through the maze of differences but now I’m stumped.

I have a wireless home network between my Win 7 PC and my daughter’s XP PC in another part of the house. The network works well and she is able to share the internet connection without problems.

The problem is that she is unable to access files and folders on my PC that were available to her when we were both running XP. i can access files on her machine but when she tries to access those on my machine up pops a window asking for a user name and password. I have never set up a user name and password for my PC and neither has she, so we have no idea what to enter. All settings are correct in the Network and Sharing Center and the firewall has been configured to allow access.

I really don’t know what to do about this and would appreciate any suggestions on how to solve it.

Thanks and regards to all.

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Calhob, Welcome to the Lounge as a new poster.

XP does not seem to like the new security measures of Win 7. See if this How To Geekarticle helps.

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XP had the option of simple sharing which did not require permissions if selected other than two checkboxes, one to share and the other to allow file changes.
Since that isn’t available on W7 systems, in addition to setting Network and Sharing settings for non-password access and such, you have to go into each share and set not only the sharing permissions but also set the security permissions for each share. I set mine to allow Everyone full access so it works much like simple sharing in XP.

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I am going to crosslink my own post……

http://windowssecrets.com/forums/showthread//140321-win-7-XP?p=818143&viewfull=1#post818143

This is what Infinicore is talking about when he says to set Network and Sharing settings for non-password access….

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This is how mine is set.

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Many thanks, guys, for your help. Using a combination of your ideas, I finally managed to get the file sharing working. It sure seems that Win 7 is most reluctant to allow this to happen unless all machines in the network are running the same version.

Thanks again and best regards to all.

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You’re welcome, yes, for a whole bunch of advanced users who like to run many different OSes and have them all communicate as peers over a network, Homegroup means a LOT more than sharing resources just between Win 7 systems.

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MS thinks it is doing its customers a favor by imposing “protections” that makes life difficult for adults who are more than capable of maintaining security all by themselves.

Be that as it may, there must be a simple, by the numbers or pictures, solution to the problem of accessing Win 7’s root directory by XP machines(s) on a network. I have scoured the internet with no success.

Please help!

TIA,

spooz2

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MS thinks it is doing its customers a favor by imposing “protections” that makes life difficult for adults who are more than capable of maintaining security all by themselves.

Be that as it may, there must be a simple, by the numbers or pictures, solution to the problem of accessing Win 7’s root directory by XP machines(s) on a network. I have scoured the internet with no success.

Please help!

TIA,

spooz2

One way to get easy sharing is to simply use an account with the same username and password on every computer involved. Do not use the Sharing wizard. Of course, you must have file sharing enabled in Windows 7. These are the settings I use.

28952-XpShare

To share the C drive, right click it, choose Sharing and proceed with the sharing dialog.
For me it works even without the same account on both computers.

Beware of any firewalls you may have. They can prevent the sharing.

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