Member Avatar for savedlema

Hi!

I'm seriously stuck here. The issue is with one Windows 7 Home Premium machine. This machine:

-- I can not ping it from either Win 7 or XP clients (I have a mix of Win 7 and XP)
-- This machine can not be seen in the 'My Network Places' from XP Clients (SP2 & SP3)
-- This machine can be seen in 'My Network Place' by another Win 7 machines. But can't ping to this problematic computer.
-- This machine cannot therefore access the shared printers & folders which're shared in my network. Other computer can.

I have gone to google search with "Windows 7 Home Premium cannot see XP computers in network", I have seen many suggestions in forums which have not helped me.

Few things I tried:

-I have made sure I enabled network discovery and file sharing (I know how to do this)
-I have changed the workgroup name to a different name,restarted, changed the workgroup name to the one in use.
-Went to firewall and enabled print and file sharing in the inbound properties.
-One forum said I should go to gpedit and change some network settings (LAN......)
----I have checked and checked to be sure I connect to "Work" network and enable everything that to needs be enabled in File and Printer Sharing.

Please help.

All printers are connected to XP clients and I want to be able to print from this Win 7 Client. I know the procedures to share a printer but since this Win 7 cannot see XP clients, I can't get to the printer.

Thanks for any help. I hope I explain my problem clearly.

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Dani AI

Generated

Short troubleshooting summary and checklist that fills gaps left by the replies from , and .

When one Windows 7 PC will not reply to pings and XP machines can’t browse to it, the problem is most often local to that PC: the Windows firewall (ICMP or SMB ports blocked), NetBIOS/SMB name-browsing services not running, or a third‑party security product/router blocking NetBIOS/SMB. Confirm which of those is true before changing workgroup or reinstalling Windows. (learn.microsoft.com)

Quick tests (run these from another machine first, then on the problem PC):

ping <IP-of-Win7>
ipconfig /all
nbtstat -A <IP-of-Win7>
net view \\<IP-of-Win7>

If ping <IP> fails but HTTP/devices on that IP work, the OS is likely blocking ICMP; if ping works but net view or \\IP fail, SMB/NetBIOS is blocked or the Server service isn’t responding. Use nbtstat and net view to verify NetBIOS name and share visibility. (learn.microsoft.com)

What to check and change (non-destructive, one at a time)

  • Temporarily disable third‑party AV/firewall. If that fixes it, reconfigure the security product. (Many problems are caused by those.)
  • Allow ICMP echo and File & Printer Sharing in Windows Firewall (or add an explicit netsh rule for ICMPv4). Test ping again. (learn.microsoft.com)
  • Ensure services that support browsing are running: TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper, Computer Browser (where used), and the Function Discovery/SSDP-related services for modern discovery. The browse mechanism also depends on SMB/NetBIOS ports (UDP 137–138, TCP 139/445). (learn.microsoft.com)
  • Note Explorer’s Network browsing uses legacy SMBv1/Computer Browser on older networks; if SMBv1 is disabled (modern systems), browsing won’t show older XP machines even though shares still work by IP. Mapping or connecting by IP avoids that issue. (learn.microsoft.com)

If immediate printing is needed, add the shared printer by host IP or by "\<IP>\<printershare>" — this bypasses browsing altogether and is a reliable workaround. For full fix, follow the tests above and re-enable only the specific firewall/service rules you need. (support.microsoft.com)

Recommended Answers

All 3 Replies

Member Avatar for rch1231

Hello,

Unless I am mistaken the issue is with the Home Premium version of Windows 7. It is only designed to see computers in a Homegroup and does not support other networks or domains. Below is a link to the Microsoft page that shows the capabilities of each version of Windows 7. You need at least Windows 7 Professional to see the XP systems on the network.

Windows 7 Compare

Member Avatar for Greg_z

Windows 7 Home does not work with domains. You can only use it in a non-domain environment. As long as you have the correct workgroup named on that machine, that it belongs to, you should have no problem browsing Network shares, unless other machines, or your router does not allow that to happen.

In rare occurances, it comes down to being third party Firewall/Internet Security software being the problem, not the OS.

commented: Thanks, but I think a domain is different from a workgroup. I'm in a workgroup. +2
Member Avatar for savedlema

I managed to add a printer by using the IP address of the machine that hosts the printer. Solved.

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