Vista blocking XP LAN - advice please

[comguy]

I've got four desktop computers in a LAN. Three are running XPPro, one is running Vista Ultimate.

All of the XP machines can fully share with each other and the Vista pc can grab stuff from the XPs. But I just CANNOT get the Vista pc to share files with the others. The only folder that Vista will allow access to is the 'Public' folder, but the C drive, and all its other sub-folders, are off limits, ie, 'Access Denied'.

This in spite of me turning off Vista's UAC and setting its permissions as relaxed as possible.

I'm a tech, but no genius when it comes to difficult LAN problems like this.

Advice would be much appreciated :confused:

[Laser]

Go to Control Panel, Network and Sharing Center.

Under Sharing and Discovery, leave File Sharing 'On' and turn Public Folder Sharing 'Off'.

Also make sure Windows firewall has an Exception set for File and Printer sharing.

I have UAC on and share successfully with XP machines using the above settings.

[comguy]

Laser, thanks for the tips.

How about Password Protected Sharing? I have that currently 'OFF'.

Re the firewall, that's also 'OFF'.

Can you comment please?

Monty007, thanks also. I know that you responded prior to Laser's post because I picked it up earlier on another pc, but I can't see it on this accessing.

(Is there a way of viewing this forum so that ALL posts in a thread are visible? The setup here seems to be the same as the Adobe forum, where all parts of a thread are not always visible. Not a great board structure IMHO)

Your mapping suggestion sounds good. All I need to do is find your response again to pick up the link you provided.

[chris5126]

to share a folder for vista to xp create the folder then right click properties then sharing then advanced. Change the permissions for everyone to all ticks make a note of the network path then add it to the xp machines worked for me! your xp machines might not see the vista machine but you can still share files!

[comguy]

Thanks for your response. I've actually made some progress with this problem but it still isn't right.

After much fooling about I can finally create a folder on Vista, share it and have it seen by XP. I can even download stuff in that folder from Vista to XP.

But I can't upload from XP to Vista! Sheesh.......

And if I create a second folder on Vista, I can't return to the XP machine and shift files from Vista1 to Vista2. But I can do all this stuff if I stay within the confines of the Vista Public folder:@

It's most annoying. I really don't know what Bill Gates had in mind when he created the Vista\Blister cyber-monster....

[beidou]

Go to Control Panel, Network and Sharing Center.

Under Sharing and Discovery, leave File Sharing 'On' and turn Public Folder Sharing 'Off'.

Also make sure Windows firewall has an Exception set for File and Printer sharing.

I have UAC on and share successfully with XP machines using the above settings.

Thank you Laser, it worked for my lan.

The file sharing from vista bugged me for quite a while and the problem for me is I didn't set up firewall correctly. I have vista home premium and with norton internet security firewall preloaded. (windows firewall turnoff). After I set allow TCP/UDP traffic within LAN, I am now able to browser vista folder from any machine in LAN.