Question by prostdmaw: House LAN network problems… XP PC and Vista PC?
I’m trying to connect a network of 2 PCs together, one is a Vista machine, the other an XP machine. I connect the ethernet cable from one to the other, and I’m getting a limited connectivity notification between both of them. The Vista machine goes offline before I can open the opposite computer to trade files. P.S They are connected to a 4 port router modem for net access, except I am plugging the ethernet cable from the XP into the Vista machine instead of the router.
How can I fix this so they both stay online and trade files? This has only become a problem within the last 2 weeks.
i enabled filesharing from the vista pc, but it keeps defaulting back to not sharing…
Best answer:
Answer by Misiaczek
you have to go through the router. The router assigns an IP address to the computer among other things that allow the computers to talk to one another. If you want to do it using a cable only you need a special crossover cable and then have to input all the IP, gateway etc.. addresses manually into the computer which is for more advance users. Just stick with transferring the files through the router.
What do you think? Answer below!
Did you enable filesharing.
The first thing you’ll want to do is ensure that your PCs all have the same Workgroup name. If you kept the default from Windows XP, your workgroup is called MSHOME. In Vista, the default is WORKGROUP. If you want to view and edit the computer details on each PC to rename your workgroup, you can access this from the main “Vista Welcome Center” screen by choosing the first option “View Computer Details” and selecting “Show More”. This will quickly bring up the Computer Name tab. Here you want to name your PC (this is what it will show up as on the network) and also change your workgroup name. You will need to use the same Workgroup name on each PC that you want to enable file sharing with.
TIP: The “Computer Name” tab is available from “Control Panel”. Choose “System and Maintenance”, choose “System”, select the “Change Settings” button, choose “Computer Name” tab.
NOTE: Windows Vista displays a User Account Security Control window after making most changes related to sharing. This is basically a prompt asking you to confirm your choice. You’ll see this prompt frequently while using the Network & Sharing Center.
Once you have successfully changed your Workgroup name on all PCs, you can then access a network map from within Vista’s Network & Sharing Center. Click the Start Orb, choose “Network” then select “Network & Sharing Center”. Here you select “View Full Map” to see all the systems and devices on your network.
From the Welcome Screen select
‘View Computer Details’
Set your Computer and Workgroup name
Vista’s “Network & Sharing Center”
In this view you may notice an area at the bottom of the screen that shows devices that cannot be placed on the map. You can still access the devices, but there are some key reasons as to why some PCs or devices may not show in the map view — the main reason being that support is not currently available for the required protocols
For details please read the source links given below: