Windows XP computer can't see Windows 7 shares

Question

I am building a network containing notably a laptop running XP and a computer running Windows 7. Both computer have shared folders and the 7 has a shared printer, to which another laptop running 7 is able to print.

If I attempt to see the laptop's network shares on the PC, everything works perfectly: I am able to see and enter the folders. The reverse operation however doesn't work. Xp doesn't see the Windows 7 PC.

Other things to note:

• As mentioned above, another Windows 7 computer is able to see the printer and
• I can ping both computers from either PC.
• Both computers are in the same workgroup named ALLAITEMENT
• Password-protected shares are turned off on the PC.
• The 7 Computer uses 40/56 bit encryption
• The Windows XP laptop has SP3

Answer 1

In the Network Sharing Center on Windows 7, you need to put on the compatibility mode for Windows XP.

Standard, I believe it's set not to be compatible with Windows XP computers...

Answer 2

Ran into the same problem, this solved the problem for me although it might be unsuitable for your environment. 1) set static IP on the win 7 machine 2) edit HOSTS file on the win XP machine, adding the ip address and the computer name

this enabled me to find the shared folder, use shared printer on win 7 machine but it does not appear on the list of machines in the Network Places

Answer 3

Unfortunately, I was unable to find a proper solution within the timeframe. We ended up installing 7 on the laptop too.

Answer 4

This is probably because the "Password-protected shares" option is disable that it doesn't work... Also, do you have a password on each computer? If there is one computer that have no password on admin account, sharing won't work, for security reasons.

To do it straight forward you must have the same account name with the same password on both computers, then that'll work. I did this for my wife laptop that is running Windows XP and she can access shared folders on my Windows 7 computers without any problems.

Answer 5

You might have a problem with the Server and/or "Computer Browser" services, in which case just restarting those services will solve all your ills.

Answer 6

Most likely it is an issue with the 128-bit encoding that Windows 7 uses. XP is not compatible with it and can't decode the folder contents. To solve this, in the Windows 7 computer under Network and Sharing Center. in the Home or Work profile, set it to allow computers with a lesser encoding to access the shared folders.

Answer 7

I only have one advice for you. It's Microsoft... You will have to bruteforce your way in

On any of your windows 7 computers you go to your network where you only see the windows 7 pc's. Lets call this computername WIN7-PC and the Windows XP's computer name WINXPCOMP. In your explorer box it will be //WIN7-PC

Now all you do to get into the windows XP pc is change //WIN7-PC into //WINXPCOMP After you've done that, you should be seeing the shared folders now and the pc should be available on the network now (which is handy for Remote Desktop) It can be annoying because you'll have to do this every time (maybe you can make a shortcut?)

In any case, this worked for me when i couldn't find the windows xp computers on our network, i hope this works for you.