Win 7 and XP File Sharing Problem

nicklepro said:

Thanks for the reply. I'm able to share files on my Public folder from my pc with win7, but when I right click a folder and share it with homegroup I can't see it on other computers. any ideas why? my other computers run xp and im thinking its because they can't join the homegroup win7 has

The XP systems can't join a Windows 7 homegroup because they don't have IPv6, which is used for homegroups, but you should be able to share any folders you can see from other computers.

In order to share the folders, you need to mark them as "shared" in a specific way on the systems.

Here's what I do: In Windows 7, right click on the folder, go to sharing, click on the down arrow in the box and set it to shared with everyone (you can specify a more restrictive set of users if you want). Then click "Share" at the bottom, then done.

Next, go to "Advanced sharing" in the properties, and click on "Share this folder". (The default name will be that of the folder. You can change that by clicking on "Add".)

Finally, click on the "Permissions" tab at the bottom and change/set the permissions for the folks you selected to share with - the default is read, and that is probably best, unless you want them to be able to modify/delete your data.

On XP, you also have to set the folders you want on that system to shared. It is a similar process of right clicking on the folder and setting the share permissions.

At the end, you should be able to see and share data between all the systems.

bigray said:

I am having trouble with sharing any directory on my Windows 7 RC computer with my two XP computers. Win 7 can see directories and files on the XP computers but the XP machines get a "Access is denied." error message on the Windows 7 directory.

I don't have any software firewalls on any of the machines, but I am able to share the printer connected with the Windows 7 machine with the two XP machines. This version of Windows 7 was an upgrade from Vista Basic in which I was able to share directories with the XP computers.

Thanks for any help in advance.

Always use "Private" network if you want to see all computers and devices, and makes your computer discoverable.

jkkw:
Good link. I downloaded and read the document...thirty something pages...takes some patience, but it pretty much says it all. I would think that the folks who are having trouble with homegroup sharing might want to spend some quality time reading this. Some rep for you...good job