Getting a WIN XP computer to talk to a WIN 7 homegroup?

Ok, I have a homegroup set up called "WORKGROUP". It consists of two win7 computers and one XP.

The two Win7 computers talk fine, but the WIN XP one will not even access the master win7 computer, which is called "win7big".

This is despite the face that I made sure the WinXP computer was part of "WORKGROUP". It doesn't even get to the username/password box popup. Just a red error (x) with cannot find... etc, when I type in \\win7big in explorer.

Any advice on how to get this XP to connect ?

In the Windows world, networking consists of Domains, Workgroups and Win 7 Homegroups.

You need a Domain server and Win XP Pro or Win 7 Pro or above to access a Domain.

A Homegroup under Win 7 is only accessible by other Win 7 machines. You can't rename it, always called Homegroup.

A Workgroup is the most common form of home network. The fact that you say you named it "WORKGROUP" tells me you actually have a workgroup, not a Homegroup. Confused yet? Under XP, you could setup a Workgroup and name it whatever you wanted and MS often defaulted the name to "HOMEGROUP". A Workgroup named "HOMEGROUP" is a different beast than a Win 7 Homegroup.

As to sharing between Win XP machines and Win 7 machines in a Workgroup, it can be done. I find it best to have the same username/pw exist on all machines. You need to share any folders on each machine that you want the others to be able to access. You also need to enable network discovery on the Win 7 machines. Here's a link to a how-to article: Complete Guide to Networking Windows 7 with XP and Vista - How-To Geek