Windows 7: Can't find desktop windows XP with printer on network

see attached images



I have two laptops with Windows 7 (dell laptop, toshiba laptop ) and one desktop XP

dell laptop is able to see all network devices but my toshiba only sees the dell laptop. i need to be able to see the desktop xp to connect to the printer on it.

In the end i want to be able to access any computer from any computer on my network. Currently i can not do this bc

1. access is denied from toshiba to dell
2. desktop xp doesnt show up on toshiba network

If i have to start from scratch let me know i am willing to do this thanks

network discovery won't turn on also as shown in image

Do you still have the predefined rules option in Windows 7 firewall? If those predefined rules were tampered with then you will see this type of problem.

There is a way to fix the problem but it involves editing the registry.

Here is a thread with a similar problem, solution is in the next link.
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic466377.html


http://superuser.com/questions/37510...n-i-get-them-b

Link from :
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic466377.html
is not solved, and therefore i was not able to get anywhere, it seems i have the same problem though. This does not help.

Link from:
http://superuser.com/questions/37510...n-i-get-them-b
talks about predefined rules. Yes I do have the predefined rules option in Windows 7 firewall, but as you can see in the picture, i have no idea what the predefined rules were and if they have been tampered with. the link does not help, sorry.

The predefined rules for the firewall have been tampered with, that is the reason those services aren't working correctly.

The instructions in the second link show you how to return the firewall to it's original settings.

This procedure has already worked to fix the same problem.

Network Discovery & Printer and File Sharing will not stay on.

Ok again the second link

What happened to my "Predefined rules" in Windows Firewall? How can I get them back? - Super User

does not help for the following reasons:

1. My predefined rules are not greyed out, as in the link. they are available as in the image below so not the same issue/

2. in the link it describes his registry key as not being there:

"[HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\SharedAccess\Defaults\FirewallPolicy\FirewallRules] On my Windows 7 Home Premium machine, I looked in that key and found.... nothing? "

Mine is not missing as seen in the image below. my registry key is there.

He resolved this by getting the registry key from another windows 7 copying and importing it into his registry. as you can see my registry is not missing and how can you tell it has been "tampered" with? I am not sure this is the same issue.

Again i am not trying to make my predefined rules appear, they already appear, so its not the same as the other post. I did a reset to default.

I did run into some problems when doing the troubleshooter as you can see in the last 2 images posted

thank you though

Well for some reason the trouble shooter is still pointing to the firewall being incorrectly configured, and that is the reason that Peer Networking Grouping service won't stay on.

I would think that hitting the "Restore Defaults" button on the Windows Firewall page would fix the firewall problem but if the registry was corrupted that would point to the previous problem I described.