home workgroup problem

four computors are involved. One XP Pro, one Win7 laptop, one new Win7 with an AMD Phenom 3.2GHz CPU and Win2k.

They are all connected to a workgroup. The two Win7's can see and talk to the XP Pro and Windows 2k, Both win7's SEE each other XP Pro, Win2k. Both Win7's have their drives shared, however they do not show that the drives are shared, a user name and password is allways aked for.

I cannot find a place in either of the Win7's to enter a user name and password for the workgroup computers. The setup information goes around in a circle it seams. File and printer sharing is all activated. While in either Win7's I can transfer files to any of the other computers so the path way does exist, I just cannot find a way to establish a user name and password in either Win7 computers.

Note: the laptop uses Windows 7 Home Premium, the Windows 7 desktop uses Windows 7 Pro.

I read the mail in one other post on the first page regarding an IT expert who was havin Win7 networking problem, however I did not see anything in that discussion the solved my problem.

Any Ideas????

I'll quote the important part here in bold.

They are all connected to a workgroup. The two Windows 7's can see and talk to the XP Pro and Windows 2k, Both Windows 7's SEE each other XP Pro, Win2k. Both Windows 7's have their drives shared, however they do not show that the drives are shared, a user name and password is allways aked for.

OK, to properly share entire drives you need to set the regular permissions but also you need to set the Security on the drive itself in order to share the entire drive. This is an extra step because sharing an entire drive is considered to be a security risk. You would be better off sharing the entire "User folder" instead.

To share the entire drive:
Open My Computer -> right click Local Disk D or which ever drive letter your drive is using -> select Properties -> select Security tab -> click Edit button -> click Add button -> enter the name of the User you want to set Security permissions (it is the same user name you've set the sharing permissions for, ex. Everyone will set the read permissions to every user. Put check marks in the boxes for full access and control -> click OK hit apply-> select the desired permissions -> click OK -> wait while permissions are set -> and your Done.

Reboot all machines then try to access the drives.

I have solved the problem, by following the steps you outlined above which I had done allready but similar to whay you suggested, during that setup I did find a place that allowed me to establish a user name and password for all the other computers on the home network. Am not worried too much about folder sharing, I am behind a good fire wall routher and use zonealarm for any outgoing call by any of the computers. I use anti adaware, mallware and a good antivirus. Once in a while, when I drop my gaurd I will get hit but not too often.

Sounds good desert bum.