STILL cannot see Win7 from XP and XP from Win7

Peeps. I have looked at Networks, Entire Network, found my workgroup "Elisha" and on Win7, there is one PC - the Win7, and on XP, there are three XPs. Neither shows the other OS's computers. I can ping in either direction. I mapped the Win7 Shared printer to XP by using IP address. No firewalls are running, nor is antivirus or the like. All are members of same workgroup and are spelled the same. This seems patently awful, as no one, no one has an answer for why the entire network's computers cannot be mapped by either OS. I looked at and implemented everything from this: Share Files and Printers between Windows 7 and XP - How-To Geek and nothing has changed. I cannot afford to upgrade XPs to Win7 and nor should I have to. <sigh> Again, thanks to all but I think this is a fruitless venture.

I can only suggest that you might want to make sure your W7 PCs are at defaults wrt Services. I'm not sure what might cause what you are (not) seeing, but whenever I've had such maddening problems as yours, they seem to have resulted from my tinkering with Services, even more so with W7 than with XP.

My W7 and XP home lan works fine. Here is a report using the excellent tool Svchost Viewer (svchost viewer) which you might want to compare to:

Code:

Report generated on : 10/13/2011 10:19:34 AM
OS : Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 
Services running on MYCOMP : 
-----------------------------------------------------
svchost instance running: 

• DCOM Server Process Launcher
• Plug and Play
• Power


svchost instance running: 

• RPC Endpoint Mapper
• Remote Procedure Call (RPC)


svchost instance running: 

• Cryptographic Services
• DNS Client
• Workstation
• Network Location Awareness
• Telephony


svchost instance running: 

• Windows Audio
• DHCP Client
• Windows Event Log
• TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper
• Security Center


svchost instance running: 

• Windows Audio Endpoint Builder
• Human Interface Device Access
• Network Connections
• Program Compatibility Assistant Service
• Superfetch
• Distributed Link Tracking Client
• Desktop Window Manager Session Manager
• Portable Device Enumerator Service
• Windows Driver Foundation - User-mode Driver Framework


svchost instance running: 

• Application Experience
• Computer Browser
• Group Policy Client
• IKE and AuthIP IPsec Keying Modules
• Server
• User Profile Service
• Remote Access Connection Manager
• Task Scheduler
• System Event Notification Service
• Shell Hardware Detection
• Themes
• Windows Management Instrumentation
• Windows Update


svchost instance running: 

• COM+ Event System
• Function Discovery Provider Host
• Network List Service
• Network Store Interface Service
• Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol Service
• Diagnostic Service Host


svchost instance running: 

• Base Filtering Engine
• Diagnostic Policy Service


svchost instance running: 

• Function Discovery Resource Publication
• Windows Font Cache Service
• Quality Windows Audio Video Experience
• SSDP Discovery


svchost instance running: 

• IPsec Policy Agent


-----------------------------------------------------
System is running : 50 service(s)
 in a total of : 10 svchost.exe process(es)

Thanks, MaxSeven. I'll follow your lead and let you/the forum know.

Here is what I get. I have tabbed a few services, where they differ.

Report generated on : 10/13/2011 12:48:15 PM
OS : Microsoft Windows 7 Professional
Services running on RICK-PC :
-----------------------------------------------------
svchost instance running:

• DCOM Server Process Launcher
• Plug and Play
• Power


svchost instance running:

• RPC Endpoint Mapper
• Remote Procedure Call (RPC)


svchost instance running:

• Windows Audio
• DHCP Client
• Windows Event Log
• HomeGroup Provider
• Security Center


svchost instance running:

• Windows Audio Endpoint Builder
• Offline Files
• Human Interface Device Access
• Network Connections
• Program Compatibility Assistant Service
• Superfetch
• Distributed Link Tracking Client
• Desktop Window Manager Session Manager
• Diagnostic System Host
• Portable Device Enumerator Service
• Windows Driver Foundation - User-mode Driver Framework


svchost instance running:

• Application Experience
• Background Intelligent Transfer Service
• Computer Browser
• Group Policy Client
• IKE and AuthIP IPsec Keying Modules
• IP Helper
• Server
• Multimedia Class Scheduler
• User Profile Service
• Task Scheduler
• System Event Notification Service
• Shell Hardware Detection
• Themes
• Windows Management Instrumentation
• Windows Update


svchost instance running:

• COM+ Event System
• Function Discovery Provider Host
• Network List Service
• Network Store Interface Service
• Diagnostic Service Host
• WinHTTP Web Proxy Auto-Discovery Service


svchost instance running:

• Cryptographic Services
• DNS Client
• Workstation
• Network Location Awareness


svchost instance running:

• Base Filtering Engine
• Diagnostic Policy Service
• Windows Firewall


svchost instance running:

• Function Discovery Resource Publication
• Windows Font Cache Service
• SSDP Discovery
• UPnP Device Host
• Windows Connect Now - Config Registrar


svchost instance running:

• Windows Image Acquisition (WIA)


svchost instance running:

• IPsec Policy Agent


svchost instance running:

• Windows Defender


-----------------------------------------------------
System is running : 57 service(s)
in a total of : 12 svchost.exe process(es)

TCP/IP NetBios Helper will not start. 1068. Ancillary Function Driver for Winsock won't start, so NBH won't start. I have run:
netsh winsock reset
and
netsh int ip reset
and rebooted. Still won't start. I am running sfc /scannow and looking at Updates and affected programs and drivers, too.

Damn. I did a system restore to three weeks ago. Now I cannot see my external drive in my network map. It is attached to USB port on my router. The XPs see it but I cannot. I can view the contents through my browser but cannot even map a drive to it. This is bad to worse :-(

It seems you might be on the right track; if you look at Network Connection Details do you see NetBIOS over Tcpip Enabled Yes?

Here are a couple pics from one of my W7 PCs:





I'm also wondering if you can find-out which of your PCs is serving as the Master Browser for your LAN. In my case it's a Linux-based NAS that's a 24/7 thing so I never have any "elections" or confusion among PCs over which one is serving-up the names in the Network Neighborhood.

EDIT: Re your USB/router problem, wait a while and it may come-around. I had a problem just today, and was interested to note that there appear to be delays until (maybe) the Master Browser gets' its act together, and finds everything on the network?

Or it may be as simple as rebooting your router.

I still cannot start AFD for Winsock, even after the restore. I don't know about Master Browser but will look into it.

Thanks again.