Windows 7 networking woes

[VanishingSpy]

I have two computers that I would like to be able to network (just for file sharing and printer sharing.) They are a desktop PC and a laptop PC.

The desktop PC is an HP Pavilion 110t with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.
The laptop PC is an Acer Aspire 5517 with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.

I have a Linksys Wireless-G WRT54G router and a cable modem.

I have configured my router with a distinct SSID that shows up in the network connections list on the laptop PC. I am able to access the internet through this network.

However, I am unable to make the desktop PC connect to this network. If I go to the network connections list on the desktop, all it has available is "Network: Internet Access." If I go to the Network & Sharing Center on the desktop PC, I can see my router listed as a device and it seems to be in working order, but I cannot join the network that my laptop PC is able to access.

If I try to use the desktop pc to set up a new network, Windows tells asks me to choose the wireless router or access point I want to configure, and that it might take up to 90 seconds for an unconfigured device on my network to appear, but I've waited for up to 10 or 15 minutes and it's never detected my router (even though I can see it under "Network Infrastructure".)

A couple of things I have already tried to remedy the situation:
1.) I have "network discovery" enabled under home and public on both computers
2.) I have installed the latest firmware for my router from Cisco
3.) On the desktop PC, I can see this network under "Network Map" but I can't access it

I don't understand why this is so difficult... I fully concede that I might be missing something obvious, but I don't know what it could be. In the past I had a Windows XP laptop PC and a Windows XP desktop PC, and I networked them no problem. As I recall, I used the XP desktop PC and created a new network, then I joined that network with the XP laptop PC. It was literally no more than a five-minute process from start to finish.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[kword88]

did you check the homegroup settings?

 

[brady]

do both computers have internet? if yes, you're on the same network.

This sounds like it's a sharing issue to network resources -- if so, Windows 7 Home is not a sharing resources kid of OS... it's very limited in this nature.

Am I correct so far?

 

[VanishingSpy]

kword88: I have tried setting up both computers with a homegroup. I can get both computers to join homegroups, and I check the boxes of what to share on each... Documents, Music, Pictures, etc... but still, neither computer discovers the other's homegroup.

brady: Yeah, both computers are on the internet. If I go to the "Network Connections" in the bottom right of the taskbar, here is my result:

On the laptop PC, I see several wireless networks (presumably my neighbors') and also my own. It says is connected to my wireless network.

On the desktop PC, I see only "Network: Internet Access." Nothing else is listed.

I realize that, my desktop PC not having a wireless card, it is not going to "see" wireless networks, but I am just frustrated because with my old desktop machine running XP, I was able to create a network and then have my laptop join that network. Everything worked... I could set up a shared folder on one computer and the other one would display it in the "Network Places"... It seems like I should be able to have at least this functionality with relatively new computers both running the latest version of Windows.

 

[brady]

Both machines are in a workgroup environment right? Are both 'workgroups' the same on both computers?

IE: WORKGROUP or HOME?