cant set up home network

Question

i have 2 laptops.  one is a dell inspiron 1525 running windows vista and the other is a dell inspiron 8200 running windows xp.  the vista is downstairs and the xp is upstairs connected to a linksys wireless router thru an ethernet connection.  i want to be able to access files on the xp upstairs from the vista which is wireless but i tried setting up the network but the vista wont recognize the xp laptop.  i get a message saying the dns name doesnt match even though it shows up on the network connections along with my printer and router.  i named both computers workgroup and turned discovery on and they both can 'see' each other but  files dont show up.  what can i do to get them connected properly so i can share files.

volcano11 · Answer

You say you named both computers workgroup!  The computers must have different unique names on the network.   It will never work if they have the same name.   Steve

sonygenuis · Answer

each laptop has a unique name.  i named the workgroup---workgroup.  my vista computer can see the xp computer but i cant open files because i get a message that says the name is wrong or there is a network problem.  when i diagnose it i get something about DNS name isnt recognized and the network path isnt found.  yet from my xp computer i can access the vista files.  so it works in the opposite direction of which i would like.

volcano11 · Answer

Are you running any third party firewalls on the XP computer (McAfee, Norton, Zone Alarm, etc.).  If so, have you configured the firewall to allow local network access?   Steve

sonygenuis · Answer

no, my xp is just CA anti-virus and i am using windows firewall.  the network setup works from the xp to the vista but not from the vista to the xp.  the vista sees the xp but when i try to open it, i get a message saying the name is wrong or misspelled or there is a network problem.  when vista tries to diagnose the problem i get a message about the DNS and it tells me the path is not found.

volcano11 · Answer

Since home networking does not require DNS (that's only used for the intenet), the message you are getting is inconsistent with the problem. Is the name of xp machine something simple? i.e. does it have only letters with no special characters like &, ^, %, $, #, @, !, etc?

Steve

sonygenuis · Answer

the name of the vista is dellyo1 and the xp is dellyo2 and the router is dellyo.  when i try to open up the xp it says windows explorer doesnt recognize dellyo2.

volcano11 · Answer

As a troubleshooting step, try booting the XP computer to Safe Mode with Network Support.  Once it is booted, then see if the Vista computer can open files on XP computer.   Steve

jmwills · Answer

sonygenius:   See if any of the info on Wills IT helps.

Networking, Internet, & Bluetooth

cant set up home network

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