File sharing...a frustrating issue for me.

Hi

 

Initially I knew that both computers on a single network would mean i could use the fantastic facility of file sharing. This seemed to be perfect a while back, until I got this new Dell machine with Vista. I dont quite know what has changed, but the certain files are no longer accessible from my Laptop which is acting as my main 'server' with an 80gb hard drive. I have Word Documents, Music files and other files etc, but I've notice that Mucis files in particualr will no longer stream from computer to computer.

 

This is an awkward problem, because it is only certain files that will not work. For example file X will play but file Y will not. They are located both in the same 'My Music' folder on the Laptop and when I stream it to Windows Media Player, i receive the following error messge for file Y: the file is in use or is no longer accessible etc. However I know that it isn't in use and the Laptop is on, so what is the problem considering that File X will stream and play perfectly.

 

Having contacted Dell technical support and allowing them to access my computer remotely to configure my Vista machine for file sharing, I am pretty sure it must be the files located on hte Laptop which haven't been configured properly. I have already followed a number of tutorials for file sharing in XP but I am very stuck and no one seems to understand this awkward problem i have. I know these files once worked before, when i configured it originally but since then configurations on the Laptop must have been altered, it use to be the case of just dropping and dragging the files for sharing into the My Music folder on the laptop and they would all stream perfectly.

 

Does anyone have the slightest idea what could be wrong? I really hate file sharing now, because of these sorts of problems.

 

Any help would be highly appreciated! Thanks