I can't get to shared drives over the network

I have a wireless network set up and Windows Vista Home Premium on my desktop
and my laptop. I'm unable to get to any drives from one computer from the
other. This is getting very frustrating. The internet connection works
great but I would really like to be able to move files and print from both
computers.

Chris wrote:

> I have a wireless network set up and Windows Vista Home Premium on my desktop
> and my laptop. I'm unable to get to any drives from one computer from the
> other. This is getting very frustrating. The internet connection works
> great but I would really like to be able to move files and print from both
> computers.

Since I don't know what you've tried, here are general network
troubleshooting steps. Not everything may be applicable to your
situation, so just take the bits that are. It may look daunting, but if
you follow the steps at the links and suggestions below systematically
and calmly, you will have no difficulty in setting up your sharing.

Excellent, thorough, yet easy to understand article about File/Printer
Sharing in Vista. Includes details about sharing printers as well as
files and folders:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l.../bb727037.aspx

Here are some general networking tips for home/small networks:

A. Configure firewalls on all machines to allow the Local Area Network
(LAN) traffic as trusted. With Windows Firewall, this means allowing
File/Printer Sharing on the Exceptions tab. If you aren't running a
third-party firewall or have an antivirus with "Internet Worm
Protection" (like Norton 2006/07) which acts as a firewall, then you're
fine. With third-party firewalls, I usually configure the LAN
allowance with an IP range. Ex. would be 192.168.1.0-192.168.1.254.
Obviously you would substitute your correct subnet. Do not run more than
one firewall.

B. For ease of organization, put all computers in the same Workgroup.
This is done from the System applet in Control Panel, Computer Name tab.

C. Create matching user accounts and passwords on all machines. You do
not need to be logged into the same account on all machines and the
passwords assigned to each user account can be different; the
accounts/passwords just need to exist and match on all machines. If you
wish a machine to boot directly to the Desktop (into one particular
user's account) for convenience, you can do this. The instructions at
this link work for both XP and Vista:

Configure Windows to Automatically Login (MVP Ramesh) -
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/Autologon.htm


Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User