Connecting to devices on home network

Recently purchase a Windows Vista home premium laptop. I can't see the other
devices on my home network (PC, Printers). I brought my laptop into my home
network workgroup. I have file/print sharing enabled. The network map only
shows my laptop and Internet not my desktop PC. I am able to get to the
internet of and everything else seems ok. What am I missing???

Are they all members of the same workgroup?

Can you ping them?

Can you ping them by machine name?

CJM has got it, I think. Make sure you've given the new PC the same
workgroup name as all the others. The default is NOT the same as XP, for
some reason.

I experienced all sorts of weird things: the networked computers would
intermittently appear, but only after a few minutes of fiddling about with
Explorer. Putting the workgroup name right sorted it out instantly.

Steve

spg7752 wrote:
> Recently purchase a Windows Vista home premium laptop. I can't see the other
> devices on my home network (PC, Printers). I brought my laptop into my home
> network workgroup. I have file/print sharing enabled. The network map only
> shows my laptop and Internet not my desktop PC. I am able to get to the
> internet of and everything else seems ok. What am I missing???

In addition to what the others have told you, here is a link to very
good instructions about setting up networking with Vista. It is well
worth going through them:

File/Printer Sharing Vista -
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/net.../vista_fp.mspx

In addition to the instructions there, since you didn't mention what
operating system is on the other machine see this standard note about XP
networking. Not everything might be applicable to your situation but
since I don't know the details of your setup, here's the whole thing:

*****
This is most commonly caused by a misconfigured firewall. Run the
Network Setup Wizard on XP, making sure to enable File & Printer
Sharing, and reboot. The only "gotcha" is that this will turn on the
XPSP2 Windows Firewall. If you aren't running a third-party firewall or
have an antivirus with "Internet Worm Protection" (like Norton 2005/06)
which acts as a firewall, then you're fine. If you have third-party
firewall software, configure it to allow the Local Area Network traffic
as trusted. I usually do this with my firewalls with an IP range. Ex.
would be 192.168.1.0-192.168.1.254. Obviously you would substitute your
correct subnet. Make sure you've correctly configured your firewall on
Vista, too (see link above).

If one or more of the computers is XP Pro or Media Center:

a. If you need Pro's ability to set fine-grained permissions, turn off
Simple File Sharing (Folder Options>View tab) and create identical user
accounts/passwords on all computers.

(Note: I think it is easiest to network with Vista by doing this no
matter which version of XP you have.)

b. If you don't care about using Pro's advanced features, leave the
Simple File Sharing enabled.

Simple File Sharing means that Guest (network) is enabled. This means
that anyone without a user account on the target system can use its
resources. This is a security hole but only you can decide if it matters
in your situation.

Then create shares as desired. XP Home does not permit sharing of users'
home directories (My Documents) or Program Files, but you can share
folders inside those directories. A better choice is to simply use the
Shared Documents folder.
*****

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