I have a desk top PC and a notebook - I have the PC connected to the internet via LAN cable to a D-Link router and the notebook connects to the router via a wireless link.. internet connection is fine on both so I know I have good connetivity to the router.

How do I set up file and printer sharing on both the PC and notebook? The PC runs Windows XP Pro and the notebook runs Vista Home.

I've googled and tried all the help online I can find but nothing seems to work.... I even switched off the firewalls on both but no difference...

Or is it that the router isn't the tool I need for the job

Any help from a Guru would be appreciated.

Hi Chriss

I read you googled about your problem and nothing works for you, so i think you read about all this settings in windows that concern printer and file sharing and i suppose u also set up shared folders or harddrives (right mouse click on folder or harddrive and Share) etc. of course those options most be enabled on both machines. If it still not work you can check that both pc's are in the same network environment.....will mean your router has an ip, often 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.1.254 or something like that.so your both computers must be in the same network, means 192.168.1.2 for example. and also u can check if they have the same network mask, in most cases 255.255.255.0. I don't think that's the problem because the most routers has DHCP enabled by default, so the router will give your both pc's an IP in the same network, but a check is never wrong. to check your network config in xp click Start, click Run, in the popup box write cmd and click run. after in the black shell write ipconfig /all and hit enter. if u know the IP's of your both pc's (u can also check it in the router settings interface) u can try to ping the pc's to see if they can connect. DO do this type in the same shell ping 192.168.1.2 (or whatever IP your other computer has) hit enter, if u get replays and no loses at least u know they can connect and it's only some settings problem with sharing in windows. Also i think that Windows XP PRO and any version of vista needs a password to logon shared networks. so if you not set up an password on your pc's do it.

Hope i could help a little bit in easy words, and sorry for the bad english

sapparoht wrote:
Hope i could help a little bit in easy words, and sorry for the bad english

If you typed in paragraphs what you wrote would be easier to read!

control panel
network connections
enable file sharing
if you dont see it, add it

If you set up file sharing etc would it be possible for each computer to see and have access to the other or would you need to make one the administrator and the other somethig like a client?

Hi Wilson,

Ok will remember it for my next post.

Thank you.


@Chriss

Hope your problem is solved, if not it would be good to tell the people here what exactely you tried and did before to get the sharings running.

Thank you.

Do you have to install the printer drivers on the laptop as well/
Thanks