How To Share Files and Printers between Windows 7 and XP

Hello lovely people 🙂

In this entry of the computer repairs blog we will discuss how to share files and printer between Windows 7 and XP. Sounds good? Read on!

If you have a home network and you are running Windows 7 but still have XP on your other computers, you might like to share files between them. That would be handy, woudn’t it? This is how you can do it.

Generally, it is a very easy process to share folders between the two Windows 7 machines using the new *HomeGroup* feature. As you have already discovered, otherwise you would not be reading this,  the HomeGroup feature does not talk to Windows XP or Vista. To get over this hurdle, wisely created by smart Silicon Valley computer repairs and other distinguished geeks you need to do the following:

Step 1 – make sure both machines are members of the same Workgroup which by default is named Workgroup.

Then on your Windows 7 machine, go to – Control Panel All Control Panel Items Network and Sharing Center then click on Change advanced sharing settings.

 

You will need to double check these settings under Advanced Sharing Settings for the Home or Work and Public profile.

If you wish for any user to have access the public shares turn off password protection.  You will be able to find this in Advanced Sharing Settings toward the bottom of the list.

If you need to keep it enabled make sure there is a log in account for the other XP machines and they have a password.

Go into Network in Windows 7 you’ll now see your XP machine and the Windows 7 as well which in this case is Mysticgeek-PC. (Thanks to a famous geek on the internet 🙂

If you want to share the printer on the Windows 7 machine, go into Devices and Printers from the Start menu and double click on the printer icon. This is easy.

Next double click on *Customise your printer*.

In the Properties screen that will pop up once you select the Customise your printer option click on the Sharing Tab and check the box to share the printer and type in its share name.

If your XP machine is an x86 OS you can install Additional Drivers before setting up the XP machine.

To see the shared folders and devices double click on the Windows 7 machine icon under Network.  Here you can see the printer connected to our Windows 7 machine is shared and also the Users Folder.

 

Continue into the Users folder and *Public* to see the shared folders, here we have also created a folder called XP Share just to keep everything in a central location.

Go over to your XP machine and open up *My Network Places* to find the Windows 7 (mysticgeek-pc) shared folder.

 

Double click on the Share folder to see the list of all shared folders in the Public folder on Windows 7.  If you have password protected – you will need to type in the username and password of the user account on the Windows 7 machine first.

And this is how to set your Windows XP computer with a Shared Printer

Step 1 –  Go into Printers and Faxes from the Start menu to set up the shared printer in XP and start the Add Printer Wizard.

Now select *A network printer or a printer attached to another computer* then click Next.

Next select *Connect to this printer…* and type in the path for the printer connected to the Windows 7 machine and click next.  

Now click Yes!!!!  🙂 to the confirmation message.

 

Then click Finish the printer to install and complete the Wizard.

In some cases you may need to install the x86 XP drivers for the shared printer because the Windows 7 drivers are not compatible with XP.  When everything is installed open up Printers and Faxes to find the shared printer.

 

These tips should help you to start sharing your files and other devices with your Windows 7 PC. When we first started we could see the printer on XP straight away as we had a HomeGroup set up, but when that was deleted we needed to share our printer just as you would in a *WorkGroup*. You may find you also have to do a few restarts on the Windows XP computer for it to see the shared resources on Windows 7.

Well, now that you have done it, delete the computer repairs geeks number from your speed dial because you are awesome!

Over and out

MobileGeekette