How to get Windows 7 Homegroup to work with Windows XP Workgroup

[oslama]

I am new to Windows 7 and trying to network with Windows xp.

Both pc are on same wired network (169.169.x.x) with same user account on each. The router shows both clients connected.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Is 169.169.x.x a link-local address? Or do you actually have that IP block? Because the reserved IP addresses are 10.x.x.x., and 192.168.x.x, and one more that I don't remember offhand.

Second, Homegroups in Win7 are done with IPV6, I believe. So XP cannot really participate in them. You can, however, enable normal file-sharing on Win7 and share a folder, and XP can utilize that.

 

[Nothinman]

It looks like Citibank owns 169.176.0.0/13 and 169.160.0.0/12 so using that internally isn't a great idea.

 

[FoxFifth]

The following has helped me: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-7/share-files-and-printers-between-windows-7-and-xp/

 

[oslama]

I used 169.169.x.x with ten blocks (.2 -.10) so not to conflict with wireless network IP address 192.168.x.x. I have disabled IPv6 on both PCs.

The win xp is a desktop mainly used as file server / backup and win 7 is laptop for everyday multimedia / web use.

Can I setup a "common" shared folder on both pcs and manually sync.

 

[Nothinman]

I used 169.169.x.x with ten blocks (.2 -.10) so not to conflict with wireless network IP address 192.168.x.x. I have disabled IPv6 on both PCs.

The win xp is a desktop mainly used as file server / backup and win 7 is laptop for everyday multimedia / web use.

Can I setup a "common" shared folder on both pcs and manually sync.

But you're conflicting with public addresses, you need to use RFC1918 addresses to ensure you don't cut yourself off from accessing some Internet sites.

 

[Ghiedo27]

Why are you manually assigning IP addresses? The default settings leave you with over 250 host slots in your network. I strongly recommend letting DHCP do its job.

Regarding your manually set IP addresses, what are the full addresses and subnet mask? If you left the subnet mask as 255.255.255.0 but have one computer on 169.169.2.x with the other on 169.169.1.x then they are still on different networks. The fact that you're using IP addresses that are outside of the private network range is probably confusing your router as well.

 

[kevnich2]

OP: First, 169.169.x.x is not a valid subnet for private IP range. That's a valid public IP range that is assigned to another company on the internet. You can't simply pick any IP address range you want and use that for your own network otherwise things won't work correctly. I'd switch everything over to DHCP with a valid private IP range. If you don't like the standard 192.168.1.x, then use another subnet like 192.168.2.x. I don't see any home user needing more than 250 IP addresses. Also, make sure you use the correct subnet. Using a large block like 192.168.x.x with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0, you actually will have 99 possible subnets. There's no reason to do this on a home network as that gives like 65,000 IP addresses with a /16 subnet. Keep all of your computers on a /24 (255.255.255.0) subnet.

Secondly, windows 7 homegroup is not compatible with XP at all. Homegroup will only communicate with Windows 7 machines. Switch the network setting on your Windows 7 to work instead of home and then just access the other computers via \\computername. Problem solved.

But definitely switch your IP range over to a valid private IP subnet of either of these and I would recommend using DHCP, it was made for a reason. No use in making things more difficult:
10.0.0.0 – 10.255.255.255
172.16.0.0 – 172.31.255.255
192.168.0.0 – 192.168.255.255

If you want a step by step process, go into your router and change it's IP address to something like 192.168.1.1 with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0. Save the settings. Then go into each computer and switch all over to DHCP, then reboot. At that point all of your computers will now be on the same network and be able to communicate. You can test this by pinging the IP address of another computer, as long as the firewall in the windows 7 machine is correctly set.

 

[oslama]

It should be simple settings.

Wireless Router IP of 192.168.1.1 with DHCP range from .2 to .10 and subnet 255.255.255.0

Wired Router IP of 192.168.2.1 with DHCP range from .2 to .10 and subnet 255.255.255.0

 

[VirtualLarry]

Why are you segregating your network into two subnets? You intentionally don't want those groups of machines talking to each other?

Are you using two routers, and trying to segregate your computers for security reasons?

 

[JackMDS]

Win 7 Homegroup works with IPv6 and can not share with OS other than Win 7.

You need to set the network to do be Work Network.

Win7 when configured on peer-to-peer Network has three types of Sharing configurations.

HomeGroup = Works only between Win 7 computers. This type of configuration makes it very easy to Entry Level Users to start Network sharing.

Home Network or Work Network = Basically similar(and better) to the previous methods of Work Group sharing that let you control what, how, and to whom folders would be shared with.

Public Sharing = Public Network (like Internet cafe) to reduce security risks.

For best results log to each computer's System Screen and set all the computers to be on a with the same Work Group name while each computer has its own unique name.
http://www.ezlan.net/Win7/net_name.jpg

Make sure that the Software Firewall, AV, or other components of Security allow free local traffic on all Networked computers. If you use 3rd party Security On, Vista/XP Native Firewall should be Off, and the active Firewall has to adjusted to your Network IP numbers on what is some time called the Trusted Zone (consult your 3rd Party Firewall instructions

General example, http://www.ezlan.net/faq.html#trusted

Please Note that some 3rd party Software Firewalls/AV/Security suits keep blocking aspects of Local Traffic even it they are turned Off (disabled). If possible configure the Firewall correctly, or totally uninstall it to allow clean flow of local network traffic.
If end up with the 3rd party software uninstalled or disabled, make sure that Windows native Firewall is On .
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Networking Win 7 with other version of Windows as Work Network (works very well if all computers are Win 7 too).
In the Network Center, clicking on the Network type opens the window to the right.
Choose your type of Network. Notice the check mark at the bottom, and check/uncheck it according to your needs.
http://www.ezlan.net/Win7/net_type.jpg
Win 7 - http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/Networking-home-computers-running-different-versions-of-Windows

Win 7 Work Network specific folder sharing - http://www.onecomputerguy.com/windows7/windows7_sharing.htm

Vista File and Printer Sharing- http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb727037.aspx

Windows XP File Sharing - http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;304040

In Win XP Pro with simple sharing Off, you can Visually see the Permission/Security setting , and configure them to your liking.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/security/learnmore/accesscontrol.mspx#securityTab
Printer Sharing XP - http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/networking/expert/honeycutt_july2.mspx

Windows Native Firewall setting for Sharing XP - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/875357

Windows XP patch for Sharing with Vista (Not need for XP-SP3) - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922120

When finished with the setting of the system it is advisable to Reboot all the hardware including the Router and all computers involved.
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If you have Permission and Security issues with Vista/Win7, check the following settings.
Point to the a Folder that meant to to be share. Right click and choose properties.
In the properties
Click on the Security tab shown in the pic bellow to the right) and check that the users and their permission (shown in the pic bellow center and left) are correctly configured. Then do the same to the Permission tab.
This screen shot is from Win 7, Vista's menus are similar.
http://www.ezlan.net/Win7/Permission-Security.jpg
In both the Security panel, and the Permission panel you have to highlight each User/Group and examine that the Permission Controls are checked correctly.
When everything is OK, Reboot the Network (Router, and computer).

* Note . The Groups and Users shown in the screen-shoot are just an example. Your list will look the way your system is configured.

**Note . All users that are allowed to share need to have account onall the computers that they are allowed to connect to.

Everyone is an account, it means a group of all of the users that already have an account and been established as users. It is available to avoid the need of configuring permission to each on its own, it does not mean Everyone that feel that they would like to login.

 

[oslama]

Why are you segregating your network into two subnets? You intentionally don't want those groups of machines talking to each other?

Are you using two routers, and trying to segregate your computers for security reasons?

yes, separate routers