Network issues between Vista Ulitmate and XP Pro, limited connectivity?

Question

My vista computer connects to the internet.

The Vista computer can see the machine running XP in 'network' and cane view, open, copy etc into shared files.

I only have limited connectivity (IPv4: local, IPv6: limited, Media State: enabled). Running 'diagnose' will not fix the issues.

When I try to turn on 'Public File Sharing' I get an error message saying "The RPC server in unavailable".

The XP Pro machine cannot see the Vista machine at all (I figure this is because I cannot share files?).

This machine too shows limited connectivity. When I try to repair it can't renew IP address. I have tried to manually input IP address's on both machines to no avail.

I am not currently running through a router, it is a direct cat5e (high speed ethernet) cable.

My firewall is set to let the connection through and I have even tried it with the firewall's off.

I'm pretty sure the issue lies with not being to share from vista (ie. public file sharing).

I have scoured the net but as yet am unable to find a soloution which works for me.

Any help gratefully recieved.

Answer 1

Well since you said "I am not currently running through a router, it is a direct cat5e (high speed ethernet) cable."  are you using a crossover cable? If the cable connects directly machine to machine you will have to use a crossover and you will have to manually set IPs on each machine since neither of these is a DHCP server.  One can be set to 192.168.1.100 and the other one to 192.168.1.101  don't set them to the same IP.  With a cross over and that you can setup a network. The network group name has to be the same as well.

A router makes this much easier!

Here is a link to Microsofts File Sharing information on Microsofts Tech Net

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/libra...

Windows Vista by default does not allow simple file sharing. Access to shared folders, including the public folder (if shared), requires a user name and password.

Also be sure your network is set to PRIVATE on the Vista machine. (see figure 4 on the technet page) If your network is set to PUBLIC, you can't share!