Background-
I have a number of computers on my home network that I have designated long ago with the workgroup name of "xyz". I never had any problems accessing my network computers from any other computer, as I had all drives and attached printers shared. Simple! The only time I would change things was my laptop on winXP when I traveled I would add a password to turn it on and boot windows. Then I would shut off all sharing.
Life's good and then I bought a windows Vista Home computer and the trouble began. I couldn't see the machine on my network of XP computers. I could see all computers from the Vista machine but could not access the files. Said I didn't have permission even though those XP computers had no trouble manipulating files from each other. Recently I added a windows 7 computer and the network access gets even more frustrating. On my 7 computer I can see and manipulate all the files on the Vista computer. BUT I can't see any of the XP computers. On the Vista computer I can see the win 7 computer and all its drives but I can't open them because it says I don't have permission to access the drives. Worse yet, since I added my win 7 computer, now the Vista computer can't see any of the XP computers. I'm sure I missed some permutations of this mess but you get the idea. Basically my network is AFU'd! Appears like one way streets everywhere I turn.
Is there a way I can reset all my computers permissions, owners and any other settings so that I can just access my networked computers with full control? I don't use any passwords to log into any of my computers and I am administrator on all of them yet I have been denied access in many directions. I want all these one way streets eliminated and replaced with 2 way streets. Presently I only have two XP computers left in my home network and since I tested and verified that all my legacy software can run in windows 7 Professional, I have no problem with upgrading 4 computers to win 7 professional if that will fix my rats nest of security checks. IT's driving me nuts! But I'd rather just get the present melting pot of OS working like it should. 4 new OS's is $800 ouch!
I have a number of computers on my home network that I have designated long ago with the workgroup name of "xyz". I never had any problems accessing my network computers from any other computer, as I had all drives and attached printers shared. Simple! The only time I would change things was my laptop on winXP when I traveled I would add a password to turn it on and boot windows. Then I would shut off all sharing.
Life's good and then I bought a windows Vista Home computer and the trouble began. I couldn't see the machine on my network of XP computers. I could see all computers from the Vista machine but could not access the files. Said I didn't have permission even though those XP computers had no trouble manipulating files from each other. Recently I added a windows 7 computer and the network access gets even more frustrating. On my 7 computer I can see and manipulate all the files on the Vista computer. BUT I can't see any of the XP computers. On the Vista computer I can see the win 7 computer and all its drives but I can't open them because it says I don't have permission to access the drives. Worse yet, since I added my win 7 computer, now the Vista computer can't see any of the XP computers. I'm sure I missed some permutations of this mess but you get the idea. Basically my network is AFU'd! Appears like one way streets everywhere I turn.
Is there a way I can reset all my computers permissions, owners and any other settings so that I can just access my networked computers with full control? I don't use any passwords to log into any of my computers and I am administrator on all of them yet I have been denied access in many directions. I want all these one way streets eliminated and replaced with 2 way streets. Presently I only have two XP computers left in my home network and since I tested and verified that all my legacy software can run in windows 7 Professional, I have no problem with upgrading 4 computers to win 7 professional if that will fix my rats nest of security checks. IT's driving me nuts! But I'd rather just get the present melting pot of OS working like it should. 4 new OS's is $800 ouch!