Earlier I told you guys on sharing internet between vista computers and while I was writing that article my friend called me over to his place fix sharing internet between his new Vista PC and the other Windows XP PC.

After sometime, I managed to solve the problem and today I will sharing it with you guys so you can easily connect your two PCs together.

The latest feature introduced by Microsoft called Windows Vista Network Map, really makes networking really easy but does not help when you connect your Windows XP with it.

After trying everything on my PC, I came to check if workgroups has to do something with networking two PCs together, and there it was. The default workgroup for windows XP is MSHOME; while for Windows Vista, it is WORKGROUP. So the change in the default workgroups creates the first issue.

To fix the issue, you will have to change the workgroup to match the workgroups on both the PCs you are connecting. On Windows XP, right click on My Computer, select the Computer Name tab, then click Change. In the workgroup box, type in the Windows Vista default workgroup i.e. WORKGROUP and then Click OK and restart your PC so that the configurations take effect.

Make sure that your Windows Vista PC has the same workgroup. To check that, right click on Computer and select properties. You will see the name of your computer and the workgroup. Click change properties if you wish to edit the details or leave the same if you see “WORKGROUP” already written and then restart your PC.

Now the workgroup part is fixed, you will now have to patch windows XP for Vista network compatibility. Now you will have to go to Control Panel > Network and Internet > Network and Sharing Center > View full map.

Here you will see the PC(s) connected to your computer. This is feature is really useful, displays IP address, MAC address, and when selected a PC it will easily connect to it regardless of the work group you are connected to.

But your computer wont show up on the that map as windows Vista cannot recognise Windows XP networks. To fix it, you will need to download and install Layer Topology Discovery Responder on your Vista PC. Once you install it, you Windows XP PC will show up on the map

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