How to connect Windows Xp to Windows 7 on your network

Connecting a Windows XP system

The special sharing account also makes accessing the folders shared in a Windows 7 HomeGroup an easy task from within a Windows XP system. To do so, click the Start button and select My Network Places. When the My Network Places window appears, select the View Workgroup Computers command in the Network Tasks panel.
Now, if the Windows 7 system you are looking for is a member of the same workgroup as the Windows XP system, you’ll see it and you can double-click the Windows 7 computer you want to access right from the View Workgroup Computers window, as shown in Figure E. However, if the Windows 7 system is a member of a different workgroup, you’ll need to select the Microsoft Windows Network command from the Other Places panel and then open the workgroup that contains the Windows 7 system.

Figure E

If the Windows 7 system you are looking for is a member of the same workgroup as the Windows XP system, you can see and double-click the Windows 7 computer you want to access right from the View Workgroup Computers window.

Once you access the Windows 7 computer, open the Users share and you will be able to access all the files and folders that are shared with the HomeGroup, as shown in Figure F. When you do, the same access rights established by the HomeGroup will be in effect — the My Documents folder will be read-only and the Public folder will be read/write.

Figure F

When you open the Users share, you will have access to all the files and folders that are shared by that computer with the HomeGroup.

Accessing HomeGroup shared printers

When it comes to accessing printers that are shared on a Windows 7 HomeGroup, the procedure is similar to connecting to the shared folders. As soon as you gain access to the Windows 7 computer from either Windows XP or Windows Vista, you’ll be able to see and connect to a shared printer, as shown in Figure G.

Figure G

Printers shared in a HomeGroup will appear and can be accessed when you connect to a Windows 7 system.

Connecting to the shared printer will be a very familiar procedure where the drivers will be downloaded from the sharing computer and installed in Windows XP/Vista. As soon as the drivers are installed, you’ll be able to print to a printer in the HomeGroup just like you can in a standard peer-to-peer workgroup.