Share Files & Printers between XP and Windows 7

Summary : Have you ever tried to share it between different versions of windows?

You can share files and printers between the same system easily. Have you ever tried to share it between different versions of windows? Now i will show you how to share files and folders between windows XP and windows 7 computers.

Sharing Files In Windows 7 and XP

If you have tried use HomeGroup to share files, you must find that HomeGroup is not compatible with windows XP and windows 7. So we should try other ways.

First make sure both machines are members of the same Workgroup which by default is named Workgroup.



On the Windows 7 machine go into Control Panel \ All Control Panel Items \ Network and Sharing Center then click on Change advanced sharing settings.


 

You will want to verify the following settings under Advanced Sharing Settings for the Home or Work and Public profile.



If you want to keep it enabled make sure there is a log in account for the other XP machines and they have a password.



If you want any user to have access the public shares turn off password protection. This is located in Advanced Sharing Settings toward the bottom of the list.

 
You should see your XP machine and the Windows 7 as well which in this case is Mysticgeek-PC when you go into Network in Windows 7.


To share the printer on the Windows 7 machine go into Devices and Printers from the Start menu and double click on the printer icon.



Next double click on “Customize your printer”.



If your XP machine is an x86 OS you can install Additional Drivers before setting up the XP machine.



In the Properties screen click on the Sharing Tab and check the box to share the printer and type in its share name.



To set up the shared printer in XP you will need to go into Printers and Faxes from the Start menu and kick off the Add Printer Wizard.



Now select “A network printer, or a printer attached to another computer” then hit Next.



Next select “Connect to this printer…” and type in the path for the printer connected to the Windows 7 machine and click next.  



Now click Yes to the confirmation message.



Then click Finish the printer to install and complete the Wizard.



In some cases you will need to install the x86 XP drivers for the shared printer because the Windows 7 drivers are not compatible with XP.  When everything is installed open up Printers and Faxes to find the shared printer.



To find the shared folders and devices double click on the Windows 7 machine icon under Network. Here you can see the printer connected to my Windows 7 machine is shared and also the Users Folder.


Continue into the Users folder and Public to see the shared folders, here I also created a folder called XP Share just to keep everything in central location.



Over on your XP machine open up My Network Places to find the Windows 7 (mysticgeek-pc) shared folder.



Double click on the Share folder to find a list of shared folders in the Public folder on Windows 7. If you have password protection enabled you will need to type in the username and password of the user account on the Windows 7 machine first.



We shared them without HomeGroup.And then you can get your files and some devices both in windows 7 and windows XP.It makes computer operations so convenient.