If you have a home network and are running Windows 7 and have XP on another PC, you may want to share files between them. Today we are going to look at the steps for sharing files and hardware like printers. Sharing a folder between two Windows 7 machines with the new HomeGroup feature is an easy process, but the HomeGroup feature is not compatible with Vista or XP.
For this tutorial we're using Windows 7 x64 RC1 and XP Professional SP3 connected via a basic Linksys home wireless router. First make sure both devices are members of the same Workgroup which by default is named Workgroup. Here's a tutorial on how to share a Windows XP printer to Windows 7 that you can follow:
One common problem I have with clients is trying to share a printer connected to a Windows XP machine with Windows 7/8/10. There are plenty of people out there who have a USB connected printer attached to a single computer, sometimes even a Windows XP machine. If you get a new laptop running Windows 7/8/10, it makes sense to share that printer so any computer can print it.
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| How to Share a Windows XP Printer to Windows 7 |
Unfortunately, trying to print to a shared printer on XP from Windows 7/8/10 isn't as easy as it should be! In this article I will walk you through the steps to share an XP printer to Windows 7/8/10. I'm assuming your printer is directly connected to a Windows XP machine and you want to print from a Windows 7/8/10 machine.
On a Windows 7 machine go to Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Network and Sharing Center then click Change advanced sharing settings. You will want to verify the following settings under Advanced Sharing Settings for Home or Work and Public profiles.
If you want any user to have public access, turn off password protection. It's located in Advanced Sharing Settings at the bottom of the list. If you want to keep it enabled make sure there is a login account for another XP machine and they have a password.
Now if you go to Network on Windows 7 you will see your XP machine and Windows 7 as well which in this case is Mysticgeek-PC. To share a printer on a Windows 7 machine go to Devices and Printers from the Start menu and double click on the printer icon.
Then double click on “Customize your printer buddy”.
- In the Properties screen click on the Sharing Tab and check the box for sharing the printer and type the name of the section.
- If your XP machine is x86 OS you can install Additional Drivers before setting up the XP machine.
- To find shared folders and devices double click on the Windows 7 machine icon under Network. Here you can see the printers connected to my Windows 7 machine are shared and also the User Folders.
- Proceed to the Users and Public folders to see the shared folders, here I also created a folder called XP Share just to keep everything in a central location.
- On your XP machine, go to My Network Places to find the Windows 7 shared folder (mysticgeek-pc).
- Double click on the Sharing folder to find the list of shared folders in the Public folder on Windows 7. If you have password protection enabled, you will have to type the username and password of the user account on the Windows 7 machine first.
- To set up a shared printer in XP, you need to go to Printers and Faxes from the Start menu and start the Add Printer Wizard.
- Now select "Network printer, or printer attached to another computer" then press Next. How to Share Printer Windows Xp To Windows 7..
- Next select “Connect to this printer…” and type the path for the printer connected to the Windows 7 machine and click next.
- Now click Yes to the confirmation message.
- Then click Finish printer to install and complete the wizard.
This will help you start sharing files and other devices with your Windows 7 machine. You may also have to do several restarts of the XP machine in order to see the resources on Windows 7.
If you have any experience with sharing between Windows 7 and XP, leave us a comment! Hopefully the information about the tutorial on How to Share a Windows XP Printer to Windows 7 can be useful, good luck, my friend, good luck!