Today we take a look at how to share files and printers between Vista and Windows 7 machines.
First throw in web link and sharing center into the search box in the Start Menu and hit Enter.
check that these are enabled in both the Home or work and Public profiles.
Depending on your setup, you might want to turn off password protected sharing.
Turning it off while you’re setting it up makes things a bit easier though by saving a step.
Right-tap on data pipe and choose Properties.
The connection and Sharing Center opens up.
Under Sharing and Discovery we need to turn on File Sharing, Public Folder Sharing, and connection Discovery.
The Vista machine in this example is VISTAGEEK-PC.
There was no need to enter a password to enter the Vista machine because password protection is turned off.
But now you might go through and see the User Shared folders.
In this example both public and Users directories are shared.
Then you’ll see the folders and devices that are shared.
And you’re able to continue browsing through all available shared folders and files.
Printer SharingAs we showed above, you might see the printer connected to Windows 7.
Let’s ensure we can connect to it and print a test document.
In Vista choose the Start menu and jot down printers into the search box and hit Enter.
Right-choose the shared printer and select Properties.
Under the General tab tap on the Print Test Page button.
Provided everything prints out successfully you might want to make it the default printer.
In this example both machines are connected to a Belkin home wireless router and IP addresses are dynamically assigned.
If you are using Static addresses confirm you might ping the IP address of each computer.
If not, double check the assigned IP Address and cabling of each computer… ConclusionThis should get you started sharing folders, files, and printers between your Vista and Windows 7 system.
Results with printers are going to vary depending on the printer models and set up.
Older printers are notorious for having issues with drivers that won’t work with Vista and or 7.
