Yes you heard me right - Resolve Connectivity issues with Windows XP and Vista easily. Windows Vista has opened a can of worms when it comes to Network Connectivity. One of the most common issues encountered being that the Windows XP computers in the Network are simply not able to identify the machines running Windows Vista on the same network!! Can you believe this - that's how the new OS seems to be build up.But the good news is that Microsoft knowing the issue before-hand has automated the entire networking process with Vista. It has also integrated a comprehensive set of tools designed to enable end-users to troubleshoot and resolve almost all issues that you will ever come across on the networking front.
Let's get back to the issue of connectivity between Vista and XP. The reason for this problem is the fact that the Vista and XP computers are part of different workgroups. A rather simple method to resolve the problem is renaming the workgroup name of both Vista and XP machines to be the same.
Here's how you can solve the issue:
Windows XP: Goto Start > Control Panel > System > Performance and Maintenance and the select the Computer Name tag. Here click Change and modify the workgroup name.
Windows Vista: Again here its very similar. Goto Start > Control Panel > System > Maintenance and System. Under Computer Name, Domain, and Workgroup Settings select Change Settings, agree to the elevation of privileges and provide the same workgroup name as for Windows XP.
for the other issues with Vista networking, they can be easily solved resorting to the automatic infrastructure that Vista users can find in the form of these cool tools such as
- Network Connectivity Status Indicator
- Network Diagnostics Framework with commands like ipconfig and ping, IP conflicts and
- the most important Internet Connectivity Evaluation Tool
