The following worked for me for networking W7 and XP, maybe it will help you...and others..
Windows networking fixed!!(w7 to xp)
okay windows lovers, this is how i got windows 7 to accept incoming connections from XP so you can view files on the W7 computer from the windows XP computer:
THIS IS AFTER YOU HAVE SHARED THE FOLDERS AND FILES OF YOUR CHOICE!
1. unjoin any "homegroups."
2. make sure your connection is considered a "HOME" connection.
3. Open network and sharing center and click on Choose homegroup and sharing options...
4. Then click Change Advanced sharing settings.
5. Expand Home and Work.
6. Make sure these options are selected...
A. Turn on Network Discovery
B. Turn on File and Printer sharing
C. Select Either: Turn on sharing so that anyone with network access can open files
OR: Turn on sharing so that anyone with network access can open, change and create files.
D. Turn off password protected sharing
E. Use user accounts and passwords to connect to other computers.
I think that the last selection is the most important, once it works, feel free to tinker with the settings; once it sets the options for "Home and Work" it automatically changes those setting to "Public" network.
P.S. This was using windows 7 (32-bit edition). I also turned off my firewall, tinkering with that can be done by YOU, because most people's settings are different.
P.P.S.There may be one additional step required if you are intent on sharing the entire C:\ drive of the Win7 machine with other XP's on the network. After following the above instructions completely, you may still have to open Windows Explorer and right-click on the local C:\ drive in the left column. From the popup window select "Include in Library", and either add it to one of the available choices, or "Create New Library". Once in the Libraries section, it can be viewed or mapped from the XP machines.
