With the release of new operating systems, each user sooner or later has the same reasonable question: how to make computers running different "OSes" work on the same home network? Bill Gates' Windows 7 release was no exception. In this article you will find the answer to the question what is the local network "Windows 7" and get some information on how to configure this network.
First, let's figure out in which cases a regular user might need to configure such a network. Most often, such a need arises after the purchase of another PC or laptop (for example, for work or for one of the family members - his wife, children to study at the university, etc.), which is controlled by a newer version of the operating system than the installed one on your old computer. Of course, you can transfer all the necessary information using removable media, but it is much more convenient when the local network is configured at home. “Windows 7” is exactly the operating system that manufacturers or users install most often in modern computers.
Since its predecessor “Vista” was not very popular among users (and the network between this version of “Windows” and the seventh is quite simple to configure), one should consider the option when the happy owners of new equipment running the “seven” want to combine their computer into a single a network with appliances running Windows XP. Moreover, setting up the local network “Windows 7” and “Windows XP” contains several pitfalls that the user may not even be aware of.
Most of the problems when setting up a local area network between these two operating systems arise due to the fact that in Windows 7 very much attention is paid to network security issues. Therefore, the best option would be if the local network "Windows 7" and "XP" is manually configured by the user. This can be done quite simply. Turn on both computers, make sure that the network cards on them work in normal mode and the network cable is connected to both machines and go to the setting itself. Since the local network "Windows 7" is configured for the most part on a computer running this operating system, we will deal with it in the first place.
First, go to the “Control Panel” tab from the “Start” menu and select “Network Control Center” from the list that appears. After that, the name and map of the active network will be displayed on the monitor. We check whether the “Home Group” was created before that and, if any, delete it. Now in the active window the inscription “Ready to create” will be displayed. We go to the item "Choosing a home network and sharing options" and in the window that appears, turn on shared access to our files and printers. Do not forget that it must be enabled in such a way that network users have the ability to read and write files in public folders. Do not forget about encryption. Since many devices do not work with the 128-bit encryption used in the "seven", you should enable access with 40-bit or 56-bit encryption. Also do not forget that sharing with password protection should be turned off. All these manipulations are performed in the same window of the menu, and after execution they must be saved.
Now we open the shared access to the folders that we want to see from another computer, and go to the PC running Windows XP. Here we only need to launch the “Run” item from the well-known “Start” menu and enter the name of the computer with “Windows 7” in the appeared line. After that, it remains for us to click the “OK” button and start working with accessible folders from the “neighboring” computer. The local network "Windows 7" and "pigs", configured by you personally, is ready for operation!