I have had to setup a network that contains the following operating
systems. Vista Home Premium 64, Vista Business 32, Windows XP Pro and
Home, Windows Media Center.

Using a router and Gigabyte Hub got round a lot of the problems I read
about on this forum. All the windows computers were up and talking to
each other as soon as I had put them on the same workgroup (Omega) and
had shared at least one folder on each computer.

On the Mac I did the following :-

- Login with an account that has Administrator privileges
- Open Applications Utilities Directory Access Services Tab
SMB
- Double click to open the configuration and then type in the
Workgroup name (Omega in my case)
- Click on the configure button
- Close Directory Access
- Open System Preferences Network Location
- Use the up/down arrows to select the workgroup you typed into
Directory Services (Omega)
- Change Show to Built in Ethernet for a wired network or Airport
for WiFi
- Click on the TCP/IP Tab and if your router uses DHCP, Select Use
DHCP with Manual IP Addressing
- Your router should fill in the Subnet Mask and Router's IP Address
as soon as it finds the Mac
- If you want the Mac to be able to access the internet and email
type in the DNS servers address you were given by your ISP and add
the Search domain if you have one (I use google.co.uk)
- Close network
- Open system Preferences Sharing
- Make sure the Computer's Name and Rendevous name are the same and
that the computer's IP address is showing
- Go to the Services Tab
- Switch on Personal File sharing
- Switch on Windows File sharing
- Switch on Printer Sharing (If you want to use a shared printer on
your network)
- Reboot the Mac and you will find that your Windows XP computers
will be able to see the Mac and logon to itNow to sort out the Vista Computers. According to other posts on this
forum, you need to treat Vista Business and Vista Home differently.

VISTA HOME
- Run the registry editor and open this key:
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Lsa
- If it doesn't already exist, create a DWORD value named
LmCompatibilityLevel
- Set the value to 1 (If it exists the value will be 3 by default)
- Reboot
- Logon to the mac \\MacName\your account
- You should be able to see the shared files on the MacVISTA BUSINESS
- Click Start
- Click Control Panel
- Click System and Maintenance
- Click Administrative Tools
- Double-Click Local Security Policy
- In the left pane, click the triangle next to Local Policy
- In the left pane, click Security Options
- In the right pane near the bottom, double-click "Network security:
LAN manager authentication level"
- Click the drop-down box, and click "Send LM & NTLM - use NTLMv2
session security if negotiated"
- Click OKI haven't got a copy of ultimate but several posts suggest it is the
same as Business or you can use secpol.msc by typing it into the search
box.

I hope the people who posted the various bits I have drawn together
here don't mind me repeating them but I couldn't find another post that
brought all these techniques together in one place.

Once I had gone through all the processes I have listed above, all the
computers on my network could share files. Now all I need is for someone
to write a similar post about sharing printers on a mixed network


--
OmegaCottage

OmegaCottage wrote:

I hope the people who posted the various bits I have drawn together
here don't mind me repeating them but I couldn't find another post that
brought all these techniques together in one place.

Once I had gone through all the processes I have listed above, all the
computers on my network could share files. Now all I need is for someone
to write a similar post about sharing printers on a mixed network

How you set up the shared printers depends on how the printer
installation software is written. If the printers are connected locally
to a computer, share them out on that computer. Then install the driver
software on all the other computers. Make sure you get drivers specific
to the operating systems being run.

In Windows, some printers will be found during the installation routine.
With other printers, you install the drivers and then use the Add
Printer Wizard from the Printers Control Panel applet. If the printers
are true network (TCP/IP) printers, then the same advice applies. If you
must use the Add Printer Wizard, choose Local PrinterCreate a new
portTCP/IP. Follow the TCP/IP Wizard. After the TCP/IP Wizard runs,
you'll be brought back to the regular Add Printer Wizard where you can
choose the correct make/model printer to install the drivers.


Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User