sharing files between Windows7 and XP

N got a Lenovo with Windows 7 pre-loaded. S wanted to be able to share files between his Windows XP machine and this one. I googled and found this technet forum link which basically says these steps:

1. Make sure both are in the same Workgroup


2. Verify in Advanced Sharing settings on Win7 that Network Discovery, File and Printer Sharing, and Public Folder Sharing are all set to “on” and Password Protected Sharing is set to “off”.


3. Right-click and share a folder.


4. Right-click and change security settings on the folder, to allow Everyone access. Type Everyone in the Security box and click the Add button, giving appropriate read write permissions.


5. Make firewall changes if required, not applicable for us.

Using that, I made an entire drive (I:) on the win7 pc shared, and visible from the xp machine. But that share does not allow writing, for some reason. But other folder shares we made allow write from the XP machine. So, probably we can share folders but not entire drives in Win7.

I think it also requires identical usernames and passwords. Since my account on both machines is exactly the same, I am not asked for a pw when I use my account. But with the admin account, it asks me for username & password. When I give the Win7 administrator username and password (Both Case sensitive!) then it allowed read and write. Probably it might have worked with any other credentials on the Win7 machine too, since Everyone had permissions on that folder.