Networking between xp and 8.1

TTunez

Reputable
Mar 21, 2014
2
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4,510
I have two machines, one with windows 8.1 and one with xp pro. The 8.1 is connected to a home wifi and the xp pro is connected via ethernet between the two. I have found two contradicting answers on microsoft's web site. One says that you can setup a homegroup that can be accessed by different versions of windows at http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/networking-home-computers-running-different-windows#networking-home-computers-running-different-windows=windows-7 (it lists 7, vista, and xp pro and another comment says this also includes 8.1). Yet I have found another article that says homegroup only works with windows 7 and 8 at http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_xp-networking/can-a-windows-xp-pro-machine-connect-to-a-windows/575aa550-b98a-4729-b323-28110b1d2f30
The xp box can connect through the ethernet and see anything that is xp (other xp machines on our home network) but can't see printers or my 8.1 machine or anything else that my 8.1 machine sees under the "Network" tab. I did create a homegroup with 8.1 and even though I ran the networking setup wizard in xp pro, and put in the exact same homegroup name, it never asked me for a password to connect to the homegroup. I know the two machines are communicating somehow, because the xp machine sees the internet via the 8.1 laptops wireless connection. I have sharing and discovery turned on in 8.1 and xp pro. I understand that perhaps both computer may not be able to join the same homegroup, but I should be able to still connect just through the classic windows network shouldn't I? I am running kasperski on the 8.1 machine and am wondering if it's blocking me from seeing the xp machine, but it's letting the xp machine through just fine to see the internet and other xp machines. Any help would be appreciated.