Mapping Drives Between XP and Vista

[crazyfool]

hey guys,
After months of configuring and bug fixing my htpc is finally in a working state . I am using mediaportal so i can stream live tv across the network (hopefully, i'll be testing this tommorow) but i'm not sure about how i will be able to share my dvds and music that are stored on the htpc. I'm hoping that this is automated by mediaportal but in case it isnt and also because i've been trying this for ages on my main pc, this is what i need help with. Is it possible to map a hdd from xp to my vista machine across the network AND is there a way to make it only between these two machines so for instance no one else on the network will be able to see the hard drives and steal my files?
I'm sure it isn't as difficult as i make out but after googling and trying it myself i cant find a way to do it without sharing the entire hard drive with everyone on the network. Any help would be appreciated...

[PeteSmith]

You need to set the file permissions on each machine, for each of the intended shared folders, generally its a good idea to remove the 'everyone' group from all shares created by yourself and system shares and replace that with 'authenticated users' (for security). You can then access these shares from the other network machine using \\machinename\sharedfoldername via my computer - when prompted enter your username and password of the share. For ease of use you can map network drives or create network locations from my network places (xp) or 'Computer' in vista.

If i wanted to access my local disc C:\ from a network machine i would type \\Machinename\C$

The dollar represents a hidden or 'system' share. HTH

edit: also if say for example you had an account on both machines with the same credentials (same login and password) you could access the hidden shares without being prompted for user credentials - providing your currently logged in as that user.

edit2: also if your doing this ensure you turn off simple file sharing via tools - folder options - view on the xp machine.

Plenty of windows file sharing tut's on the web if you get stuck.

[crazyfool]

thats awesome man thanks... seems pretty easy... i'll give it a go tomorrow...cheerz

[crazyfool]

ok i've tried to set this up and i can connect to my xp shared folders on the vista machine using simple file sharing... but if i try and connect having set up the folder to allow authenticated users access i cant access it... maybe i'm being dumb but how do you tell xp which users are authenticated? :S

Edit: Don't worry i was being dumb... i got it