Hey Geek, thanks for responding.
Indeed, this appears to be a significant issue. Yes, I am aware that mapping the root of drives is not always recommended from a security perspective, but I am on a fairly secure internal network - I am the only one in the house.
This is really a pain. I don't have any apps that need to run across my network from XP calling to Win7 - I just want my XP netbook to be able to fully access both C: and D: drives without having to go to the trouble to map specific folders into a Public Win7 share. Is this so much to ask? Also, theoretically, this type of workaround would mean that every time I created a new folder under Win7 that I want my XP boxes to use, I have to remember to drag that new folder into the Public share?
Ridiculous!
I am discovering that under Win7, the roots of drives are protected. Hey! Great! If people need that, awesome.
I don't. It should be a clearly explained option and I should also be able to fully disable that type of security if I choose to.
This is a major hassle. Like I said, I understand I can drag folders into the public Win7 share [which does seem to work though I need to test more] but this is so annoying and I guess not so much the point.
Homegroup apparently will only work between Win7 machines. This Homegroup thing in Win7 seems like a terrible idea - I am sure there are millions of mixed Win OS networks out there, especially personal LANs.
I should be given the option to fully control and access my Win7 machine exactly how I want to do it.
Sorry, this is turning into a rant, but I am so frustrated here. This is such a basic thing - I have set up numerous XP networks before [even using old, mixes OSe environments like 95, 98SE and ME] and never encountered this sort of roadblock in terms of mapping and allowing full drive access.
Really hoping some networking Win7 wizard can help me out here...
Thanks again and cheers!
-les
EDIT: btw, thanks for the links as well, but I have already tried most if not all the suggestions with no joy. My frustration knows no bounds here...
I am seriously considering blowing away Win7 Home Premium and going back to XP SP3.