Braindead Newbie wanting to connect two 'pute's

[bluebedouin]

Hi all, as my heading says I want to connect my old computer running Me  to my new one running Xp in order to swop all my files,pictures etc.I have them set up next to each other so a ?simple? cable connection would surely be the easiest option.I have tried connecting via the "printer" port (DB25) & also an ethernet cable using the network setup wizard for both, to no avail,would a USB cable work?

[fffreak]

Your best bet would be to purchase a router or you can do it the cheap way and get a crossover ethernet cable not straight through. Then you need to create a new network and enable file and printer sharing.

[Rob Pomeroy]

What he said.

You might like to read the Networking FAQ, to have more networking mysteries unravelled.  See the link in my signature.

[bluebedouin]

Hi Guys, thanks very much for the advice.I'll go & buy the cable tomorrow.I only want a temporary connection to put all my pictures,favourites etc on to the new computer.Then I'll wipe the old one & pass it on.Many thanks once again.

[patio]

A USB thumbdrive would work nicely for this...

patio.  8-)

[bluebedouin]

Sorry folks,back again.Not having much luck I'm afraid.I have tried all variations in setting up this connection between my 2 'pute's.I have finally got a shared internet connection using the ethernet crossover cable but still no recognition of either pute by the other!
Rob,I followed the instructions in your link to the letter,I followed the set up wizard from the me pute & then the xp one.Still nothing,what am I doing wrong?
Could it be anything to do with one running me & the other xp?Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  :-/

[patio]

Could it be anything to do with one running me & the other xp?Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

This should not be an issue...did you enable file and print sharing ? ?

Are both machines showing up in the workgroup ? ?

patio.   8-)

[bluebedouin]

Hi Patio,sorry to have taken so long.Just checking what you mentioned,yes file & print sharing is on.
No both machines aren't showing in workgroup.I named old pute (me) LINDA & new pute (xp) GRAHAM.
LINDA shows up in mshome on LINDA but GRAHAM doesn't.
"my documents on LINDA "and "shared documents on GRAHAM" shows on GRAHAM.When I click my documents on LINDA,an error message appears saying it is not accessible.Network path not found.
However a message also comes up on LINDA from my firewall (Sygate) that an application named Win 32 Kernel core component (file name Kernel 32 dll has been blocked.
So it looks like a firewall problem.I will investigate & get back again!

[patio]

Let us know...

[Rob Pomeroy]

For the record, the ports you need to open on your LAN for file and print sharing are 137-139 and 1512.  (All TCP.)

[bluebedouin]

Well, I've managed to get the connection but with restrictions.I can access "My documents" on Linda from Graham but that seems about it.So anything I want to transfer has first to go to My Documents on Linda then I can transfer from there to My Documents on Graham.The main bugbear was when I clicked to open "My Documents on Linda" I was asked for a password,but I knew I hadn't set a password!Anyway I could see it was a 6 character word so I tried all of my 6 character ones to no avail.Then I saw on Lindas screen the network was showing mshome,so I punched that in & hey presto it worked!
So,thanks to everyone who has helped/offered help.I really don't know how I did it but I got there in the end.I certainly would have taken a lot longer without you guys help.Much appreciated,Cheers

[fffreak]

Cheers 8-) now that wasn't so bad, now was it.