Hi,

I've got two laptops that I want to connect using an ad hoc wireless network. One laptop is a personal laptop with Vista Home Premium installed. The other is a work laptop with Windows XP installed. This laptop is set up under our company domain.

When I set up the network I am able to see the other computer name from Vista but when I try access it or using \\computername\ in Run it gives me access denied error.

Please help.

Cheers,
Jaco

As this is a company machine you had better speak to the IT department as there may be security implications involved.

If you are doing this on a home network the two shall never see each other because the work laptop is set to a domain and the home laptop is probably set to a workgroup.

If you are doing this on a home network the two shall never see each other because the work laptop is set to a domain and the home laptop is probably set to a workgroup.

Yes the Vista one is set to a workgroup. Is there no other way to see the contents of each? Is this a standard setting that they cannot see each other when on different domains and workgroups?

I cannot even set Vista to a similar domain because apparently Home Premium cannot connect to a domain.

You are going through the same thing I did a while ago with my work laptop. I'd bring it home and try to connect it to my wireless network. It would get the internet just fine but no file and printer sharing from the desktop which was a pain because I definitely wanted to print. There is no fix because you (usually) can't change the settings on the work machine and you can't make the home computer have a domain setting either. I eventually bought myself an inexpensive new Dell laptop as my work-at-home/experiment machine. Now both computers can share files and I can make the laptop print from the printer downstairs. Plus I dual boot with Xubuntu which is fun for me to learn and safe for the kid's usage.

As this is a company machine you had better speak to the IT department as there may be security implications involved.

Absolutely. They can alert you to any company policies that may put your job at risk by what you are trying to do. At the very least, there could be disciplinary action.

We allow our users to take their company laptops home and use their home Internet connections but that is ALL. Precautions are taken to protect our worldwide network against external threats such as viruses and also the theft of company information and intellectual property. Also, if your company is publicly traded or is in one of the critical data sectors such as hospitals and insurance companies, the protection of data is strictly governed by the HIPPA and Sarbanes-Oxley regulations.