How to network Windows 7 and Vista computers to share files, folders & printers from the Windows 7 PC

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If you've had trouble networking Windows 7 and Vista computers, and even when you've turned password protection off it keeps asking for a username and password when trying to access files remotely from the Windows 7 PC but won't let you login and says "Network logon failure unknown user name or bad password" or similar, this post suggests some possible solutions. Note that I've only looked at sharing specific folders on a Windows 7 PC to a Vista PC (and not vice versa).

To fix this problem, this is what worked for me, after steps like these didn't work. This gave the clue! Short answer: make sure you've enabled the Guest account, or (better) create an account on the Windows 7 computer for network sharing purposes.

Step by step:

1. First, make sure you've done all these essential preliminary steps (though I'd leave out the firewall settings for now), ie: put both computers on the same workgroup (any name you want for the workgroup, as long as it's the same for both computers); set their network locations to Home; turned on network discovery, file and printer sharing, and public folder sharing.
   
   
   
   
2. Then:
   1. EITHER:
      1. in the settings above, turn OFF "Password protected sharing"
      2. turn ON the guest account (it was off on my Windows 7 computer by default)
      3. then, to access shared stuff from the other computer, go to Network (in Computer or Windows Explorer), doubleclick the name of the Windows 7 computer, and when it asks for username and password, just type in 'guest' for the username (or if that doesn't work, try YourWindows7ComputerName\guest), but leave the password blank, tick the box below if you want to save having to re-enter details during the same session, then hit OK.
      4. BIG RED WARNING - note that this is not very secure as it adds a "guest" account onto the Windows 7 computer which anyone can use to access that computer without a password, including accessing attached external hard drives. So, either rename the guest account or (better yet) secure the guest account, which may be a bit involved, or just create a special account on the Windows 7 computer as per 2.2. below, which may be easier.
   2. OR, alternatively, and this better for security:
      1. create another account on the Windows 7 computer with username/password, just for networked file and printer sharing
      2. on the other computer, again in Computer or Windows Explorer go to Network and doubleclick the name of the Windows 7 Computer; when the login prompt pops up, enter the username and password you created.
         1. note: the box to tick to remember your credentials shouldn't be there for Vista Home versions, because even if if you tick it, it won't remember your user/password (cached credentials) for network shares, beyond the session. Next time you reboot or restart the Vista computer, you'll just have to enter them all over again if you want to access stuff shared from your Windows 7 computer.
            Easiest workaround: create the special account on the Windows 7 computer with the same username/password as on the Vista computer.
         2. this (go to the "Concealing…" section) shows how to hide the special account from the logon screen on the Windows 7 computer if you wish, so that it's not visible on the Windows 7 PC when you  turn it on
      3. Note that the username may need to be in the form "Windows 7 computer name\username" (without the quotes)
      4. In this case, of course, you should turn "Password protected file sharing" in step 1 back to ON.
         
         Now if, after doing that, on the other computer you can see the shared files and folders on the Windows 7 computer, but on trying to open them you can't, and get a message like "The Network Path Cannot be Found - Error code 0x80070035", just try this Netbios fix on the other computer (NOT the Windows 7 one). Step 2 of that worked for me, no reboot needed and no need to tinker with firewalls!

Important - before the other computer can see files etc on the Windows 7 computer, you still have to take some extra steps on the Windows 7 computer first:

1. Set the properties of the folders or files that you want to share, so that they're Shared.
   
   And don't forget to "Limit the number of simultaneous users" to the maximum number of computers in your network - it defaults to 20!
   
   
2. Also, check your printers to make sure the ones you want to share are shared, and share them if necessary:
   1. Go to Start, Devices and Printers
   2. Rightclick on the name of the printer you want to share, and go to Printer properties. IMPORTANT: don't go to Properties, don't go to Printing preferences, go to Printer properties!
      
      
   3. Pick your printer, if more than one, and go to the Sharing tab and tick "Share this printer" - give it an intelligible name, and OK.
   4. On the Vista computer, under Network you should now see the printers - just doubleclick on a printer to install it (if necessary).

Vista: Windows Update error 80070570 problem - how to fix

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If you have Windows Vista on your computer and you get a problem when Windows Update tries to run to update your computer, with this error message:

Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer 8 in Windows Vista (KB972260) failed to install with the error code 80070570

or other updates with Windows Vista error 80070570 or error 0x80070570 (which apparently means ERROR_FILE_CORRUPT), then you can try these troubleshooting tips to see if they fix the issue.

First, try disabling or closing your security or anti-virus software (McAfee, Norton etc) or other anti-malware, and try Windows Update again; then re-enable the protective software.

If that still doesn't work, it seems the issue could be down to:

1. Windows Update not working properly, or
2. The Windows Update Temporary folder having got damaged or corrupted.

In my case, it was no. 2. But here's how to sort out no. 1:

1. Click the "Start" button bottom left, in the "Start Search" box, type: "services.msc"
   (without the quotes) and hit Enter. (If you have to OK or type a password, do so.)
   
   
   
2. In the window that comes up, double click "Windows Update":
   
   A dialog box now comes up. Go to the "General" tab. If the "Startup Type" is "Disabled", use the dropdown to change it to "Automatic" or "Manual":
   
   
3. Click the "Stop" button under "Service Status".
4. Then click the "Start" button (to the left of the Stop button), and click OK.
5. Rinse and repeat with the "Background Intelligent Transfer Service" service in the Services window (the one where you found the Windows Update service), to stop and start that again too.
   
6. Now try Windows Update again (Start menu, Windows Update) and see if it'll work properly now.

If that didn't solve your problem, try renaming the Windows Update Software distribution folder as follows:

1. Close the Services windows you opened earlier.
2. Click the "Start" Button, "All programs", then"Accessories".
3. Right-click "Command Prompt", select "Run as administrator":
   
   
   
4. A "Administrator: Command Prompt" window comes up. Here, type "net stop WuAuServ" (without the quotes) and press the Enter key.
5. Wait for this window to confirm it was successfully stopped:
   
   
   
6. Now click the Start button, and in the "Start Search" box type:
   "%windir%"
   (without the quotes) and hit Enter.
7. A folder window will open. Find the folder called "SoftwareDistribution", right-click it, select Rename and type "SDold" (without the quotes) to rename this folder (or call it anything else you like, just not the current name).
   
   
8. Go back to the "Administrator: Command Prompt" window. Type:
   "net start WuAuServ"
   (without the quotes) to restart the Windows Updates service, and wait for it to say "The Windows Update service was started successfully".

Now if all that doesn't work, don't despair - Microsoft offer a free support service just for Windows Update issues.

To use it, go to this page and put in a support request with Microsoft there, and follow their advice. Good luck!

Tags: update, updates, Windows Update, Windows Updates, troubleshooting, problem solving, tip, tips, Improbulus, A Consuming Experience

Vista: Skype Error #6102 or "Problem with recording device"

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If you get Skype's Error #6102 problem, and Skype's FAQ doesn't solve it, here's a troubleshooting tip if you have Windows Vista: you could try restarting Windows Audio (how to restart Windows Audio).

And then after you've done that, make sure you check that your Skype audio settings (menu Tools -> Options -> Audio Settings) show the correct device for both microphone and speakers, e.g. your headset, and if not change it back and Save.

That trick worked for me.

Vista: how to record sound from your computer (Audacity, Freecorder etc)

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Can't record from your computer because your sound device isn't showing in the dropdown list of recording devices in Windows Vista?

If you've had problems trying to record audio (music, speech / voice, streaming audio etc) that’s playing back on your computer speakers when you're using software like the open source free audio editing / recording tool Audacity or the free dedicated sound recorder Freecorder, it’s not necessarily to do with your soundcard drivers or anything complicated – it could just be a “feature” of Vista where Microsoft seem to have decided to hide away most of your sound devices.

If you can’t record sound from your computer because you can’t see anything relevant in the dropdown list for Recording Devices in Audacity (or Freecorder, etc), and nothing that you try from the list of device options will work, here’s a tip on how to get the list to display properly. I finally found it on the Audacity wiki after many troubleshooting attempts and much time wasted.

1. Bring up the list of recording devices on your Vista PC. The easiest way is to rightclick the Volume (speaker) icon in your taskbar, bottom right hand side of the screen, then select Recording Devices:
   
   
   
2. In the Recording Devices tab, rightclick anywhere inside the window and select "Show Disabled Devices". The menu might look a bit longer than what's shown below if you right click on the name of something in the list instead of clicking an empty space below the list, but it doesn't matter, both will have this option. (While you're at it, if you want to you can also select "Show Disconnected Devices" so you have the full picture. Not shown below to avoid clutter.)
   
   
3. You should now see your soundcard properly in the list of recording devices. It's called "Stereo Mix" (or maybe "Mono Mix"), just to confuse us all:
   
   
   
4. Now, all you have to do is to choose "Stereo Mix" as your recording device in your recording software. There's a howto for both Audacity and Freecorder below.
   

Audacity - how to select recording device

Go to the menu Edit, choose Preferences and you'll get something like this - in the Recording section on the right under Device, just select your Stereo Mix (or Mono Mix) and OK it.

If that didn't work, try in turn all the devices that magically appeared in Recording Devices when you chose to Show Disabled Devices, and hopefully one of them should do it.


For those new to Audacity, just start it recording by clicking the Record button (with the big red dot), then switch windows and start playing the audio you want to record, and click the Stop button in Audacity to stop recording. You can tidy up the recording by deleting the gap at the start afterwards, but editing is beyond the scope of this post.

Freecorder - how to select recording device

Click the Settings button.
In the Sound & Audio Configuration section on the right, click the Sound Card drop down list and choose Stereo Mix and OK. You get the drift...

Other issues?

If the above solution didn't work for you, there may be other problems such as needing to update your sound card drivers, fiddling around connecting your sockets etc (and see my post about how to troubleshoot and fix general problems with sound on Vista).

This post is just about what might be the quickest general fix for this particular annoyance, but obviously there may be other issues in individual cases. Good luck!

Tags: recording devices, trouble-shooting, troubleshooting, problems, tip, trick, tricks, media, Windows, Audacity, Freecorder, Improbulus, A Consuming Experience

“Failed to play test tone”, no sound on Vista – troubleshooting

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Has your Windows Vista computer suddenly gone silent - no sound comes out of your speakers, “Failed to play test tone” appears when you try to test your speakers? (e.g. after upgrading to Vista). Well, you’re not alone.

If you’ve suddenly lost sound / audio support on your Vista PC, this post contains a step by step pictorial guide for non-techies on some troubleshooting tips to try.

Different issues could give rise to this annoyance, e.g. a new program that was installed. So this post will help you only if your problem was caused by certain specific issues – but I hope the troubleshooting ideas suggested below will help you figure out why your system’s sound has stopped working and, more importantly, help find the solution to fix it!

A. How to restart Windows Audio after “Failed to play test tone”

This is the solution which finally worked for me to restore audio output on my computer, in case this tip helps someone else. I also found that the fix wasn’t just temporary for me – it’s survived several restarts / reboots since.

How to try this fix: go to the start menu and in the “Start Search” box type in the following (then hit Enter): services.msc

In the Services window that opens up, scroll down till you find “Windows Audio”. Leftclick once on it to highlight it, then rightclick on it and choose Restart:

Then close the Services window and check to see if your sound is now working again.

B. Still no sound coming out? - other troubleshooting things to try

Some preliminary things to check if no sound is coming out of your computer speakers (yes, some of them are obvious, but often it’s the obvious things that can catch people out, including me!).

1. Volume control – muted?

Did someone mute your speaker volume?

To check this, leftclick the speaker icon in your system tray (bottom right hand of the screen) and check to see if your Speakers have Mute on (red line through it, see below).

If so, just click that icon and then the Mute icon (outlined in red below) to turn mute off! And obviously you should also check the volume slider to see that the volume level is high enough.

2. How to get to the Sound window

Most things to check are in the Sound window.

How to open the Sound window? There are several ways to get this up.

Absolute quickest way: click the Start menu (bottom left Windows icon), in the Start Search box type the following then hit Enter: mmsys.cpl

Alternative way to get to the Sound window: Go to the Start menu, type in the Start Search box: sound
Then doubleclick the “Sound” item (with the speaker icon against it).

Visual mouse way: rightclick on the volume / speaker icon in your system tray, bottom right (outlined in red below) and pick Playback Devices to bring up the Sound window:

3. Are your speakers the selected sound output device?

Maybe the sound somehow got set to come out of your headphones instead of your speakers.

To check this, in the Sound window go to the Playback tab.

In the Playback tab, is there a tick (white on green circle) against your speakers? If not, click to select Speakers and then click Set Default and OK.

4. Try to play the test tone; changing default format

To try playing the test tone, in the Sound window’s Playback tab highlight Speakers by leftclicking once on it, then click Properties:

In the Properties window, go to the Advanced tab and then click on the Test button outlined in red below, to see if you can hear the test tone (if you don’t hear it try my solution at A above!):

Some people got the “no more sound” problem after changing the Default format in the dropdown list to the left of the Test button in the pic above.

If you did that, try checking that dropdown list. Are there duplicate entries? If so, try the Microsoft hotfix. Or just try changing the format back to what it was, and that may be enough to fix it (possibly after a reboot).

5. Sound effects?

Another fix which seems to have worked for some people (it didn’t for me) is to do with sound effects.

While you’re in the Speaker prosperties (see 4 above as to how to get there), go to the Enhancements tab.

Clicking to check (i.e. put a tick in) the “Disable all sound effects” box (and then clicking OK) seems to have sorted out the problem for some people:

Sound levels. Should be the same as B.1, but while in Speaker Properties you could also go to the Levels tab and double check that the sliders are at the right levels to be heard, i.e. it’s not just that the sound output for your speakers is too quiet or has been set to 0. If so, just move the slider to a better position (like 98) and OK it:

6. Try the Windows sounds too

Back in the Sound window, you should also check to see if the system sounds are audible even if e.g. MP3s or streaming audio from webpages etc can’t be heard.

If so, that’s a clue that maybe it’s a particular program like Windows Media Player that’s up the spout, rather than Windows generally, and you’ll have to find a solution for that particular program.

To check this, go to the Sounds tab and click on one of the items that has a speaker icon against it (e.g. Asterisk) then click the Test button

7. Try several other applications and devices

Is sound missing only in one application (e.g. Windows Media Player), or everything? Try several programs e.g. if you can’t hear an MP3, trying playing it using different applications.

If it’s only inaudible in one program, that suggests it’s a problem with that one bit of software and you may need to reinstall it or try other fixes specific to that program.

For instance, egg on face time here but after a YouTube change a few months ago I lost all sound. Then found that it was only because the YouTube volume level slider (see below) had somehow defaulted to zero on my system! When I moved the slider up, that fixed it.

Also, try selecting other audio devices (e.g. headset), see 3 above, and if there’s sound from those but not your speakers, then that points to an issue with your speakers, whether hardware (they’re bust!) or software (drivers etc). To check the hardware issue, obviously you can try connecting the speakers e.g. to the headphones or line out of your MP3 player / iPod, and see if any sound comes out of the speakers then.

8. Update your sound card drivers

Worse comes to comes, try updating your sound card drivers (how is beyond the scope of this blog post as it depends on your sound card).

Most people seem to suggest this as the first thing to try, but for me it would be the last as the others are easier to do and less drastic, and may well work.

9. Desperation time?

While searching for a solution to my own issue I found some suggestions that deleting a particular registry entry and then rebooting might work (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Ole\DefaultAccessPermission). But I’ve not tried it so if you’re desperate enough to have a go, it’s entirely at your own risk and you should make sure you backup your registry first just in case it makes things worse!

Tags: trouble-shooting, troubleshooting, problems, tip, trick, tricks, media, Windows, Improbulus, A Consuming Experience