How can I connect an XP rig with a Win10 machine?

[brahman]

Hello everyone,

last night I worked until 4am to connect an old XP machine with a Windows 10 laptop.

The units and the network have no internet connection and they are connected by a dumb hub completely isolated from the world (that's why we still feel safe using the XP).

The Win 10 computer is actually replacing another XP rig. That setup worked ok in the past.

Now however, I can get access from the Win 10 machine to the XP, but I cannot access the shared folder on the Win 10 from the XP, which is basically the sole use of this setup to access MS Access database files on the Win10 and design and print a daily schedule on the XP computer.

It is driving me crazy, I thought it would be simple.

My guess is that the Win10 has stronger security which the XP cannot handle. I can see the Win10 machine name from the XP in the workgroup, but I can't get any further. No shared folders or files are showing up.

Do you have any suggestions, please!?

[x16wda]

On your Win 10 box you need to install the SMB 1 feature. Go into add remove programs (run Appwiz.cpl, I forget how you get to it in the settings), click Turn Windows Features On Or Off, it is in there somewhere. That'll fix you up.

[brahman]

Thank you so much!

What a blessing!

I will try it today!

[brahman]

Unfortunately that didn't do the trick.

I have all the 3 SMB 1.0 boxes checked now (the last one wasn't) but I don't see the SMB Direct entry. Probably either because it is a home version of Win10 or because it is a German version and they renamed it without using the letters SMB, I don't know.

The story is that I can ping the Win10 from the XP, but I cannot even access the Workgroup from the XP. It shows the workgroup name but when I click on it I get a message that I don't have access to the workgroup.

But from the Win10 I have full access to the shared files of the XP machine.

I would appreciate some more suggestions.

[Shades]

1. - Hardcode IP addresses on both computers.
2. - SMB support. This you adjusted already.
3. - Disable any type of encryption between them. Windows XP only supports a very low number encryption as maximum. Lower than Windows 10 will go with its encryption. So, better disable this for as long as you need to transfer stuff and then drop the XP machine all together or use it for Linux. From memory, XP supports 56-bit encryption max, while Windows 10 won't go below 128-bit encryption.



Hardcode IP addresses:
Win10                    XP
192.168.1.10        192.168.1.11  (IP address)
255.255.255.0      255.255.255.0 (Netmask)
192.168.1.10        192.168.1.11 (Gateway. Optional, because machines are not being used to access the internet)
192.168.1.10        192.168.1.11 (Primary DNS. Optional, because machines are not being used to access the internet)
192.168.1.1          192.168.1.1  (Secondary DNS. Optional, because machines are not being used to access the internet)

Disabling encryption:
http://woshub.com/traffic-encryption-in-smb-3-0/

[brahman]

Ok, thanks to the inspiration of the two of you, I got it done. It was actually quite easy, after I found the well hidden encryption settings.

I have read many tutorials on the internet, some very complicated and many pages long, but basically it was a simple 3 step process, which I would like to summarize for people that come here for help/reference:

1) On Win 10 box install SMB 1.0 feature. Run Appwiz.cpl and click "Turn Windows Features On Or Off" and check everything that says "SMB 1.0/CIFS"  (NOT "SMB Direct"). - thanks to x16wda

2) Assign fixed IP addresses to both computers in the same private network. Put any Gateway address from the same network, so that the Network will be recognized as private by the OS, and not public.

3) Open Control Panel > Network and Sharing Center > Change advanced sharing settings > click on "All Networks" and activate "Enable file sharing for device that use 40- or 56-bit encryption". (inspired by Shades comment)

Now one can share folders between the XP and WIn10 computers.

Example for static IP address setup (thanks to Shades):
Win10                    XP
192.168.1.10        192.168.1.11  (IP address)
255.255.255.0      255.255.255.0 (Netmask)
192.168.1.10        192.168.1.11 (Gateway)
192.168.1.10        192.168.1.11 (Primary DNS. Optional, because machines are not being used to access the internet)
192.168.1.1          192.168.1.1  (Secondary DNS. Optional, because machines are not being used to access the internet)

Hint: If you want to easily save and later revert to your initial TCP/IP options, the wonderful tool NetSetMan is extremely helpful. Free for private use.

Thank you so much for your help!