With the Printer on the Xp Desktop
To do this manually in XP, do the following on your desktop: You will want to first go to Control Panel (it's on the Start menu), then on the left side choose "switch to classic view". If there's no text on the left side then that means you're already in classic view and can continue.
1. Choose "Network Connections". In the window that comes up, right-click on Local Area Connection then choose "properties". In the next window that comes up you will see a box labeled "This connection uses the following items:". Make sure that all of the following are present: Client for Microsoft Networks, File & Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks, and TCP/IP. It is okay if additional things are also present. If any of those are missing, click the "Install..." button and install the missing ones. Once everything is present, you're ready to go on.
2. In Control Panel, next choose "System". In the window that comes up, choose the "Computer Name" tab. Write down what it says the "full computer name" is, and what it says the "Workgroup" is. If either of those entries is blank, click on "Change..." to give the desktop computer a name (anything you want).Rename the Workgroup to whatever the desired name is to be. This must be done on all systems on the network.
3. On your Laptop, go to the same place, Control Panel / System. The "Workgroup" you see on your laptop must match exactly what it was on the desktop. Change it if need be.
4. Back to the desktop computer. Now your Microsoft Network is set up, so you need to set up the things you want to share. Click on Start / Printers & Faxes. Right click on the printer you want to see from your laptop, and choose "sharing..." Click on the button that says you want to share it, and give the share a name. When you click on OK, you'll see a little hand icon holding your printer.
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While Windows XP's default workgroup name is MSHOME, in Vista, things are mouch easier to remember for those with memory problems, because Vista's default workgroup is called...WORKGROUP.
Of course that most people would like to change the name of the workgroup, so here's how to do it...
Press the Start button, right click on My Computer, then follow this path: Properties - Change Settings - Change, and you'll find yourself inside the Computer Name Changes window
Now, change the name of your computer (the other users of the network will see your computer using this name) and the workgroup.
Press OK when finished
To allow changes to take place, reboot your computer.
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5. On your laptop, go to Start / Printers & Faxes. Add a new printer. You can browse to find the printer on your desktop by expanding Microsoft Windows Network, then your workgroup's name, then your desktop's name, then click the printer. Finish with the add printer wizard and then you're good to go for the printer.
6. Now you have to share your files on your desktop. You can share a whole hard drive or just some specific folders, it is up to you. Once you know what you want to share, right click on the drive / folder (in Windows Explorer or My Computer) and choose "sharing and security..." In the middle of the window that pops up, you can choose "share this folder on the network" and give the share a name. You can also check the box to allow laptop users to write to the files as well as read, if you want to do that.
7. On your laptop, open Windows Explorer and choose Tools / Map Network Drive. Choose a drive letter and then browse to what you shared on your desktop. Choose it then click on OK. Your share will then show up in Explorer just like any other drive and you can read/write to it as you allowed. That's it, you're done!
You should now be able to see your desktop files and printer from your laptop. | 
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