Connecting Vista Laptop to existing file/printer sharring network

This is probably a common question but I'm unable to find the answer I'm looking for.

I'm trying to connect my new laptop (running Vista) to a wireless network already in place between my two desktop computers. These two computers are able to share the printer and files between each other.

the laptop has no problems connecting to the internet offered by the same wireless router but I can't find/connect to the file and printer sharing part of it all.

Vista is new to me and I know very little about setting up networks (someone came into set up the current one) so step-by-step help would be much appreciated.

Let me know if there are any specs that are required. The router is a Linksys WRT54G wireless-G broadband

 

thanks for the link but I've already been there and gone through it (sigh). As of now, I've sort of been able to connect them to the same workgroup. On one of my desktops, it recognizes the laptop on the workgroup but i get the error: \\Benslaptop is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of this server to find out if you have access permissions. The network path was not found

Also, my laptop cant seem to connect to anything other than identifying my router in the workgroup. could something be wrong with the router or is it preventing files from transferring?

 

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6000]
Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Ben>IPCONFIG /ALL

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : BensLaptop
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Dell Wireless 1390 WLAN Mini-Card
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-19-7E-B3-3C-C3
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::381d:5bc1:5c13:ac55%10(Preferred)
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.106(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : July-13-07 4:40:35 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : July-14-07 4:40:35 PM
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 167778686
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 69.41.192.2
69.41.192.20
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : pen.apac.dell.com
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom 440x 10/100 Integrated Controlle
r
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-19-B9-7F-47-42
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 6:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 02-00-54-55-4E-01
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::1c2d:14cf:3f57:fe95%8(Preferred)
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 7:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : isatap.pen.apac.dell.com
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 9:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : isatap.{DDDDBCF7-DE53-482C-B2EB-B3CA9E52D
E9C}
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::5efe:192.168.1.106%12(Preferred)
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 69.41.192.2
69.41.192.20
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

C:\Users\Ben>


And yes, I'm using Norton Internet Secrurity 2007 on both computers in the workgroup

 

Here's an MVP's site with a tutorial on getting Vista to play nice with XP. Windows XP And Vista On The LAN Together

 

EDIT: Pinging didn't work at first but I went into Norton Internet Security and set the IP address of the desktop to be trusted. Now, pinging works both ways! What's next?

Im looking through that guide that JohnWill suggested right now but it seems sort of vague.

 

i think I've figured everything out. just needed to change the settings in norton internet security. thanks for your help!