Solved: Laptop does not see other computers, desktop cannot access shared files on la

My laptop is running Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit. Under Network, only the laptop shows up under the Computer and Media Devices tabs, with a Network Infrastructure Tab showing "Internet gateway device." On the desktop, running Windows Vista Home Basic, I can see the laptop under the Network but cannot access it. The message: "\\laptop name 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. Login failure: the user has not been granted the requested logon type at this computer."

I've got network discovery turned on. I've played around with permissions (setting all permissions for Everybody on the folders I want to share). I've gone into Registry Editor, under HKLM/System/CurrentControlSet/Control/Lsa/restrictanonymous and didn't even have to change anything (1 or 2 to 0, and it's under the REG_DWORD type). So I'm only getting more and more frustrated. Any help?

 

Both computers are set up for file sharing over the network. As for the firewalls, I don't know. I think Avast! is running on both laptop and desktop.

Also, after I had posted this topic, I managed to find the desktop on the laptop and could access certain folders. But then the next night it asked me for a username/password and, once I had given it, told me I did not have the permissions necessary. So now I'm practically at square one again.

 

Can't even access the public folder, no. Again, this wasn't a problem until I had entered a username and password for the desktop from the laptop. I'll try your solution.

EDIT

I ran it on both the laptop and the desktop and everything seems to be working fine now. Thanks.