Networking Windows 7 and XP

[HalF]

Not being windows 7 knowledgeable, I had to trust an IT geek ---

I have been told that I MUST run my computers in STATIC IP configuration mode instead of Dynamic to network Windows 7 and Windows XP (peer to peer)

This is very inconvenient for me using my note book on the road -- since I have to keep switching from static in my network config to letting windows set it. IS THIS TRUE??? or does anyone have any suggestions?

[AdvancedSetup]

No it's not true.

Please see the following article which should help you to share between them.

Share Files and Printers between Windows 7 and XP

[David H. Lipman]

Windows works by NetBIOS over IP and each PC must have a unique name. Each computer announces itself in the "workgroup" as a named computer with an IP address. Computers use the Universal Naming Convention (UNC) to access the shares of another computer on the network. This is in the form of \\Machine_Name\Share_Name so no matter what IP address Machine_Name is assigned, you can access the NT Share. If the IP address is static you could alternatively use \\IP_Address\Share_Name . Often that is done in a test situation under dynamically addressed computers.

Alternatively one can "map" a drive letter to the share via the Command Line [ net use Drive_Letter: \\Machine_Name\Share-Name , Ex: net use P: \\Orange-PC\data ] or via the Windows GUI. No computers are forced to use only static IP addresses. If the computers are NOT Active Directory Domain participants then they are in a Workgroup environment. While each computer can use a different "workgroup name" it is easier to have computers in a workgroup use the same workgroup name. In Windows XP and above the default "workgroup name" is; workgroup.

In the attached graphic you will see the computer was named "dlipman-1" and is in the workgroup "workgroup" and if I have a NT Share on the computer dlipman-1 called "data" other computers can access the data share as; \\dlipman-1\data [ of course appropriate permissions of the share have to be set to gain entry from a computer other than DLipman-1 ]