My new laptop can't work with other computers on my network. It sees itself and one other computer (win 7) but when I try to look at either of these I get an Access Denied message and am told that the computer have invalid provider names.
I have played with the sharing settings until I am "Microsoft Blue" in the face. tried to work with both sharing and advanced sharing in "Network and Sharing". Win 8 seems to be ignoring the settings and the rest to the network.
In fact, the new one has itself listed as a network computer but I still can't open it. I can't do anything related to the other two computers. Every time it tries any kind of access to them I get the "access denied" message.
Oddly, the other networked computers can see and access the new one, including on XP computer.
I have the Win 7 and Win 8 computers in the Homegroup. The XP machine has a Workgroup with all 3 machines in it.
I am Admin on all machines and network.
I am desperate for help. Thanks in advance.
Joyce R Goldman