Hi Everybody,
This seesm to be the right place for help solving my problem.
I have a desktop and a laptop which are both connected to a DSL modem/router. I can go to the Interent from both machines, but I cannot connect between them: no filesharing and no connection to play LAN games.
The desktop runs XP Home and the laptop runs XP Pro. The laptop is from work and is part of a domain, so I cannot make it part of a workgroup. I have tried everything I could think of and have read about in various tutorials on the web, but still no luck. This is driving me crazy so I appreciate any help. Thanks.

Do you have admin privilege on your laptop?

I have two users on the laptop. As a local user I have admin rights, as a user on the domain I don't.

Are you using it as a router or a switch, does each computer get an IP from the cable company or from the router itself. Make sure the cable line is plugged into the WAN port not a regular port. Also ty setting static IPs, personally I dont like to use DHCP I like my PCs getting the same IP all the time, especially for port forwarding etc...

It's a router, a SMC Barricade 7904WBRA with built-in DSL modem. I am not sure about the IP and I don't understand what you mean with plugging the cable into the WAN port. The ADSL line is plugged in the only port that is meant for that; Internet works OK on both machines. I wouldn't know how to set static IP's. But do you think this is actually cause of the problem?

If you do not have privilege to remove your laptop from the domain while you are at home, then you need to either consult with your work IT department or buy a NAS and use that for the files you want to share. I've never set up a NAS to share files between computers not on the same workgroup, but I'm sure it can be done. If nothing else, buy a NAS that can be an FTP server.

I once made the laptop part of a workgroup using the local account, but that automatically reoved the domain. I could no longer log in under the domain user. That was a bad idead and apparently a workgroup and an domain cannot extist both on one machine.
But there must be a way without a NAS. I am pretty sure about that...

AFAIK, that is correct - it can't - at the same time. You would need to remove the laptop from the domain while at home, and reconnect to the domain to log in at work.

OK, try mapping your shared folder as a drive on your laptop. Once you've logged in using your domain account and are on your home network, in the command line (START-RUN):

net use {drive letter}: \\yourhomecomputername\foldersharename /user:yourhomecomputername\yourhomeusername <enter>

You might also be able to make this work using the My Computer - Tools - Map Network Drive wizard.

Check your laptop's My Computer to see if your network drive has appeared. Try to access it.

Thanks for hangin in, but I am confused a bit:
Is the command that you worte supposed to create the mapped drive, or shoud I first map a folder and then execute this command?
I tried to Map a Network Drive using the command under Tools in Explorer, but there I can only use folders that are in the domain and since I am at home there are none at all. I tried just to execute the command, but nothing happens...

BTW: not only filesharing is a problem, also playong games over the network does not work. Is there a way to check if the laptop can "see" the desktop and vice versa?