Lets see... I had a 98 home network and had problems with bringing an XP online... Then had some problems with XP and bringing a Vista online... But now with all Vista haven't had any problems with bringing anything else - including Vista business online. I would suggest that you try bringing your laptop online and see what happens... If it's good, then you "should be good to go." One of the problems throughout this experiances was that the names had to match, from what I remember, before you try to connect.

If you switch to Ubuntu, most likely all of your peripheries will work out of the box (Linux is vewry good about packaging all the necessary drivers), and you should have no problem connecting to the network. The only problem is, you probably still need Windows to actually do some real work. You can dual boot your laptop, or you can try out some of the virtual desktop solutions, like Wine, VirtualBox, VMWare...The further away you can get from Redmond, the better your computer will function. OH, yes- you can use an Ubuntu Live CD to boot the laptop, and pretty much access your documents and such on the Windows partition (but Windows won't let you access the Linux partition).

I agree with warner, i had Problems with my IE could not connect, i put in a Linux live disk and i could connect to the internet just like that!

The main difference between the Microsoft "Home" and "Pro" or "Business" editions is the ability to connect to a domain. This is not the same as connecting via VPN...

I have dealt with this issue for several years and it's unfortunate. If you need to be joined to a domain, you must have the Pro or Business edition of the OS.

Nope Vista home is not capable

You can't upgrade to business from home it's not supported but you can to ultimate.

If all you want is email You can configure outlook to
connect to the exchange server and supply your domain credentials (that is,
including domain name) if this is all you need to do. Step through a manual
configuration of outlook to connect to exchange, and fill in the appropriate
information when asked.

Of course you could use XP pro in a dual boot config too or from an external.

I have 7 computers running on my home domain and have no problems getting any of them to connect.

I am running Vista on 2 of them, XP on 3 of them, ME on one and 98 on one.

We have 42 computers here at work and most of them run XP but we have 2 vista machines here and several Win 2000 machines. All seem to connect just fine.

I would have to say that yes its possible just have to set the permissions up right.

1. Your "home domain": is it a true DOMAIN (you know, with a Domain Controller running a server version of Windows, like Windows Server 2003), or is it a WORKGROUP which may or may not have one (or more) system(s) which are designated as servers but run client O/S's (like WinXP or Vista)?

2. What version of Windows XP and/or Windows Vista are you running? Windows XP Home WILL NOT join a domain. That's just the way it is. You can log in remotely, you can map resources (printers, shares, etc...) but any rights or objects which are restricted to Domain Users or Domain Members will NOT be available to a WinXP Home client PC.

The same thing is true of any of the Windows Vista Home flavors. Again, that is the way Microsoft designed the operating systems...

3. The systems at work ar MOST LIKELY running Pro or Business versions of the XP or Vista clients and so will MOST LIKELY have no issues.

Microsoft specifically states: "Warning Computers running Windows XP Home Edition cannot join corporate domains. For this reason, features that require machine accounts within a domain, such as Group Policy, are not available in Windows XP Home Edition."

this quote is taken from the MS Technet page here:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb457127.aspx

The same is true for Vista Home as stated (by Microsoft) here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929543

Yes the home domain is a work-group but I use a central server to connect to the internet via a router. All the computer connect to this server to communicate with one another but no, I am not running server software so i guess thats the difference.

As for work, All PC's here are running the pro versions of XP and win 2k, But I am not sure what the vista machines are running as I do not deal with them very often. I am going to take a guess and say its probably the pro version on them as well.

I was mainly addressing that all the platforms seem to communicate well across platforms. I should have realized how that came across when I wrote it but was in a bit to much of a hurry.

My apologies for the confusion. I just do the IT at home not at the shop. We have a GUY for that.

Like wise with Vista home anything.

The only Vista editions that will join a domain are business or ultimate.

double j b, are these 2 machines on Vista Home Premium?

I actually meant buying the cheap OS and then the expensive one.......

I'm getting that

The 2 I have in my home are yes, but I do not know about the machines we have here at work. Not sure what version they are running.

just wondering, perhaps you've implemented a workgroup, and not really a domain?

Here is a lesson to be learnt, never buy the "cheap" versions of Windows, it will eventually bite you in the A**E before you know it.......

There are always needed features held back from the cheap one.....Bill Gates!!

I don't find cheap in $225

Buying twice is even "less" cheap..........