connecting a laptop to a desktop

Dear all,

due to the fact that the administrator has disabled the search function I have not had the chance to search for related questions before opening this new thread.
I have a laptop from work with windows 2000 and a desktop at home with windows xp. I have been told that both can be connected via a cross-cable, because both have a networkcard installed and working properly.
I have purchased a proper cable and connected both machines. I have even managed to see the desktop in the network neighborhood on my laptop, but not the other way about. When I click it, it says it cannot find the path to the desktop. When I ping one I do get a response and vice versa.
This is all terribly frustrating...
I am probably doing something wrong, but I have run out of ideas. Could anybody please help me.
I would like to be able to transfer files from one machine to the other. Am I missing any settings in either operating system?

Greetings,
Carl.

there is quite some things that can cause this behaviour. Are you logged in as the same user on both machines with the same password?
And can you connect if you type "\\192.168.1.1" (replace by the other machine´s ip) in start/run?

Dear M. Hirsch,

I thank you very much for your help! Your suggestion about using the start/run option was very helpful. Thank you again!