BleepingComputer.com: Windows 7 Sync Center issues

I hope someone can help. I've Googled this so many different ways but can't find a solution that fits my problem.

I have two machines -- a Win XP desktop and a WIn 7 laptop -- connected in a simple home network. The laptop has mapped drives to certain locations on desktop and ideally files will be created-modified-deleted on both drives and be updated on both drives accordingly.

However, Win7 Sync Center just doesn't work properly. Files created, changed, or deleted on the laptop aren't always copied properly to the desktop machine and vice versa. In addition, I can't find a way to force the laptop into "online" mode to force sync between the two. Almost every time I look at a folder in Win7, I'm told it's "Offline (not connected)". I cannot find a way to force the two computers to talk to each other and update the drives. Sometimes files are created on the Laptop that successfully sync to the Desktop, but then are shown to be "unavailable" on the laptop -- I can see the file names and icons, but they're greyed out on the laptop. If I look at the same folder on the desktop, they're fine. It's like they're coped to the desktop but not copied back to the laptop. I have to pull up the folder in Explorer and watch watch watch it be offline until for a split second it pops online. Sometimes I can catch it quick enough to right-click and force a sync. But if I miss that opportunity, I don't know when it will come around again. The sync button isn't available unless the folder is perceived to be online. The folders almost always show as "offline" even when I have both computers on at the same time and no drives are in hibernation, etc. Sometimes when I check the sync center, I get the error "The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process."

For example, tonight I created a PDF on the laptop that was successfully saved and automatically sync'd to the desktop. Great. But a few hours later I need to access the file, but it was greyed out on the Laptop even though I hadn't touched the file since it was created on the laptop. As an experiment, i pulled up the folder on the desktop and created a copy of the file with a simple click-drag. The laptop drive then updated to show both files, but both greyed out and unavailable! So the laptop was able to acknowledge that the file existed, but I was still not able to use it on the laptop. I also click-dragged to copy a different available file on the laptop, and it successfully sync'd to the desktop and was available on both.

I hope that makes sense. I don't know how else to describe it. I've found many many other sync center complains around the webs, but most solutions offered are for those running large servers and/or have users on VPN, or they don't exactly apply to my situation.

Can anyone assist?

Anyone?

Sorry for the late response. I am new to windows 7 sync however I am familiar with file sharing across different windows versions. Is there a specific reason you chose Windows Sync Vs storing the files in one location and sharing the files?

I am using Windows 7 Sync because I need to have files synchronized on two computers because one is a laptop and not always connected to the network. While the files technically reside on both the laptop and the desktop, the desktop is the "host" and I have certain folders "available offline" on my laptop.