Sharing printer and files between win 7 and win 8.1 computers

I have a group of computers in a small office without a server that are connected and share via homegroup. When I added a new laptop with win 8.1 to the homegroup, I couldn't ever access the shared printer which is attached to the win 7 desktop. I deleted and recreated the homegroup multiple times from different computers and nothing seemed to change the situation. I deleted the homegroup completely and just tried to share the printer separately connecting via computer share name and still not good. Now if the win 8.1 computer can recognize the printer, none of the win 7 computers can print to it and vice versa. I need them all to be able to share the printer at the same time and share 2 folders between all of them. How can I accomplish this besides down grading the 8.1 to win 7 and installing win 7 on it. Thanks for the assistance
 
If the printer has Ethernet support, connect it to the router and then use Add Printer as a Network printer on every PC (ie not directly connected to any PC) and at least that will solve one issue. Remember to get the correct print driver for each system; Win/7 vs Win/8.

I'll surf for the sharing issue and post back ...
 
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