Problem replicating from Std Edition to Developer Edition

Trying to replicate,

from: Win 2K Server, SQL Std Edition 8.00.818 SP3
to: Win XP Pro, SQL Developer Edition 8.00.2039 SP4

XP has Firewall 'Off', and I added sqlservr.exe and port 1433 to the exceptions list.

Subscription on Win 2K Server gets error that it cannot connect to the subscriber system: SQL Server does not exist or access denied.

Ping from the Win2K to the WinXP box works fine.

The WinXP SQL login works when I connect from my desktop to the XP box using both SQL Ent Mgr and Query Analyzer.

Any ideas?

Looking at the merge agent properties, how does it connect to the publisher, sql login or windows login? If sql login, see if the login has access, and if the password is set correctly. If windows login, it's using the credentials that started the sql server agent service. Find out what login starts the sql server agent service and see if it has access to your publisher machine.