I have two XP (Service Pack 2) machines networked via wired Ethernet. About
two months ago, something changed. When I try to access a share from one PC
to the other via My Network Places in Explorer, I receive the following
message:
"Home is not accessible. You do not have permission to use this network
resource. Contact the administrator of this server ......."
This happens on both machines.
I am running McAfee firewalls on both. Disabling protection on both has no
effect. Windows firewall is disabled on both. I've also repaired the
network connections and have run the Network Setup Wizard on both to no
avail. Each PC can ping each other successfully so it seems this is a
Windows issue.
Any suggestions are appreciated.
Yes it is a Windows issue. I suggest that you start from scratch using this
procedure:-
XP Peer LAN - File and Print Sharing.
This general advice applies to both Home and Pro.
NetBeui protocol is simple and sufficient for this task.
Copy from Win CD \valueadd\msft\net\netbeui:-
nbf.sys to C:\windows\system32\drivers, and
netnbf.inf to C:\windows\inf (hidden folder).
This will make NetBeui protocol available in the Install Protocol dialog.
Security requires consideration of your specific circumstances.
For each peer, use the command line interface to specify:-
1) Which local resources will be shared.
2) Which peer users will be authorised.
3) Which permissions will be granted to each resource-user combination.
4) Which peer resources will be used.
If you save these commands in a file then you will have a record of how you setup your network.
1) net share sharename=drive
ath /unlimited
This shares a folder. Share printers through the Control Panel. GUI Dialogs are necessary for setting printer default properties.
(It is normally sufficient to assign a sharename to a drive, and let the ACL determine which user can access which part of the drive)
net share
This reports resources you have shared.
2) net user username /add /active:yes /passwordchg:no /passwordreq:no
This adds a limited user locally, and replicates peer users locally.
Restart before deploying added users.
net user
This reports users you have authorised.
3) Run cacls.exe, xcacls.exe or a third party utility with ACL in its name, to grant permissions to the resource-user combination.
cacls.exe resourcename /t /e /g unsername
ermission
cacls.exe resourcename
This reports authorisations for this resource.
4) net use devicename \\computername\sharename\path /persistent:no
This assigns a devicename or drive letter to a peer resource.
UNC names overcome constraints of workgroup membership.
Persistent:no avoids Windows Explorer being cluttered with resources which are no longer available.
(It is normally sufficient to assign a drive letter to a sharename)
net use
This reports peer resources you can use.
5) net view
This reports sharenames available on your workgroup.
net view \\computername
This reports sharenames available on specific computers outside your workgroup, but on the same peer LAN.
