Printer sharing with Guest disabled

[Guest]

On a XP Pro machine I have the account Guest disabled to protect the access
to restricted folders. But in this way users that wish to print using a
shared printer on this machine need to authenticate. Is there a way to avoid
this ? Is printer sharing without authentication possible only if the Guest
account is enabled ?
Thanks, bye

 

[Guest]

Users from where? Your local network or some other location?

 

[Guest]

It is my local network, based on workgroup.

Users from where? Your local network or some other location?

 

[Guest]

Just give everyone permiisons on the printer. This will not inherit to any
other folder.

 

[Guest]

The printer is shared with full permissions to Everyone users. I guess that
the problem is related to being the Guest account of the server machine
disabled.
A workaround I know is to use on the client and on the server an account
with the same userid and password: it works. But if possible I should like to
solve the problem when userid are different too.
Thanks
Enrico

 

[Guest]

What do you have for Authenticated Users? By default, the Guest Account is
normally disabled by updates so I don't see why the Guest account is even an
option.
What kind of Files are you trying to deny access to? Just put them in
Protected Folders and remove inherited permissions.

 

[Malke]

The printer is shared with full permissions to Everyone users. I guess
that the problem is related to being the Guest account of the server
machine disabled.
A workaround I know is to use on the client and on the server an
account with the same userid and password: it works. But if possible I
should like to solve the problem when userid are different too.
Thanks

Is the printer connected locally to the XP Pro box? Are the client
machines running XP Pro also?

The Guest account you see in the User Accounts applet (Control Panel)
has nothing to do with networking. It is there to allow anyone without
a user account on the *local* system to log in and do some work. It
runs with elevated privileges and that is why it is normally disabled.

See this for an explanation:

If one or more of the computers is XP Pro:

a. If you need Pro's ability to set fine-grained permissions, turn off
Simple File Sharing (Folder Options>View tab) and create identical user
accounts/passwords on all computers.

b. If you don't care about using Pro's advanced features, leave the
Simple File Sharing enabled.

Simple File Sharing means that Guest (network) is enabled. This means
that anyone without a user account on the target system can use its
resources. This is a security hole but only you can decide if it
matters in your situation.

From what you are saying, you need to disable Simple Sharing so you can
set permissions on that particular folder. You have two choices:

1. Enable Simple Sharing on all machines. This way users do not need to
have the identical user account/password on your pseudo-server to use
the printer. Password-protect the folder by zipping it or with
third-party software.

2. Disable Simple Sharing on all machines. Create identical user
accounts/passwords on the pseudo-server.

Malke

 

[Chuck]

The printer is shared with full permissions to Everyone users. I guess that
the problem is related to being the Guest account of the server machine
disabled.
A workaround I know is to use on the client and on the server an account
with the same userid and password: it works. But if possible I should like to
solve the problem when userid are different too.
Thanks
Enrico

Enrico,

So how are the "restricted folders" setup? If you setup permissions on them
properly, Everyone shouldn't have access. Then you wouldn't have to disable
Guest.

Guest, by definition, is a member of the group "Everyone". The definition of
"Everyone" is "all authenticated users" - (Guest or non-Guest). Guest is how you
are supposed to allow access to totally open resources like printers.
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/06/file-sharing-under-windows-xp.html#Guest>
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/06/file-sharing-under-windows-xp.html#Guest

 

[Guest]

I realize that my first posting was not complete, so I try to be more clear.

I have a local network with a mix of XP Home and XP Pro.

One XP Pro works as printer server and file server.

On the XP Pro server I have one user account for each of the XP clients that
need to access the server. Because of previous history, I cannot have the
same account userid on the client and on the server. Actually, I could have
but the older clients should have to create a new userid on their machines to
fit with the userids on the server, which have more serious names than the
clients have. They do not like it.

Because of this different userid between client and servers I had folder
sharing problems from some of the XP Home clients. Apparently they
authenticate by themselves as anonymous so that the user get a "Cannot map a
network drive with different credentials" when trying to authenticate with a
server account to access to a reserved folder.

I "solved" this issue by disabling the Guest account on the server, I mean
the network guest account, using the Administrative Tools - Users. But now
anyone wishes to print on the shared printer of the server needs to
authenticate with a userid/password defined on the server.

On new XP Home clients everything is right if I use the same userid/password
on both the cliant and the server.

On old XP Home clients I have to authenticate by connecting a shared folder
on the server before being able to print. This is what I wish to overcome, if
possible.

On XP Pro clients there is no problem even if the userid/password is
different, because XP Pro allows to set network passwords for the account.


Thanks to all, bye.

 

[Malke]

Enrico wrote:

(snip)

Thanks for explaining better. As you are well-aware, here is your
problem:

On the XP Pro server I have one user account for each of the XP
clients that need to access the server. Because of previous history, I
cannot have the same account userid on the client and on the server.
Actually, I could have but the older clients should have to create a
new userid on their machines to fit with the userids on the server,
which have more serious names than the clients have. They do not like
it.

I'm sorry, but the answer is the same as what I gave you in my last
post. As you know, XP Home only authenticates as Guest. You want to
have your cake and eat it, too; i.e., you want the ability to set
fine-grained permissions and restrictions of XP Pro which requires
disabling Simple Sharing but you have XP Home clients.

I don't see why you can't just create identical user accounts/passwords
on your pseudo-server. Perhaps you could explain that a bit better. If
user "Joe" is logged in on client XP HE, why can't you just create
"Joe" on the pseudo-server?

Malke

 

[Guest]

OK, I think this ends the thread. I am not a OS expert, so I thought that I
was missing some XP feature. Now everithing is clear.

About userid naming, it was simply a trial to make things less messy, but if
this simplify the networking I shall go on replicating the existing userids
on the pseudo-server.

Thank to all for explainations, I learned useful infos.
Enrico