Stumped on sharing...help please

[JDS]

2 PCs. 1 Vista with 2 users shared. 1 XP that can see Vista users but
errors about permissions. I see the Vista permissions as read/write.

All same workgroup.

No clue what to do next!?

 

[Malke]

2 PCs. 1 Vista with 2 users shared. 1 XP that can see Vista users but
errors about permissions. I see the Vista permissions as read/write.

All same workgroup.

No clue what to do next!?

Here are general network troubleshooting steps. Not everything may be
applicable to your situation, so just take the bits that are. It may look
daunting, but if you follow the steps at the links and suggestions below
systematically and calmly, you will have no difficulty in setting up your
sharing.

Excellent, thorough, yet easy to understand article about File/Printer
Sharing in Vista. Includes details about sharing printers as well as files
and folders:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb727037.aspx

For XP, start by running the Network Setup Wizard on all machines (see
caveat in Item A below).

Problems sharing files between computers on a network are generally caused
by 1) a misconfigured firewall or overlooked firewall (including a stateful
firewall in a VPN); or 2) inadvertently running two firewalls such as the
built-in Windows Firewall and a third-party firewall; and/or 3) not having
identical user accounts and passwords on all Workgroup machines; 4) trying
to create shares where the operating system does not permit it.

A. Configure firewalls on all machines to allow the Local Area Network (LAN)
traffic as trusted. With Windows Firewall, this means allowing File/Printer
Sharing on the Exceptions tab. Normally running the Network Setup Wizard on
XP will take care of this for those machines.The only "gotcha" is that this
will turn on the XPSP2 Windows Firewall. If you aren't running a
third-party firewall or have an antivirus/security program with its own
firewall component, then you're fine. With third-party firewalls, I
usually configure the LAN allowance with an IP range. Ex. would be
192.168.1.0-192.168.1.254. Obviously you would substitute your correct
subnet. Refer to any third party security program's Help or user forums for
how to properly configure its firewall. Do not run more than one firewall.
DO NOT TURN OFF FIREWALLS; CONFIGURE THEM CORRECTLY.

B. For ease of organization, put all computers in the same Workgroup. This
is done from the System applet in Control Panel, Computer Name tab.

C. Create matching user accounts and passwords on all machines. You do not
need to be logged into the same account on all machines and the passwords
assigned to each user account can be different; the accounts/passwords just
need to exist and match on all machines. DO NOT NEGLECT TO CREATE
PASSWORDS, EVEN IF ONLY SIMPLE ONES. If you wish a machine to boot directly
to the Desktop (into one particular user's account) for convenience, you
can do this. The instructions at this link work for both XP and Vista:

Configure Windows to Automatically Login (MVP Ramesh) -
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/Autologon.htm

D. If one or more of the computers is XP Pro or Media Center, turn off
Simple File Sharing (Folder Options>View tab).

E. Create shares as desired. XP Home does not permit sharing of users' home
directories or Program Files, but you can share folders inside those
directories. A better choice is to simply use the Shared Documents folder.
See the first link above for details about Vista sharing.

Malke

 

[JDS]

A lot of good information here and pretty much reassured me that I've done
the right things on the Vista machine "sharing" side.

To further troubleshoot I logged in as the 2nd user (rather than my account)
on the XP machine and could successfully connect with all shares and drives
(external) on the Vista machine.

When I log off and log in as 1st user (my account), I can connect to 2 USB
External HDs that are connected to the Vista machine but I can't get in
either User 1 or 2 folders on the Vista machine.

1 oddity I see on the XP machine is that even though my account (in control
center/user accounts.) is named JACK, the Documents and Settings folder name
assigned is OWNER, not JACK. The account names and passwords are the same
on both machines. Just wondering if that is causing a disconnect?

Thanks for the help!

 

[Malke]

A lot of good information here and pretty much reassured me that I've done
the right things on the Vista machine "sharing" side.

To further troubleshoot I logged in as the 2nd user (rather than my
account) on the XP machine and could successfully connect with all shares
and drives (external) on the Vista machine.

When I log off and log in as 1st user (my account), I can connect to 2 USB
External HDs that are connected to the Vista machine but I can't get in
either User 1 or 2 folders on the Vista machine.

1 oddity I see on the XP machine is that even though my account (in
control center/user accounts.) is named JACK, the Documents and Settings
folder name
assigned is OWNER, not JACK. The account names and passwords are the same
on both machines. Just wondering if that is causing a disconnect?

Yes, that is where your problem lies. It is common to see machines that came
with Owner as the original user account (after all, the OEM doesn't know
who will buy their computer) and then the person just renames the user
account, not realizing that this is a cosmetic effect only and doesn't
change the underlying profile folders.

Log into the XP box and using Control Panel>User Accounts rename the Jack
account back to what it really is - Owner. Then create a second user
account called Jack and create the same password that the other machine's
Jack account uses. Then everything will work. You'll still want to log into
the Owner account since that's where all your stuff is, or simply set the
logon to automatic per the link I already gave you.

Malke

 

[JDS]

Thanks - That did it - I can access the files on the other PC now - but of
course its going to be a hassle to keep switching back and forth between
accounts. Is there a "correct" way to migrate all data/settings from 1 user
to another?

 

[JDS]

I remember telling my mom years ago how simple computing would get to in the
future! LOL - That's a good one.

XP Home machine does now have Jack and Owner accounts. Jack can connect to
Jack on Vista machine while logged in as Jack but Owner (XP) cannot connect
to Jack (Vista) while logged in as Owner.

I would prefer to log in as Jack (especially now that Jack works!) and
delete Owner, but I have to make sure I can migrate all the correct files
from Owner to Jack so they are identical.

 

[Malke]

Thanks - That did it - I can access the files on the other PC now - but of
course its going to be a hassle to keep switching back and forth between
accounts. Is there a "correct" way to migrate all data/settings from 1
user to another?

So you're saying you want to log into the Owner account or you want the new
Jack account to be identical to Owner? If the latter, you can copy Owner to
Jack. You'll need a third user account from which to work. If you have XP
Pro, just log into the built-in Administrator account. Do Ctrl-Alt-Del at
the Welcome Screen to get the classic logon box, enter "administrator" as
the username and whatever password you set. If you have XP Home, just
create an extra administrative user account - call it "tech" or the like.
Log into it and copy Owner to Jack per:

Copy a User Account - http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=811151

Of course, you don't need to log in as "Jack" in order to share the files
from one machine to the other. "Jack" and its matching password just needs
to exist on both machines. If "Owner" and "Jack" exist on all the computers
sharing files, you'll have no issues.

Malke

 

[Malke]

So you're saying you want to log into the Owner account or you want the
new Jack account to be identical to Owner? If the latter, you can copy
Owner to Jack. You'll need a third user account from which to work. If you
have XP Pro, just log into the built-in Administrator account. Do
Ctrl-Alt-Del at the Welcome Screen to get the classic logon box, enter
"administrator" as the username and whatever password you set. If you have
XP Home, just create an extra administrative user account - call it "tech"
or the like. Log into it and copy Owner to Jack per:

Copy a User Account -
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=811151

Of course, you don't need to log in as "Jack" in order to share the files
from one machine to the other. "Jack" and its matching password just needs
to exist on both machines. If "Owner" and "Jack" exist on all the
computers sharing files, you'll have no issues.

Addendum: I got a little confused as to which machine has Owner and which
has Jack and so on which machine you want to do the copying. The above
information is for XP. Here's how to do it in Vista:

1. Create the new user account and at least one extra account with
administrative privileges.
2. Log into the new user account and then log into the extra account.
3. Control Panel>System>Advanced>User Profiles>Settings
4. You will see where you can copy user accounts. Copy the old account to
the new one from there. Use the Browse to select your new account (C
\Users\newaccount).

Malke

 

[Malke]

I remember telling my mom years ago how simple computing would get to in
the
future! LOL - That's a good one.

XP Home machine does now have Jack and Owner accounts. Jack can connect
to Jack on Vista machine while logged in as Jack but Owner (XP) cannot
connect to Jack (Vista) while logged in as Owner.

I would prefer to log in as Jack (especially now that Jack works!) and
delete Owner, but I have to make sure I can migrate all the correct files
from Owner to Jack so they are identical.

Follow the instructions I gave you to copy the Owner user account's settings
to the Jack account. Note: You must import your e-mail messages and
addresses to the new user profile before you delete the old profile.

Malke