Unable to share external drives.

[Guest]

I have a XP pro workstation and an XP Pro laptop.

If I install my external USB drive to the laptop, I can share the drive. If
I install it on the workstation, and try to set it up to share the laptop
reports I have a bad path.

Problem is at one point I could do this. I have two external drives on the
workstation and both were sharable. Now only the workstation can see them.

If I do a \\computer name, or My Network Places, I can see the drives but
not access them. They are both set up for sharing.

Again, I can put them on the laptop and see them and access them from the
workstation.

I have turned off firewalls/virus checkers whatever all, to no avail.

Any assistance in helping me figure this out would be greatly appreciated.

TIA

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I have a XP pro workstation and an XP Pro laptop.

If I install my external USB drive to the laptop, I can share the drive. If
I install it on the workstation, and try to set it up to share the laptop
reports I have a bad path.

Problem is at one point I could do this. I have two external drives on the
workstation and both were sharable. Now only the workstation can see them.

If I do a \\computer name, or My Network Places, I can see the drives but
not access them. They are both set up for sharing.

Again, I can put them on the laptop and see them and access them from the
workstation.

I have turned off firewalls/virus checkers whatever all, to no avail.

Any assistance in helping me figure this out would be greatly appreciated.

TIA

What happens when you do this:
- Click Start / Run / cmd {OK}
- Type this command:
net share USB=E:\ (Enter}
(where E: is the drive letter for your currently
connected USB device.)

 

[Guest]

One drive said
USB was shared successfully.
The other drive said:
The name has already been shared
More help is available by typing NET HELPMSG 2118

When I type that in, I get:
NET HELPMSG 2118
The name has already been shared.
EXPLANATION
This share name is already in use on this server.
ACTION
Choose a share name that is not currently used on this server. To see a list
of
resources currently shared on this server, type:

NET SHARE

With that I get:
NET SHARE

Share name Resource Remark

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IPC$ Remote IPC
C$ C:\ Default share
print$ C:\WINDOWS\System32\spool\drivers
Printer Drivers
H$ H:\ Default share
G$ G:\ Default share
ADMIN$ C:\WINDOWS Remote Admin
base C:\Program Files\Soldier of Fortune II - Double Helix\base

G G:\
H H:\
Junk C:\Junk
My Documents C:\Documents and Settings\Me\My Documents

Nero Ultra C:\Documents and Settings\Me\My Documents\My Download
s\Nero Ultra

R D:\
rocmod C:\Program Files\Soldier of Fortune II - Double Helix\rocmod

SharedDocs C:\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\ALL USERS\DOCUMENTS

Taxes C:\Documents and Settings\Me\My Documents\Taxes

USB H:\
Printer RCFax Spooled RingCentral Internet Fax
Printer3 My Documents\*.pdf Spooled Creates Adobe PDF
The command completed successfully.

I can see where there is a H$ default share and a H. Not sure what it is
telling me.

Not sure what I have learned, but I have learned something. Thanks.
I appreciate the help or at least the effort.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Your report tells me that there is no problem
sharing your external drive. You can, of course,
use each share name just once. If you have several
external drives then you could do this:
net share USB1=E:\
net share USB2=F:\
net share USB3=G:\

Instead of USB1, 2 and 3 you can select more
descriptive names.

 

[Guest]

Pegasus,

This sounds like a case of the operation was a success but the patient died.

I can not see these drives from any other computer in my home network. If I
put these drives on another computer in my network, they work. I can see them
from the others including the one that doesn't work.

From the other computers I can look at shared files from my C drive. This on
the computer that is hosting the shared drives. So I don't think this is a
firewall issue. Even though I have turned off firewalls/virus checkers on all
of the computers.

I am about to the point of moving one of these to another computer just so I
use it globally in my network. I really wanted to keep the configuration the
way it was because this is my fastest machine and centrally located.

Any other suggestions that you can offer?

Thanks,