XP network users authenticate against guest password

[Paul L'Allier]

Hi,

I've had a look at historic posts and I couldn't find anything which
seemed to cover the exact problem I'm having.

I'm trying to get an XP pro machine to share files according to
permissions associated with usernames.

The default (Simple File Sharing) is to have all users authenticate as
Guest, using a single password. I've turned this off in the Folder
Options checklist.

Now when I select sharing on a folder, I get the advanced options and
can set permissions per user (which is what I expected).

However, when I try to connect from another machine (win2K) using a
valid username and password, it gets rejected and I cannot connect.
If I use the same (or indeed a random) username and the guest
password, I get authenticated as guest. I can access the shares which
are configured to allow guest access but not the ones for the entered
username.

I've confirmed that I can log in on the XP machine with the username
and password.

Have I missed a setting I need to change to make it authenticate the
users? Can anyone shed some light on this? It almost seems like I
have simple file sharing authentication, but classic file sharing
permissions.

Kind regards,
Paul

 

[Chuck]

Hi,

I've had a look at historic posts and I couldn't find anything which
seemed to cover the exact problem I'm having.

I'm trying to get an XP pro machine to share files according to
permissions associated with usernames.

The default (Simple File Sharing) is to have all users authenticate as
Guest, using a single password. I've turned this off in the Folder
Options checklist.

Now when I select sharing on a folder, I get the advanced options and
can set permissions per user (which is what I expected).

However, when I try to connect from another machine (win2K) using a
valid username and password, it gets rejected and I cannot connect.
If I use the same (or indeed a random) username and the guest
password, I get authenticated as guest. I can access the shares which
are configured to allow guest access but not the ones for the entered
username.

I've confirmed that I can log in on the XP machine with the username
and password.

Have I missed a setting I need to change to make it authenticate the
users? Can anyone shed some light on this? It almost seems like I
have simple file sharing authentication, but classic file sharing
permissions.

Paul,

With XP Pro, if Simple File Sharing is disabled, check the Local Security Policy
(Control Panel - Administrative Tools). Under Local Policies - Security
Options, look at "Network access: Sharing and security model", and ensure it's
set to "Classic - local users authenticate as themselves".

With XP Pro, if you set the above Local Security Policy to "Guest only", enable
the Guest account, using Start - Run - "cmd" - type "net user guest /active:yes"
in the command window. If "Classic", setup and use a common non-Guest account
on all computers. Whichever account is used, give it an identical, non-blank
password on all computers.

Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.

 

[Paul L'Allier]

Paul,

With XP Pro, if Simple File Sharing is disabled, check the Local Security Policy
(Control Panel - Administrative Tools). Under Local Policies - Security
Options, look at "Network access: Sharing and security model", and ensure it's
set to "Classic - local users authenticate as themselves".

With XP Pro, if you set the above Local Security Policy to "Guest only", enable
the Guest account, using Start - Run - "cmd" - type "net user guest /active:yes"
in the command window. If "Classic", setup and use a common non-Guest account
on all computers. Whichever account is used, give it an identical, non-blank
password on all computers.

Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.

Thanks for the reply Chuck.

I've checked and it was already configured this way.

However, I've now discovered the solution and it's one of those really
annoying one which I should have spotted instantly. Definitely user
error.

The guy who originally configured the machine set up a user account
for me using my full name as the username, rather than my usual
username. He then used the "Change Name" option in control panel to
correct what he thought was the username, but was actually the
displayed name.

When I logged in locally, windows was displaying my username and
accepting my password, so I erroneously thought the account was
configurared correctly. Running "net user" at the command prompt
revealled the truth.

Having recreated the affected user accounts, all is now behving as I
had expected.

Cheers,
Paul

 

[Chuck]

Thanks for the reply Chuck.

I've checked and it was already configured this way.

However, I've now discovered the solution and it's one of those really
annoying one which I should have spotted instantly. Definitely user
error.

The guy who originally configured the machine set up a user account
for me using my full name as the username, rather than my usual
username. He then used the "Change Name" option in control panel to
correct what he thought was the username, but was actually the
displayed name.

When I logged in locally, windows was displaying my username and
accepting my password, so I erroneously thought the account was
configurared correctly. Running "net user" at the command prompt
revealled the truth.

Having recreated the affected user accounts, all is now behving as I
had expected.

Cheers,
Paul

Paul,

An interesting detail. Thanks for letting us know. Glad it worked out for you.

Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.