Access Denied on XP shared tree

[Max Moor]

Hi All,
You've all heard this before, but please bear with me, just in case I
say something new...

I have a small, 3 PC home network. The PC on which I keep shared
items (the "server") runs XP Pro. It is a newer PC, with a fresh
installation and no old hard drives installed. The other two PC's (the
"clients") run XP Home. If these two were dogs, they'd be mutts. Although
I built all three, these two contain parts I don't even remember putting in
them. All three PC's are up to date with Microsoft Update.

I have a large nuber of shared files on the server for the other two
PC's to access (nearly 15,000 to date). Yes, many are MP3's.

Without exception, all of the files work fine on the server PC. They
do everything that could reasonably be expected of them. On the client
PC's, all of the files appear in Windows Explorer, but that's as far as
"work fine" goes. Many do not play. If I try to copy them from the
server, I get an Access Denied error (permissions, disk full, armageddon,
etc.).

--------

Observations & Trials:

Even though the server PC is new, with a single, new, 80GB hard drive,
and a fresh install of XP, I tried the "take ownership of your
directories" fix. No effect.

I have tried the "turn off simple file sharing" fix. No effect.

Within a given directory, some files are okay, some are not.

There does not seem to be any correlation between a file working or
not, and its size, the length of its name, the order or date at which it
was written to the directory, etc.

In the interest of heading off the smart-asses among us, there is also
no correlation to the genre of the music, the talent of the artist...

Working and "broken" files appear to have the same permissions,
ownership, and other properties set.

The same shared files behave the same way on both of the client PC's.

When I add new files, they are often added "en masse," as I digitize
my old albums and tapes. I generally copy 20'ish files at the same time,
using Windows Explorer, from my "rip and clean" area to the shared area.
When accessed from one of the client PC's, some of the new files work and
some don't.

The fact that both clients act identically, tells me the issue is on
the server. The fact that the files work fine on the server tells me the
issue is with file access, not the files themselves.

 

[Guest]

Try creating identical user accounts on each of the systems with identical
passwords. This may be a problem with the Guest privileges not being enough
to permit the access.

- John

 

[Max Moor]

Try creating identical user accounts on each of the systems with
identical passwords. This may be a problem with the Guest privileges
not being enough to permit the access.

- John

Hi John,
Why would it work on some files and not others within the same
directory? I would think that if it was truly a permissions problem, it
would work on all files on the share the same way.
I'm not trying to argue, but I'd like to unserstabd it.

- Max

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Hi John,
Why would it work on some files and not others within the same
directory? I would think that if it was truly a permissions problem, it
would work on all files on the share the same way.
I'm not trying to argue, but I'd like to unserstabd it.

- Max

Try this:
1. Pick two files: One that you can open, one that you can't.
2. Go to the machine where these files reside.
3. Do this:
- Click Start / Run / cmd {OK}
- cd /d "c:\documents and folders\max\my documents\some folder"{Enter}
(use the correct name for the folder where one of the files resides)
- calcs "My good file.xls" > c:\test.txt {Enter}
(Use the correct file name)
- cd /d "c:\documents and folders\max\my documents\some other
folder"{Enter}
(use the correct name for the folder where the other file resides)
- calcs "My bad file.xls" >> c:\test.txt {Enter}
(Use the correct file name)
- net user >> c:\test.txt {Enter}
- notepad c:\test.txt {Enter}
- Post the contents of this file.

 

[Max Moor]

Try this:
1. Pick two files: One that you can open, one that you can't.
2. Go to the machine where these files reside.
3. Do this:
- Click Start / Run / cmd {OK}
- cd /d "c:\documents and folders\max\my documents\some folder"{Enter}
(use the correct name for the folder where one of the files resides)
- calcs "My good file.xls" > c:\test.txt {Enter}
(Use the correct file name)
- cd /d "c:\documents and folders\max\my documents\some other
folder"{Enter}
(use the correct name for the folder where the other file resides)
- calcs "My bad file.xls" >> c:\test.txt {Enter}
(Use the correct file name)
- net user >> c:\test.txt {Enter}
- notepad c:\test.txt {Enter}
- Post the contents of this file.

Cacls! Very cool!!! I've never heard of it before, but I found the
differing permissions quickly.

Good File:
Everyone:R
BUILTIN\Administrators:F
NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:F
BUILTIN\Users:R

Bad File:
BUILTIN\Administrators:F
NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:F
OFFICE-PC\My User Name:F
BUILTIN\Users:R


Rather than work in the command window, I killed simple file sharing
so I could get to the security tab in properties. For now, I removed and
readded Everyone:R on the shared tree. All files work now.

Now I need to go read up on permissions, and try to get a handle of
what I really want or need to have set for my shared files.

I have a couple follow up questions...

The good and bad files were both ripped from the same CD, at the same
time, using media player. After the rip, I renamed them in Windows
Explorer, added a new directory in the shared tree, also from Explorer, and
copied all the files to the new location at once. How did the permissions
get to be SO different on any of these in the first place?

Also, is there any reason I should believe that new files that I copy
to the shared tree might not inherit the proper permissions in the furure?

Even without answers to these, thank you for the help. You helped me
solve a problem that's been driving me crazy, and I learned something new.

- Max

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Cacls! Very cool!!! I've never heard of it before, but I found the
differing permissions quickly.

Good File:
Everyone:R
BUILTIN\Administrators:F
NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:F
BUILTIN\Users:R

Bad File:
BUILTIN\Administrators:F
NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:F
OFFICE-PC\My User Name:F
BUILTIN\Users:R


Rather than work in the command window, I killed simple file sharing
so I could get to the security tab in properties. For now, I removed and
readded Everyone:R on the shared tree. All files work now.

Now I need to go read up on permissions, and try to get a handle of
what I really want or need to have set for my shared files.

I have a couple follow up questions...

The good and bad files were both ripped from the same CD, at the same
time, using media player. After the rip, I renamed them in Windows
Explorer, added a new directory in the shared tree, also from Explorer, an d
copied all the files to the new location at once. How did the permissions
get to be SO different on any of these in the first place?

Also, is there any reason I should believe that new files that I copy
to the shared tree might not inherit the proper permissions in the furure?

Even without answers to these, thank you for the help. You helped me
solve a problem that's been driving me crazy, and I learned something new.

- Max

Congratulations! You could probably have achieved the same
result with the security GUI, provided that Simple File Sharing
is first turned off.

Files inherit the permissions of their parent folder unless inheritance is
turned off. You may have to check your inheritance settings and run
a few tests.