Cannot access workstation over network

[Blue Max]

We are having difficulty with using one computer to access another computer
over the network. We use a peer-to-peer workgroup network with four
computers. Two computers are running Windows 2000, one computer runs
Windows XP, and the other runs Windows Vista. The problem is between the
computer running Windows Vista and one of the computers running Windows
2000. The Windows 2000 computer can see the shared drives on the Vista
computer, but the Vista computer cannot access the shared drives on the
Windows 2000 computer.

When trying to access the Windows 2000 computer, from the Vista computer,
the system asks for a user name and password. However, none of the
user-defined administrator names and passwords (granted the necessary
permissions both under the 'Share' tab and 'Security' tab on the Windows
2000 computer), are accepted from the Vista computer. Ironically, the Vista
computer can access the Windows 2000 computer, with limited permissions,
using a user name that doesn't even have any specific permissions granted on
the Windows 2000 computer except for the fact that the 'Everyone' user has
been granted 'Read' permissions on the Windows 2000 workstation.

Any thoughts why the Vista computer cannot access the shared drives of the
Windows 2000 computer even though the Windows 2000 computer has granted
permissions to users of the same name?

 

[Grant]

Try creating a new user on the 2000 machine with the same username, password
and account type as the user on the Vista machine. Reboot both and try again.

 

[Blue Max]

Thanks for the suggestion, Grant. However, if we create a new user, then
what do we do with the current user of the same name and password as the
Vista machine?

Thanks,

Richard

 

[Malke]

Thanks for the suggestion, Grant. However, if we create a new user, then
what do we do with the current user of the same name and password as the
Vista machine?

??? Do? Nothing. See below for how to handle user accounts in a Workgroup.

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

Malke

 

[Blue Max]

Thank you for the reply, Malke. Unfortunately, I may not have communicated
my question as clearly as I could have. What I meant to say was that the
proper matching accounts and passwords for this user exist on all the
machines already. So was Grant suggesting that I delete the existing user
on the problem computer and then recreate that user again? If so, this
could potentially create a lot of reconfiguration work in order to get that
user's desktop and program menus back into its pre-existing state, correct?

Thanks,

Richard

 

[Malke]

Thank you for the reply, Malke. Unfortunately, I may not have
communicated
my question as clearly as I could have. What I meant to say was that the
proper matching accounts and passwords for this user exist on all the
machines already. So was Grant suggesting that I delete the existing user
on the problem computer and then recreate that user again? If so, this
could potentially create a lot of reconfiguration work in order to get
that user's desktop and program menus back into its pre-existing state,
correct?

I can't speak for Grant, but if you have created a user account/password on
the Vista box that matches the one on the Win2k box you should not get a
request for user/password on either system. Something is wrong. Perhaps you
have a typo. I say this not to offend you in any way, but sometimes a
double-check is in order. We've run into this problem working on clients'
networks where the end user changed his logon cosmetically to (for ex.)
"Joe" but the real user account was Owner. Naturally sharing didn't work if
the Owner account wasn't created on the server.

And no, you shouldn't have to delete any user accounts.

Malke

 

[Blue Max]

Thank you for the information. We will certainly re-check the names and
passwords. However, you may want to note that several administrator
accounts all have the same problem and that it would be odd for all of them
to have a typo. We will follow your advice, please forward any other
suggestion you might have in the future.

Thanks,
Richard

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