File Sharing Problem

[Frederick]

I have a problem.

I have two machines:
(1)
Windows Firewall - OFF
Machine name - ONE
Workgroup name - MYHOME
OS - XP SP3
Boot drive C:
name - ONE_C
file & printer sharing - ON
sharename set as - SHAREONE_C
(2)
Windows Firewall - OFF
Machine name - TWO
Workgroup name - MYHOME
OS - XP SP3
Boot drive C:
name - TWO_C
file & printer sharing - ON
sharename set as - SHARETWO_C

Sharing from machine ONE machine TWO works fine,
Sharing from machine TWO to machine ONE does not.

These are the differences that I see:
(A) First, MY COMPUTER->MY NETWORK PLACES -
on Machine ONE I see:
(sanitized):
Local Network
The Internet
Unspecified
SHARETWO_C on TWO
and on Machine TWO I see:
(sanitized):
Local Network
The Internet
SHAREONE_C on ONE
Unspecified

Note that the target machine is displayed in a different place
(*significant?)

(B) Second, on Machine ONE -
'Sharing and Security' for drive ONE_C shows -
both 'Sharing and Security' tabs with sharing showing
sharename 'C$', and security showing permissions
while on Machine TWO -
, 'Sharing and Security' for drive TWO_C shows -
only 'Sharing' tab with sharing showing sharename 'TWO_C'.
(*significant?)


For what it's worth - I can share files both ways by using
MY COMPUTER->MY NETWORK PLACES>VIEW WORKROUP COMPUTERS.
If I click on the target machine name, I can access folders and files
on the target machine. That is, on machine ONE, MY COMPUTER->MY
NETWORK PLACES>VIEW WORKROUP COMPUTERS shows me the icon for TWO,
which gives me access to that machine, and on machine TWO, MY
COMPUTER->MY NETWORK PLACES>VIEW WORKROUP COMPUTERS shows me the icon
for ONE, which gives me access to that machine.
(?make sense?)

I hope that I have presented my problem correctly and completely. I
would appreciate any suggestion as to what might solve my problem.

Thanks

Frederick

 

[John Wunderlich]

I have a problem.

I have two machines: [...]
Sharing from machine ONE machine TWO works fine,
Sharing from machine TWO to machine ONE does not.

It would help if you describe why TWO to ONE does not work...
(symptoms?) particularly when, in your last paragraph, you state that
it does work....

[...]

(B) Second, on Machine ONE -
'Sharing and Security' for drive ONE_C shows -
both 'Sharing and Security' tabs with sharing showing
sharename 'C$', and security showing permissions
while on Machine TWO -
, 'Sharing and Security' for drive TWO_C shows -
only 'Sharing' tab with sharing showing sharename 'TWO_C'.
(*significant?)

If you see a "Security" tab, it means that you have XP Pro _and_ you
have "Simple File Sharing" Disabled. If you don't see a Security tab,
this means that Simple File Sharing is enabled... either because you
have XP Home or because you have XP Pro and have never disabled it.
Simple File Sharing will affect how you authenticate to the other
machine.

"How to disable simple file sharing and how to set permissions on a
shared folder in Windows XP"
< http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307874 >


Since Simple File Sharing is disabled on ONE, when TWO tries to connect
to ONE, it will try to authenticate with the same username and password
that you are logged in with on TWO. If they match, the connection is
made. If the same Username exists on ONE but the passwords don't
match, the connection will be disallowed. If the same user does not
exist on ONE, then it will attempt to connect as user "Guest" with a
blank password. If the "Guest" user is disabled on ONE, then it will
bring up a screen asking for Username/Password to connect. Once
connected, TWO will have access to any files on ONE that the
authenticated user is permitted.

Note also that you can only connect with a single authentication...
which means that if a different user has connected to ONE from TWO and
you switch users on TWO and try to connect/authenticate as a different
user, this will be disallowed until/unless the first user disconnects.

Since TWO is using Simple File Sharing, all incoming connections
authenticate as the "Guest" user. No matter what. So any incoming
connection will be able to access files and folders accessible to user
"Guest".

Sometimes error messages obtained by connecting from the command prompt
window are more revealing. On TWO, try bringing up a command prompt
window (Start -> Run -> "cmd") and enter the following command to
connect to ONE:

net use * \\ONE\SHAREONE_C

For what it's worth - I can share files both ways by using
MY COMPUTER->MY NETWORK PLACES>VIEW WORKROUP COMPUTERS.
If I click on the target machine name, I can access folders and files
on the target machine. That is, on machine ONE, MY COMPUTER->MY
NETWORK PLACES>VIEW WORKROUP COMPUTERS shows me the icon for TWO,
which gives me access to that machine, and on machine TWO, MY
COMPUTER->MY NETWORK PLACES>VIEW WORKROUP COMPUTERS shows me the icon
for ONE, which gives me access to that machine.
(?make sense?)

Here you say it works, but above you say it doesn't but you don't
describe what happens above when it doesn't work.

It sounds to me like your simplest solution is to re-enable Simple File
Sharing on ONE.

HTH,
JW

 

[Frederick]

On Tue, 13 Dec 2011 22:25:38 GMT, John Wunderlic

It would help if you describe why TWO to ONE does not work...
(symptoms?) particularly when, in your last paragraph, you state that
it does work....

Hi John. Thanks for response. First of all, you may be right - that
I confused things with incorrect detail. If so, I am sorry. I have
reviewed what I wrote and do not see anything wrong. Sobeit -
I have found over my long life that sometimes I can't see the woods
from the trees, and I see what isn't there. That would mainly be
because I wrote it of course. Anyway -

(1) I did more research, which I should have been more careful about,
and of course found that checking and unchecking 'use simple file
sharing' (under tools>folder options>view) or using XP Home indeed
does affect the tab displays for 'sharing and security'. So that, at
least, is cleared up. (BTW, I am using XP PRO SP3 throughout.)

(2) On both machines, the only user is 'administrator' with no
passwords involved.

(3) When I said 'file & printer sharing - ON'. I was referring to
sharing setting under properties>sharing complete with a sharename,
not the checkbox.

(4) Security permissions are set to allow all users full access on
both machines.

(5) After I made sure the simple file sharing tabs were unchecked,
then the sharename on both machines became 'C$' with its 'Comment' set
to 'default share'.

(6) On machine ONE, I entered the command prompt "net use * \\TWO\C$"
- it asked for a username to which I replied administrator and for a
password to which I simply hit enter. I tried it again and this time
entered "net use * \\ONE\TWO_C" - this time it did not ask me for a
username or password. In both cases, I see no change to my problem.

To describe my problem another way -

On machine ONE, I can go to MY COMPUTER>MY NETWORK PLACES and get a
window showing three sections - Local Network, The Internet, and
Unspecified. None show anything for machine TWO or sharename TWO-C.
When I go to MY COMPUTER>VIEW WORKROUP COMPUTERS, I get a window
showing to icons for the two machine named ONE and TWO. I can click
on TWO and go to a window which shows the folder TWO-C, and then go to
any folder or file thereunder.

The reverse is true for machine TWO except that I can get to all files
and folders under ONE-C on machine ONE by either path under TWO's MY
COMPUTER.

---------------------------------------------------------------
I have decided I can work with the difference, since I can still
access folders and files from each machine to the opposing machine's
files and folders. Clumsy, but it works.

Ergo I am done with it.

Thanks for your interest and suggestions.

Frederick

 

[Frederick]

By using 'mapping network drive' on machine ONE, I was able to get a
drive letter assigned on machine ONE to machine TWO as a network
drive. The latter is retained when I re-boot machine ONE, so now I
can access files and folders both ways.
Just for info.
Frederick