I have two XPSP2 computers set up in a residential gateway; in "My Network
Places" both can see themselves and the other computer. Both have the "Use
Simple file sharing (Recommended)" turned on.
1) From Laptop to Desk top connection is working. But from Desktop to the
Laptop I get a grayed out Guest sign in box and the guest password does not
work. How do I fix the problem?
2) On both computers the Administrators name is not present, how do I set it
up so they are displayed and require a password?
3) I would like to set the network up so that every user including the guest
would have to use a password. How do I accomplish that? I am doing this so
I can have some folders password protected.
4) I assume that both administrators would have to use a different password,
true?
5).If I am a user given a different name on each computer with administrator
rights, does the password have to be unique?
If you can answer the five questions it would help me a lot. Thanks Bob
Bob,
Are your computers running XP Home, XP Pro, or a combination? All of this makes
a big difference.
On any XP Pro computer, check to see if Simple File Sharing (Control Panel -
Folder Options - View - Advanced settings) is enabled or disabled. With XP Pro,
you need to have SFS properly set on each computer.
On XP Pro with SFS disabled, check the Local Security Policies (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".
On XP Pro with SFS disabled, 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.
On XP Home, and on XP Pro with Simple File Sharing enabled, make sure that the
Guest account is enabled, on each computer. Enable Guest, with Start - Run -
"cmd", then type "net user guest /active:yes" in the command window. Ensure
that the password for Guest is blank, with Start - Run - "control
userpasswords2"; select Guest, click Reset Password, click OK without entering a
new password.
On XP Pro, if you're going to use Guest authentication, check your Local
Security Policy (Control Panel - Administrative Tools) - User Rights Assignment,
on the XP Pro computer, and look at "Deny access to this computer from the
network". Make sure Guest is not in the list. Look at "Access this computer
from the network", and make sure that Everyone is in this list.
Please read this document for details:
<
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...db-aef8-4bef-925e-7ac9be791028&DisplayLang=en>
Answers to your specific questions, as far as my understanding of what you are
asking:
1) Enable the Guest account on both computers, per the above instructions.
2) With Windows XP Home, you can only use Guest authentication for network
access, and you will never have networked administrative access. With Windows
XP Pro with SFS disabled, and Classic authentication, there is no single
Administrators name. Any user can be an Administrator, if the account is setup
on the server (computer being accessed) appropriately.
If you are asking about having the Default Administrator account displayed on
the Welcome screen when logging in, this is controlled thru the registry. To
resolve this, you need to run Regedit and and edit the key
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList]
The users listed there with a "0" are hidden users. Change the entry for the
Administrator account to value "1", and restart the computer. The Administrator
account will then be presented on the Welcome screen.
3) When you setup and enable any account, including Guest, assign it a password
per the above instructions. If an active account has a password (the
recommended setting), a matching password will be required whenever that account
is used.
4) Each account used should require a password. The password used by any
single account is not compared to any other account, so it is possible for two
accounts to have identical passwords. Hopefully the two account owners would
not share passwords with each other.
5) If you as a user wish to access any computer locally, you would need your
account on each computer. Password then is not relevant as compared to other
accounts on that or any other computer. If you wish to access any server, from
that client, thru the network, you would need an identical account with matching
non-blank password, on both the client and server.
--
Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.
My email is AT DOT
actual address pchuck sonic net
