How do I turn off or remove Group Policy on an XP Pro computer?

[PH Graphics]

I recently installed Windows Live One Care on my office computers and I no
longer have control over things like the firewalls and file sharing. As one
example, all of my drives on both my graphics workstation and my printer RIP
workstation are shared (permission to "Everyone"), and I can SEE all of the
other computer's shared drives from each one. I can open and write files on
my graphics machine from the RIP machine, but when I try to access files on
the RIP machine from my graphics machine I get a message that I don't have
permission.

When I try to change firewall and/or file sharing settings on either
machine, I am told that those setting are controlled by Group Policy. I've
been using XP since it first came out and I've never even HEARD ABOUT Group
Policy before, so I'm guessing it was something that One Care either
installed or activated. There is a TON of information on how to configure
Group Policy, but not a word anywhere that I can find on how to get rid of it.

My assistant and I are the only 2 people who use any of the 4 computers on
my office network, so I don't need Group Policy, and my network was
functioning EXACTLY the way I wanted it to without Group Policy.

One other change at about the same time as my switch to One Care was that I
replaced my office laptop and the new one (among the largest computer-related
mistakes I've ever made) runs Vista Home Premium. Could it have been Vista,
not One Care, which forced Group Policy on me?

Any help will be much appreciated.
Paul

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

I recently installed Windows Live One Care on my office computers and
I no longer have control over things like the firewalls and file
sharing. As one example, all of my drives on both my graphics
workstation and my printer RIP workstation are shared (permission to
"Everyone"), and I can SEE all of the other computer's shared drives
from each one. I can open and write files on my graphics machine
from the RIP machine, but when I try to access files on the RIP
machine from my graphics machine I get a message that I don't have
permission.

When I try to change firewall and/or file sharing settings on either
machine, I am told that those setting are controlled by Group Policy.
I've been using XP since it first came out and I've never even HEARD
ABOUT Group Policy before, so I'm guessing it was something that One
Care either installed or activated. There is a TON of information on
how to configure Group Policy, but not a word anywhere that I can
find on how to get rid of it.

My assistant and I are the only 2 people who use any of the 4
computers on
my office network, so I don't need Group Policy, and my network was
functioning EXACTLY the way I wanted it to without Group Policy.

One other change at about the same time as my switch to One Care was
that I replaced my office laptop and the new one (among the largest
computer-related mistakes I've ever made) runs Vista Home Premium.
Could it have been Vista, not One Care, which forced Group Policy on
me?

Any help will be much appreciated.
Paul

Firstly, if you don't have an active directory domain, you aren't using
group policy. You have *local* policies on XP- and Vista can't have anything
to do with this.
I'd try uninstalling Windows Live One Care and see if the problem goes away.
If you want to use it, check with their support.

 

[symbo978]

I have just had exactly the same problem happen to me. I have a simple
network with 6 PCs, no servers. Recently, on eof the PCs stopped sharing: You
can navigate to it using "my network places" from any of the other PCs and it
will show the shared files. However, if you try to access the share it
replies with a "share not acccessible, you may not have permission to use
this...". I have tried following at least 20 different KB articles, none of
which provide a solution. One of the solutions suggested taking ownership of
the "all users" folder in Documents and settings. I tried this but "Access
denied" even though I am the admin for this PC. I discovered through one of
the other knowledge base articles that the access was controlled by a group
policy. So much for If you are not using AD there will be no group policy.
Quite apart from the pain of not being able to access shared files from
another PC I am concerned that this may be a sophisticated trojan of some
sort yet to be identified. Can anyone help me to remove group policy from a
non AD PC please?

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

Hi
have identical problem with GP and workgroup dennied access.
Any luck as yet?
Chris

Hi -please post new / unrelated questions as new posts, not replies in an
existing / stale thread.