Is sharing sub-folders on XP workgorups inherently "flakey"?

[RS]

From time to time I've found that shared folders will share OK to another
workgroup PC ... but if it's a folder that's not a pre-existing one (like My
Documents; My Pictures, etc.) ... then the subfolders in that folder will
not be available for sharing ... unless one painstakingly goes through each
one and sets its sharing. Does this sound familiar to anyone?

Thanks,

-RS-

 

[Malke]

From time to time I've found that shared folders will share OK to another
workgroup PC ... but if it's a folder that's not a pre-existing one (like
My Documents; My Pictures, etc.) ... then the subfolders in that folder
will not be available for sharing ... unless one painstakingly goes
through each
one and sets its sharing. Does this sound familiar to anyone?

No, sharing subfolders is not "inherently flakey". You have some permissions
set incorrectly.

It make take a few minutes for a new share to propagate if that's what you
mean.

If you are having a specific problem, provide details about your network and
your computers - including the versions of XP - for focused help.

Malke

 

[-RS-]

Does it matter if I have "simple file sharing" turned on ... or not ?

-RS-

 

[Malke]

Does it matter if I have "simple file sharing" turned on ... or not ?

Yes, of course. "Simple Sharing" is Windows-speak for guest (network guest
access, not local machine guest access). In both cases, the guest account
does not mean when you are being hospitable. Here is information about
that:

If one or more of the computers is XP Pro:

a. If you need Pro's ability to set fine-grained permissions, turn off
Simple File Sharing (Folder Options>View tab) and create identical user
accounts/passwords on all computers.

b. If you don't care about using Pro's advanced features, leave the Simple
File Sharing enabled.

Simple File Sharing means that Guest (network) is enabled. This means that
anyone without a user account on the target system can use its resources.
This is a security hole but only you can decide if it matters in your
situation.

Then create shares as desired. XP Home does not permit sharing of users'
home directories (My Documents) or Program Files, but you can share folders
inside those directories. A better choice is to simply use the Shared
Documents folder.

In a mixed OS network (like mine, which has XP Pro, Home, Win2k, and Linux
machines on it and sometimes Win9x boxen) it is better to disable Simple
Sharing and create the identical user accounts/passwords. You can always
set your Windows machines to log on automatically if you want the
convenience.

Configure Windows to Automatically Login (MVP Ramesh) -
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/Autologon.htm

Malke

 

[RS]

- Simple file sharing had been turned on (or left as default, I guess) on
all 3 machines.
- 3 ("Chaintech"; "Shuttle"; "Asus") computers, all running XP SP2, with
common workgroup name, connected via D-Link DI-524 router.
- file sharing of sub-folders is possible with the Chaintech and Shuttle.
- On the Asus, other computers (("Chaintech"; "Shuttle") can share, for
example, its "downloads" sub-folders and "My Documents" or "My Photos" ...
but not a folder I call "P2P_Shared" ... which has various files downloaded
via bittorrent, etc.

-RS-

 

[Malke]

- Simple file sharing had been turned on (or left as default, I guess) on
all 3 machines.
- 3 ("Chaintech"; "Shuttle"; "Asus") computers, all running XP SP2, with
common workgroup name, connected via D-Link DI-524 router.
- file sharing of sub-folders is possible with the Chaintech and Shuttle.
- On the Asus, other computers (("Chaintech"; "Shuttle") can share, for
example, its "downloads" sub-folders and "My Documents" or "My Photos"
... but not a folder I call "P2P_Shared" ... which has various files
downloaded via bittorrent, etc.

Then - assuming XP Pro on all 3 machines because Home doesn't give you the
option of turning off Simple Sharing - turn *off* Simple Sharing on all
three machines. Add identical usernames/passwords to all three machines.
You do not need to be logged into the same account on all three machines -
the accounts just need to exist. With only three machines, this will take
less than 10 minutes from start to finish and your network will work
better.

Set the machines to log into a particular account automatically if so
desired.

If that does not solve the problem with that one folder, check its
permissions in the Advanced section under Sharing. If necessary, add
"Everyone" and give full control.

Malke