Networking and Sharing files

[Guest]

I set up a small home network to share files for a friend. The oldest
computer which was originally set up with userid's and passwords is
innaccessible. I've shared the drive, shared the folder, gave everyone full
control, but we still get the error message that the other computers don't
have permission to access files. The two other computers don't have userid's
set and they are able to share their files. Does anyone have any idea what I
might be missing? Thanks

 

[Malke]

I set up a small home network to share files for a friend. The oldest
computer which was originally set up with userid's and passwords is
innaccessible. I've shared the drive, shared the folder, gave
everyone full control, but we still get the error message that the
other computers don't
have permission to access files. The two other computers don't have
userid's
set and they are able to share their files. Does anyone have any idea
what I
might be missing? Thanks

This is most commonly caused by a misconfigured firewall. Run the
Network Setup Wizard on both computers, making sure to enable File &
Printer Sharing, and reboot. The only "gotcha" is that this will turn
on the XPSP2 Windows Firewall. If you aren't running a third-party
firewall or have an antivirus with "Internet Worm Protection" (like
Norton 2005/06) which acts as a firewall, then you're fine. If you have
third-party firewall software, configure it to allow the Local Area
Network traffic as trusted. I usually do this with my firewalls with an
IP range. Ex. would be 192.168.1.0-192.168.1.254. Obviously you would
substitute your correct subnet.

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.

If that doesn't work for you, here is an excellent network
troubleshooter by MVP Hans-Georg Michna. Take the time to go through it
and it will usually pinpoint the problem area(s) -
http://winhlp.com/wxnet.htm

Malke

 

[Guest]

Malke,

Thanks for the response. I failed to mention that I did try to turn off the
firewall, and I have run the network setup wizard on all machines. When I
tried to open the firewall Control Panel, I recieved an error message and it
couldn't open. I found the error message in Technet, applied the fix
(registering a DLL) and it opened. But the radio buttons for turning the
firewall on and off were greyed out, with the 'Off' button selected. I
should also mention that this computer had a virus and they spent a lot of
time on the phone with Symantec before it was deamed cured. I don't remember
which virus, but it wouldn't allow them to get on the internet. Could this
all be related?

Any other ideas on how I should proceed? Thanks again.

 

[Malke]

Malke,

Thanks for the response. I failed to mention that I did try to turn
off the
firewall, and I have run the network setup wizard on all machines.
When I tried to open the firewall Control Panel, I recieved an error
message and it
couldn't open. I found the error message in Technet, applied the fix
(registering a DLL) and it opened. But the radio buttons for turning
the
firewall on and off were greyed out, with the 'Off' button selected.
I should also mention that this computer had a virus and they spent a
lot of
time on the phone with Symantec before it was deamed cured. I don't
remember
which virus, but it wouldn't allow them to get on the internet. Could
this all be related?

Any other ideas on how I should proceed? Thanks again.

Yes, certainly it could be related. Viruses can most definitely damage
system files. No, I don't have any other ideas on how to proceed since
1) I don't know what infection you had; 2) I can't see the computer.
You could take the machine to a professional computer repair shop or do
the quick-and-easy thing and back up your data and clean-install
Windows.

http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html - Clean Install How-To
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#reinstall_Windows - What
you will need on-hand

Malke