Networking

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
  • Start date Start date
G

Guest

I have to pcs both running WinXP Pro. I tried to hook them up as a network.
Each computer can see one another but can not access each other. They want
to sign in as a guest and there is no option to change the "guest" to the
computer name. What is happening and can anyone give me some pointers?

Thank you and Happy New Year
 
I have to pcs both running WinXP Pro. I tried to hook them up as
a network. Each computer can see one another but can not access
each other. They want to sign in as a guest and there is no
option to change the "guest" to the computer name. What is
happening and can anyone give me some pointers?
Click to expand...

On an XP Pro machine that has not been connected to a domain, the
default networking is set up to use the Guest account. Also by
default, the guest account is not enabled. Probably all you have to do
is enable the guest account. For more info, see:

"Description of the Guest account in Windows XP"
<http://support.microsoft.com/kb/300489/en-us"

HTH,
John
 
John said:
On an XP Pro machine that has not been connected to a domain, the
default networking is set up to use the Guest account. Also by
default, the guest account is not enabled. Probably all you have to do
is enable the guest account. For more info, see:

"Description of the Guest account in Windows XP"
<http://support.microsoft.com/kb/300489/en-us"

HTH,
John
Click to expand...

Hi, John. I looked at that KB article, and I don't think that it
gives a complete or accurate description of how the Guest account
works in networked access. In my opinion, XP's "simple file sharing",
which uses the Guest account, is badly designed, badly implemented,
and hard to understand, and Microsoft's own documentation gets it
wrong.

The section on "Using the Guest account on the local computer" is
about configuring the Guest account in Control Panel > User Accounts
(where it's disabled by default). However, that has nothing to do
with whether other computers can access this computer's shared
resources over a network. It only determines whether a user can log
on as Guest at the local keyboard and what privileges such a user has
on the local computer.

There's a different setting that determines whether the Guest account
is allowed to have access to shared resources over a network, and that
setting is enabled by default. You can control that setting by typing
these commands in a command prompt window (Start > Run > cmd):

Enable:
net user guest /active:yes

Disable:
net user guest /active:no

After much searching, I found an accurate description of this on one
Microsoft web page:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/906574.mspx

In the section "Frequently Asked Questions", it says:

"How do I disable the Guest account on a Windows XP Home system?

At a command prompt, type Net User Guest /Active:No to disable the
guest account on workgroup joined systems. Disabling the guest account
will block Simple File Sharing".
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
for everyone to see. I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions
addressed directly to me in E-mail or news groups.

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
 
Hi, John. I looked at that KB article, and I don't think that it
gives a complete or accurate description of how the Guest account
works in networked access. In my opinion, XP's "simple file
sharing", which uses the Guest account, is badly designed, badly
implemented, and hard to understand, and Microsoft's own
documentation gets it wrong.

The section on "Using the Guest account on the local computer" is
about configuring the Guest account in Control Panel > User
Accounts (where it's disabled by default). However, that has
nothing to do with whether other computers can access this
computer's shared resources over a network. It only determines
whether a user can log on as Guest at the local keyboard and what
privileges such a user has on the local computer.

There's a different setting that determines whether the Guest
account is allowed to have access to shared resources over a
network, and that setting is enabled by default. You can control
that setting by typing these commands in a command prompt window
(Start > Run > cmd):

Enable:
net user guest /active:yes

Disable:
net user guest /active:no

After much searching, I found an accurate description of this on
one Microsoft web page:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/906574.mspx

In the section "Frequently Asked Questions", it says:

"How do I disable the Guest account on a Windows XP Home system?

At a command prompt, type Net User Guest /Active:No to disable the
guest account on workgroup joined systems. Disabling the guest
account will block Simple File Sharing".
Click to expand...

Thanks, Steve.
I too was a bit confused about how Microsoft refers to the Guest
account. I appreciate the time/research you took to dig up this
clairification. It does make a bit more sense now.
-- John
 
John said:
Thanks, Steve.
I too was a bit confused about how Microsoft refers to the Guest
account. I appreciate the time/research you took to dig up this
clairification. It does make a bit more sense now.
-- John
Click to expand...

You're welcome.

Microsoft itself is confused about the Guest account. :-)
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
for everyone to see. I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions
addressed directly to me in E-mail or news groups.

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
 
Back
Top