Sharing a Drive

[mcp6453]

Two computers on the same network need access to each other's drives. One
computer is XP Home, the other is XP Pro. Pro can see Home's drives, but when
Home tries to see Pro's drives, it is presented with the user name/password box.
The objective is to provide access to Home without Home having to enter Pro's
login credentials.

I know that setting up an identical user account on Home will allow it to see
Pro's drives without the credentials, but that is not what I want to do. Yes, I
want to leave the drive on Pro wide open, for reasons not discussed here. In
that past, I have accomplished this objective many times, including on my own
home network. Somehow, though, I am missing something here.

Drive C on Pro is shared as "C". Simple File Sharing is disabled. The security
on C has been changed to Everyone with Full Control. The changes have been
propagated to the child folders. However, the login box still appears. Both
Windows firewalls are disabled, for now.

Other than creating a user account on Home, how can I give unrestricted access
to Pro to other computers on the LAN?

 

[Shenan Stanley]

Two computers on the same network need access to each other's
drives. One computer is XP Home, the other is XP Pro. Pro can see
Home's drives, but when Home tries to see Pro's drives, it is
presented with the user name/password box. The objective is to
provide access to Home without Home having to enter Pro's login
credentials.
I know that setting up an identical user account on Home will allow
it to see Pro's drives without the credentials, but that is not
what I want to do. Yes, I want to leave the drive on Pro wide open,
for reasons not discussed here. In that past, I have accomplished
this objective many times, including on my own home network.
Somehow, though, I am missing something here.
Drive C on Pro is shared as "C". Simple File Sharing is disabled.
The security on C has been changed to Everyone with Full Control.
The changes have been propagated to the child folders. However, the
login box still appears. Both Windows firewalls are disabled, for
now.
Other than creating a user account on Home, how can I give
unrestricted access to Pro to other computers on the LAN?

You gave the answer yourself...
"Drive C on Pro is shared as "C". Simple File Sharing is disabled."

In order to do what you want - stop making things 'complicated' and turn on
"Simple File Sharing".

How to configure file sharing in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/304040

Windows XP Professional File Sharing
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/xp_filesharing/index.htm
(Particularly the part that states, "For full details, see our article on
Simple File Sharing. There are no passwords or access restrictions and, with
one exception described in the article, everything that's shared is
accessible by everyone on the network. Simple File Sharing is the only type
of sharing available in Windows XP Home Edition." and that link it refers to
is: http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/xp/filesharing.htm )

Good luck!

 

[Malke]

Two computers on the same network need access to each other's drives.
One computer is XP Home, the other is XP Pro. Pro can see Home's drives,
but when Home tries to see Pro's drives, it is presented with the user
name/password box. The objective is to provide access to Home without
Home having to enter Pro's login credentials.

I know that setting up an identical user account on Home will allow it
to see Pro's drives without the credentials, but that is not what I want
to do. Yes, I want to leave the drive on Pro wide open, for reasons not
discussed here. In that past, I have accomplished this objective many
times, including on my own home network. Somehow, though, I am missing
something here.

Drive C on Pro is shared as "C". Simple File Sharing is disabled. The
security on C has been changed to Everyone with Full Control. The
changes have been propagated to the child folders. However, the login
box still appears. Both Windows firewalls are disabled, for now.

Other than creating a user account on Home, how can I give unrestricted
access to Pro to other computers on the LAN?

Why don't you want to create a matching user account/password on both
boxen? This is the simplest and easiest way to make sure you can share
resources without being asked for credentials. I do not understand why
people are reluctant to do this; it isn't logical. If your concern is
that you don't want to have to click an icon and enter a password using
either the Welcome Screen or the classic logon box, just use control
userpasswords2 to set each box to logon automatically into the desired
user account.

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

To share the root of a drive, create a new share called "C:" (or
whatever the drive letter is) and allow sharing to everyone.

Otherwise try *enabling* simple file sharing on your XP Pro box, which
will mean that you connect as Guest. See below:

If one or more of the computers is XP Pro or Media Center:

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.


Malke

 

[mcp6453]

Why don't you want to create a matching user account/password on both
boxen? This is the simplest and easiest way to make sure you can share
resources without being asked for credentials. I do not understand why
people are reluctant to do this; it isn't logical. If your concern is
that you don't want to have to click an icon and enter a password using
either the Welcome Screen or the classic logon box, just use control
userpasswords2 to set each box to logon automatically into the desired
user account.

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

To share the root of a drive, create a new share called "C:" (or
whatever the drive letter is) and allow sharing to everyone.

Otherwise try *enabling* simple file sharing on your XP Pro box, which
will mean that you connect as Guest. See below:

If one or more of the computers is XP Pro or Media Center:

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.


Malke

Malke, thanks for your clear response. The problem is solved. Someone somewhere
told me to turn *off* Simple File Sharing, but turning it *on* was the key.
Obviously it is not clear to me what SFS does and does not do.

 

[mcp6453]

You gave the answer yourself...
"Drive C on Pro is shared as "C". Simple File Sharing is disabled."

In order to do what you want - stop making things 'complicated' and turn on
"Simple File Sharing".

How to configure file sharing in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/304040

Windows XP Professional File Sharing
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/xp_filesharing/index.htm
(Particularly the part that states, "For full details, see our article on
Simple File Sharing. There are no passwords or access restrictions and, with
one exception described in the article, everything that's shared is
accessible by everyone on the network. Simple File Sharing is the only type
of sharing available in Windows XP Home Edition." and that link it refers to
is: http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/xp/filesharing.htm )

Good luck!

Thanks, Shenan. It is certainly not my intention to make things complicated, but
sometimes it just happens.