Sharing folders and sub-folders

[Saucer Man]

How do I share a folder and all its sub-folders and files? When I enable
sharing on a folder, I cannot access it from my XP box. I see it in the
network but I cannot access it. I turned off Password Protection in Vista.

 

[Malke]

How do I share a folder and all its sub-folders and files? When I enable
sharing on a folder, I cannot access it from my XP box. I see it in the
network but I cannot access it. I turned off Password Protection in
Vista.

Here are general network troubleshooting steps. Not everything may be
applicable to your situation, so just take the bits that are. It may look
daunting, but if you follow the steps at the links and suggestions below
systematically and calmly, you will have no difficulty in setting up your
sharing.

Excellent, thorough, yet easy to understand article about File/Printer
Sharing in Vista. Includes details about sharing printers as well as files
and folders:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb727037.aspx

For XP, start by running the Network Setup Wizard on all machines (see
caveat in Item A below).

Problems sharing files between computers on a network are generally caused
by 1) a misconfigured firewall; or 2) inadvertently running two firewalls
such as the built-in Windows Firewall and a third-party firewall; and/or 3)
not having identical user accounts and passwords on all Workgroup machines;
4) trying to create shares where the operating system does not permit it.

A. Configure firewalls on all machines to allow the Local Area Network (LAN)
traffic as trusted. With Windows Firewall, this means allowing File/Printer
Sharing on the Exceptions tab. Normally running the Network Setup Wizard on
XP will take care of this for those machines.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 2006/07) which acts as a firewall, then you're
fine. With third-party firewalls, I usually configure the LAN allowance
with an IP range. Ex. would be 192.168.1.0-192.168.1.254. Obviously you
would substitute your correct subnet. Do not run more than one firewall.

B. For ease of organization, put all computers in the same Workgroup. This
is done from the System applet in Control Panel, Computer Name tab.

C. Create matching user accounts and passwords on all machines. You do not
need to be logged into the same account on all machines and the passwords
assigned to each user account can be different; the accounts/passwords just
need to exist and match on all machines. If you wish a machine to boot
directly to the Desktop (into one particular user's account) for
convenience, you can do this. The instructions at this link work for both
XP and Vista:

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

D. 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.

E. Create shares as desired. XP Home does not permit sharing of users' home
directories or Program Files, but you can share folders inside those
directories. A better choice is to simply use the Shared Documents folder.
See the first link above for details about Vista sharing.

Malke

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi,

Have you checked settings in the Network and Sharing Center? You need to
have file sharing enabled there, as well as network discovery.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

 

[Saucer Man]

Thanks for the link and the help..but I cannot get it to work. I am
familiar with sharing. I can share a folder on my XP box and access it fine
from my Vista box. I just cannot share from my Vista box to the XP box.

I have file sharing and network discovery on. I am trying to share my
folder and everything in it. This is my folder in the USERS folder. I am
right clicking on the folder and selecting Properties. Then sharing. I
enable sharing and in advanced I select everyone and give them full control.
Then I go to my XP box and I can now see the folder. When I try to open it
I get an error. What am I doing wrong here? Thanks.

 

[Malke]

Thanks for the link and the help..but I cannot get it to work. I am
familiar with sharing. I can share a folder on my XP box and access it
fine
from my Vista box. I just cannot share from my Vista box to the XP box.

I have file sharing and network discovery on. I am trying to share my
folder and everything in it. This is my folder in the USERS folder. I am
right clicking on the folder and selecting Properties. Then sharing. I
enable sharing and in advanced I select everyone and give them full
control.
Then I go to my XP box and I can now see the folder. When I try to open
it
I get an error. What am I doing wrong here? Thanks.

Unfortunately, you forgot to give the exact text of the error. If it is an
"access denied" error, then you probably didn't do this part of my
troubleshooter:

Do not neglect to assign passwords to the accounts.

Otherwise, quote the exact text of the error message and include what
antivirus/security software you're running.

Malke

 

[Saucer Man]

Unfortunately, you forgot to give the exact text of the error. If it is an
"access denied" error, then you probably didn't do this part of my
troubleshooter:


Do not neglect to assign passwords to the accounts.

Otherwise, quote the exact text of the error message and include what
antivirus/security software you're running.

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
Don't Panic!

Sorry about not leaving the error message. The error is "access denied". I
can get the sharing to work if I do it on a folder other than "my" folder in
the USERS folder. When I try to share "my" folder, the top SHARE option is
grayed-out. I only have the bottom advanced share options. If I create my
own folder, the top share section is available. I need to configure the top
and bottom sections for it to work. BTW, I use avast for antivirus on both
PCs and I do have the same user account on both.

 

[Malke]

Sorry about not leaving the error message. The error is "access denied".
I can get the sharing to work if I do it on a folder other than "my"
folder in
the USERS folder. When I try to share "my" folder, the top SHARE option
is
grayed-out. I only have the bottom advanced share options. If I create
my
own folder, the top share section is available. I need to configure the
top
and bottom sections for it to work. BTW, I use avast for antivirus on
both PCs and I do have the same user account on both.

1. Did you create matching passwords for both user accounts?

2. Are you sure both user accounts are really the same? In XP, look at the
account name under Documents and Settings. I say this because many people
change the display name from (for example) Owner to Saucer Man which
doesn't really change the true user name (in this case it would remain
Owner). In Vista, the users should be listed under %systemdrive%\Users.

3. What do you mean by "my" folder? You're trying to share your entire user
directory? Just for you, I turned on my Vista machine and I see what you
mean now by "top and bottom" part of the Sharing section. But I have my
entire user directory shared and the top part of my box is greyed out, too.
And I'm having no issues connecting to the whole share from my MacBook (OS
X Leopard) or from a Windows box running XP Pro. I did it just this minute
to check for you.

So you are doing something wrong and I'm betting that you've got the user
accounts and/or passwords wrong (different). Since you can get to other
folders in that directory, it can't be a firewall issue (even though you
forgot to mention which one you're using).

4. Go into your Network and Sharing Center on Vista and make sure that every
option is On and Green. Make *sure* you've assigned matching passwords!

If you've really done all that, then I'm out of ideas. It takes me about 5
minutes to set up sharing between XP and Vista boxen, but that's because I
make sure that:

a. The network is Private and Network Discovery is On.
b. There are matching user accounts and passwords
c. The firewall is configured to allow the LAN as trusted
d. Shares are created with permissions for Everyone.

I'm sorry but there really isn't anything else to it.

Malke

 

[Saucer Man]

1. Did you create matching passwords for both user accounts?

2. Are you sure both user accounts are really the same? In XP, look at the
account name under Documents and Settings. I say this because many people
change the display name from (for example) Owner to Saucer Man which
doesn't really change the true user name (in this case it would remain
Owner). In Vista, the users should be listed under %systemdrive%\Users.

3. What do you mean by "my" folder? You're trying to share your entire
user
directory? Just for you, I turned on my Vista machine and I see what you
mean now by "top and bottom" part of the Sharing section. But I have my
entire user directory shared and the top part of my box is greyed out,
too.
And I'm having no issues connecting to the whole share from my MacBook (OS
X Leopard) or from a Windows box running XP Pro. I did it just this minute
to check for you.

So you are doing something wrong and I'm betting that you've got the user
accounts and/or passwords wrong (different). Since you can get to other
folders in that directory, it can't be a firewall issue (even though you
forgot to mention which one you're using).

4. Go into your Network and Sharing Center on Vista and make sure that
every
option is On and Green. Make *sure* you've assigned matching passwords!

If you've really done all that, then I'm out of ideas. It takes me about 5
minutes to set up sharing between XP and Vista boxen, but that's because I
make sure that:

a. The network is Private and Network Discovery is On.
b. There are matching user accounts and passwords
c. The firewall is configured to allow the LAN as trusted
d. Shares are created with permissions for Everyone.

I'm sorry but there really isn't anything else to it.

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
Don't Panic!

Thanks for the in-depth help. The only firewall I am using is the Windows
Firewall on both machines. The account names are identical but I do not use
passwords. This is probably where the issue lies. You are correct about
the share. I am trying to share my entire folder under the USERS directory.
Since I am able to share the folder I created in my directory, I am
satisfied. And I know that if I need to share my folder in the future to
assign passwords to my accounts on both machines. Thanks again for the
responses and testing!

 

[Malke]

Thanks for the in-depth help. The only firewall I am using is the Windows
Firewall on both machines. The account names are identical but I do not
use
passwords. This is probably where the issue lies. You are correct about
the share. I am trying to share my entire folder under the USERS
directory. Since I am able to share the folder I created in my directory,
I am
satisfied. And I know that if I need to share my folder in the future to
assign passwords to my accounts on both machines. Thanks again for the
responses and testing!

Then assign passwords and use the automatic logon if you want transparency.
Honestly, if you will just do this one little thing you'll have no problems
connecting.

Good luck,

Malke

 

[Saucer Man]

Then assign passwords and use the automatic logon if you want
transparency.
Honestly, if you will just do this one little thing you'll have no
problems
connecting.

Good luck,

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
Don't Panic!

Ok. Thanks again!