Sharing subdirectories

  • Thread starter Thread starter Howard Brazee
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Howard Brazee

Before I reinstalled Windows XP, I had the ability to share a
directory - and all of its sub-directories. I'm not finding out how
to do that now, I only seem to be able to share one folder at a time.
 
In
Howard Brazee said:
Before I reinstalled Windows XP, I had the ability to share a
directory - and all of its sub-directories. I'm not finding out how
to do that now, I only seem to be able to share one folder at a time.
Click to expand...

I'm a little confused...when you share a parent folder, the subfolders/files
are visible under the share. You don't share everything in a tree; just the
parent/top-level folder.

What is it you're trying to do? Why would you want to share all the
subfolders as individual shares anyway?
 
I'm a little confused...when you share a parent folder, the subfolders/files
are visible under the share. You don't share everything in a tree; just the
parent/top-level folder.

What is it you're trying to do? Why would you want to share all the
subfolders as individual shares anyway?
Click to expand...

I'm trying to copy all of my pictures subdirectories from one computer
to another across my home LAN. I shared "My Documents", but only
some folders get copied without problem - others have to be shared
explicitly.

The first thing I did was share the whole drive. I haven't found the
rule why some directories copy and others don't.

Let me try again - this time it stopped at a single file
==================
Cannot copy Bourque cup: Access is denied.

Make sure the disk is not full or write protected and that the file is
not currently in use.
OK
===================

There's plenty of space.
 
In
Howard Brazee said:
I'm trying to copy all of my pictures subdirectories from one computer
to another across my home LAN. I shared "My Documents", but only
some folders get copied without problem - others have to be shared
explicitly.

The first thing I did was share the whole drive. I haven't found the
rule why some directories copy and others don't.

Let me try again - this time it stopped at a single file
==================
Cannot copy Bourque cup: Access is denied.

Make sure the disk is not full or write protected and that the file is
not currently in use.
OK
===================

There's plenty of space.
Click to expand...

This isn't to do with sharing; it's more likely to do with NTFS permissions.
Are you using XP Home or Pro? If you're using Pro, you can turn off Simple
File Sharing and granularly set permissions, which I much prefer.

OT, but for large copy jobs, don't use a GUI - use a command line tool like
xcopy (or better still, robocopy from the resource kit). A lot faster, and
won't quit the whole copy job just because it fails on one file.
 
Howard said:
I'm trying to copy all of my pictures subdirectories from one computer
to another across my home LAN. I shared "My Documents", but only
some folders get copied without problem - others have to be shared
explicitly.

The first thing I did was share the whole drive. I haven't found the
rule why some directories copy and others don't.

Let me try again - this time it stopped at a single file
==================
Cannot copy Bourque cup: Access is denied.

Make sure the disk is not full or write protected and that the file is
not currently in use.
OK
===================

There's plenty of space.
Click to expand...

Are the computers running XP Home? Home doesn't allow sharing of users' home
directories (My Documents - which includes My Pictures) although you can
individually share folders in the directory. This would explain why the
folders need to be shared individually.

If this is the case, a better solution for the OP would be to put the
pictures he wants to share in Shared Documents.

Malke
 
In
Malke said:
Are the computers running XP Home? Home doesn't allow sharing of
users' home directories (My Documents - which includes My Pictures)
although you can individually share folders in the directory. This
would explain why the folders need to be shared individually.
Click to expand...

Ah - thanks, dear Malke. I don't use (or like!) XP Home & didn't know about
that.
 
This isn't to do with sharing; it's more likely to do with NTFS permissions.
Click to expand...

I did go to documents and settings in the from computer and did a
attrib -r *.* /s
but that didn't change anything.
Are you using XP Home or Pro? If you're using Pro, you can turn off Simple
File Sharing and granularly set permissions, which I much prefer.
Click to expand...

Pro. I'll google to find out how to check these settings...
Hmmm, before I turned on simple file sharing, I couldn't get down to
that subdirectory.

Google doesn't find anything under "granularly set permissions" XP
OT, but for large copy jobs, don't use a GUI - use a command line tool like
xcopy (or better still, robocopy from the resource kit). A lot faster, and
won't quit the whole copy job just because it fails on one file.
Click to expand...

I'll google for that too. I'm not sure how to XCOPY across the
network.
 
Howard said:
I did go to documents and settings in the from computer and did a
attrib -r *.* /s
but that didn't change anything.


Pro. I'll google to find out how to check these settings...
Hmmm, before I turned on simple file sharing, I couldn't get down to
that subdirectory.

Google doesn't find anything under "granularly set permissions" XP


I'll google for that too. I'm not sure how to XCOPY across the
network.
Click to expand...

The fact that you couldn't get to the folders *before* enabling Simple
Sharing indicates that you don't have an identical user name/password on
the other machine. I think you're making this way harder than it should be
if all you are trying to do is share files/folders between two computers.
See this networking boilerplate:

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
 
Are the computers running XP Home? Home doesn't allow sharing of users' home
directories (My Documents - which includes My Pictures) although you can
individually share folders in the directory. This would explain why the
folders need to be shared individually.
Click to expand...

Both computers are using XP pro with identical names and passwords.
If this is the case, a better solution for the OP would be to put the
pictures he wants to share in Shared Documents.
Click to expand...

I'm wanting to eventually have as close to identical computers as
possible, updating changes daily, so that the 2nd computer serves as a
backup.
 
In
Howard Brazee said:
Both computers are using XP pro with identical names and passwords.


I'm wanting to eventually have as close to identical computers as
possible, updating changes daily, so that the 2nd computer serves as a
backup.
Click to expand...

For data, or for the system? I'd move the data folders elsewhere (c:\data,
whatever) and share that. Then you could easily use command line utilities
like xcopy or robocopy to mirror them - or offline files (which I don't
like) or check out SecondCopy at www.centered.com (which I do like).
 
 
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