Sharing Windows and Program Files folders

  • Thread starter Thread starter Lindsay Graham
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Lindsay Graham

I use WinXP Home SP2. I want to be able to share ALL folders (not just
those that Microsoft thinks I should) across a small home network which
comprises XP and 98SE computers. One simple example of why I want this is
so that my wife can save a file to the Desktop of my XP computer (which was
easy to do when I used a Win98 computer).

Research suggests that I should be able to do this by booting the XP
computer in Safe Mode and then sharing the relevant folders. But I've done
that (and at the WinXP end, it appeared to share successfully). But from
the Win98 computer, I still cannot access the desired XP folders.

Any ideas on how I can do this?

PS I'm finding Microsoft's constraints according to how it thinks we should
operate increasingly frustrating!!
 
Lindsay said:
I use WinXP Home SP2. I want to be able to share ALL folders (not
just those that Microsoft thinks I should) across a small home network
which
comprises XP and 98SE computers. One simple example of why I want
this is so that my wife can save a file to the Desktop of my XP
computer (which was easy to do when I used a Win98 computer).

Research suggests that I should be able to do this by booting the XP
computer in Safe Mode and then sharing the relevant folders. But I've
done
that (and at the WinXP end, it appeared to share successfully). But
from the Win98 computer, I still cannot access the desired XP folders.

Any ideas on how I can do this?

PS I'm finding Microsoft's constraints according to how it thinks we
should operate increasingly frustrating!!
Click to expand...

This is by design. Try creating a folder on the root of one of your hard
drives (C: if you only have one hard drive) and share it. Now make a
shortcut to it on your desktop. Your wife can save files there. It
would be extremely foolish to share Program Files and/or the Windows
folder. That is just asking for trouble.

As for your "PS", there are other operating systems. Try one.

Malke
 
Thanks, Malke -- I'll try your suggestion for the particular example that I
gave.

I don't want to go into all the reasons here, but I actually want to share
all folders, and I'm quite happy to accept the risks that may entail.

Does anyone have a solution that will enable this to be done?
 
Lindsay said:
Thanks, Malke -- I'll try your suggestion for the particular example
that I gave.

I don't want to go into all the reasons here, but I actually want to
share all folders, and I'm quite happy to accept the risks that may
entail.
Click to expand...


There's absolutely NO point in sharing the Program Files folder OR the
Windows folder - you can't DO anything with them, or with files within them
over the network.
 
If you find the constraints of XP Home a bit much, then consider XP
Pro SP2. It has much better file sharing.

....Alan
 
I don't know if this will work with win9x machines or just XP. Use the c$
hidden administrative share. You need to use the same account and password
as on the machine you want to access. The account must be an administrator
account. In other words your wife must log on to her machine with your
account and password. She could then access your machine through the
following share \\computername\c$ Win9x doesn't have administrative shares
so it won't work for an XP machine to access a win9x machine but as you say
you can already do that. I'm not sure if a win9x machine can authenticate
properly to a XP machine for this to work but it's worth a try.
 
Lindsay said:
Thanks, Malke -- I'll try your suggestion for the particular example
that I gave.

I don't want to go into all the reasons here, but I actually want to
share all folders, and I'm quite happy to accept the risks that may
entail.

Does anyone have a solution that will enable this to be done?
Click to expand...

Solutions:

1. You cannot share the Program Files or Windows folders in XP Home. Be
creative and make shares as suggested in my previous post.

2. Upgrade to XP Pro. It is still foolish to share Program Files and/or
the Windows folder. You can't do anything with the Program Files (ex.
run a program on your wife's machine that is installed on your machine)
and one mistake deleting or changing a file in Windows and you've hosed
your system - stupid.

3. Use a different non-MS operating system.

Malke
 
Read my lips, Gordon -- regardless of what you may think, there IS point in
sharing in my situation and that IS what I want to do. And I CAN DO the
things that I want to do, if I can share the folders. Why assume that
everyone has the same needs, or lack of them, as you do?
 
I don't want to confuse this situation any further but following is my story
and it sounds a lot like the one mentioned in this post. By the way I have
XP Pro on both laptops and I don't want to share Windows or Program files.
Someone please help me:

I have worked on this prolbem for days with no success. This is the
situation.
I have two laptops running Windows XP Professional service pack 2.
I have "simple file sharing" set on in both computers.
I have the "C" drive selected for Network sharing in both computers.
I have checked "Allow network users to change my files" in both computers
I can see and I can access the C drives on both computers
I can see each others all files and folders on both computers
I can access all files and folders on ONE computer but can only access some
files and folders on the other computer
When access isn't successful I get the following message:
 
Toni said:
I don't want to confuse this situation any further but following is my
story
and it sounds a lot like the one mentioned in this post. By the way I
have XP Pro on both laptops and I don't want to share Windows or
Program files. Someone please help me:
Click to expand...
(snip)

Don't tack your question onto someone else's post, even if you think the
problem is similar. Doing this is called "hijacking a thread" and isn't
a good idea because it prevents both parties - you and the original
poster - from getting good help. Many regular helpers (like me) will
simply stop reading a post after seeing "I have the same problem" or
similar wording.

Make a new post with your problem, including all pertinent information.

Malke
 
Gordon said:
There's absolutely NO point in sharing the Program Files folder OR the
Windows folder - you can't DO anything with them, or with files
within them over the network.
Click to expand...


Although the \Windows folder itself is unlikely to have anything needed by
another computer on the network, a subfolder beneath \Windows might. For
example, another computer might want to copy a font in \Windows\Fonts.

Similarly, a subfolder of \Program Files might have data files or
configuration files within it, and that too might be useful to a user on
another computer on the network running the same application.
 
Thank you for that advice.

Malke said:
(snip)

Don't tack your question onto someone else's post, even if you think the
problem is similar. Doing this is called "hijacking a thread" and isn't
a good idea because it prevents both parties - you and the original
poster - from getting good help. Many regular helpers (like me) will
simply stop reading a post after seeing "I have the same problem" or
similar wording.

Make a new post with your problem, including all pertinent information.

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
Click to expand...
 
Lindsay said:
Read my lips, Gordon -- regardless of what you may think, there IS
point in sharing in my situation
Click to expand...

And re-read what I posted - YOU CANNOT DO ANYTHING OVER THE NETWORK IN
EITHER THE PROGRAMS FOLDER OR THE WINDOWS FOLDER so what is the point of
sharing them?
 
Although the \Windows folder itself is unlikely to have anything
needed by another computer on the network, a subfolder beneath
\Windows might. For example, another computer might want to copy a
font in \Windows\Fonts.
Possibly


Similarly, a subfolder of \Program Files might have data files or
configuration files within it, and that too might be useful to a user
on another computer on the network running the same application.
Click to expand...

Very unlikely these days with XP.......
 
Gordon said:
Very unlikely these days with XP.......
Click to expand...


Not as unlikely as all that. For example, I run a little freeware program
called AllChars which lets me type many common special characters (many of
these are used in other languages) by pressing the ctrl key followed by a
two character mnemonic combination. It has an .ini file providing its
customization settings in \Program Files\AllChars. When I installed the same
file on my laptop, I wanted to copy that ini file there.

\AllChars, beginning with the letter "A," was the first example I found when
I looked through the \Program Files folder here. If I were to look further I
could almost certainly find other examples.

But I'm not arguing that either of these is terribly likely--rather my point
is that "There's absolutely NO point in sharing..." is much too strong a
statement.
 
But I'm not arguing that either of these is terribly likely--rather
my point is that "There's absolutely NO point in sharing..." is much
too strong a statement.
Click to expand...

I think that where I was coming from is that if the OP has to ask about
this, then sharing folders like C:\programs and C:\Windows could lay the OP
open to all sorts of dangers.....
 
I really don't want to be rude, Gordon, but why is it so hard to get through
to you?

Two examples -- I may want to be able to copy files from the Favorites
folder or from the Desktop folder of one computer to another. Both are in
the Windows folder and I cannot do what I want to do unless I can share that
folder. See also the examples which Ken provided -- as he says, they may
not be likely, but who are you to say that they should not be possible?

As I said in an earlier post, "I actually want to share all folders, and
I'm quite happy to accept the risks that may entail." You replied to that
post, so I presume you must have read what I said.

Thank you to others for the helpful suggestions -- looks like XP Pro is the
way to go.
 
Gordon said:
There's absolutely NO point in sharing the Program Files folder OR the
Windows folder - you can't DO anything with them, or with files within them
over the network.
Click to expand...
I just got through, a few days ago, moving the object code of
some old DOS games from my older computer to the new one,
which doesn't have a diskette drive, by sharing Program Files.
The alternative would have been to copy the installation
diskettes to CDroms and install from them. Worked like a
charm.
 
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