Simplest fully open LAN configuration for XP Pro SP2

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Guest

I have a small office LAN with 8 XP Pro SP2 computers, and the networking
problems are killing us.

I have two or more user accounts on eacn of these computers and I'd like to
get rid of all accounts on all 8 computers. This I believe will give each
computer full access to share the data on the drives of all other computers
without restriction -- and that's exactly wnat I want-- full unlimited
sharing for everyone, without any required passwords and with no access
restrictions whatsoever.

My problem is that I don't know how to get rid of all the existing accounts,
because it seems I cannot delete the LAST administrator's account on these
computers. Do I have to reinstall the operating system from scratch on all
these computerss just to get rid of all user accounts and have a totally open
network? Or is there another way?

Any help will me very much appreciated, thank you!
 
I have a small office LAN with 8 XP Pro SP2 computers, and the networking
problems are killing us.

I have two or more user accounts on eacn of these computers and I'd like to
get rid of all accounts on all 8 computers. This I believe will give each
computer full access to share the data on the drives of all other computers
without restriction -- and that's exactly wnat I want-- full unlimited
sharing for everyone, without any required passwords and with no access
restrictions whatsoever.

My problem is that I don't know how to get rid of all the existing accounts,
because it seems I cannot delete the LAST administrator's account on these
computers. Do I have to reinstall the operating system from scratch on all
these computerss just to get rid of all user accounts and have a totally open
network? Or is there another way?

Any help will me very much appreciated, thank you!
Click to expand...

It isn't possible to eliminate all accounts, and eliminating accounts
won't solve network access problems.

For a fully open (and insecure) network, which allows access to shared
resources by all users on all computers, do this on each computer:

1. See whether simple file sharing is enabled or disabled:

a. Click Start | My Computer | Tools | Folder Options | View.
b. Scroll to the bottom of the list of advanced settings.
c. Look at the setting "Use simple file sharing (Recommended)."

2. If the box is unchecked, do these steps in this order:

a. Un-share all currently shared disks, folders, and printers.
b. Put a check mark in the box to enable simple file sharing.
c. Click OK.
d. After the Folder Options window closes, re-share the disks,
folders, and printers.

Simple file sharing has some restrictions: it blocks networked access
to the Program Files and Windows folders and to individual users'
folders within Documents and Settings. You can share subfolders
within those folders, e.g. you can share "C:\Program Files\Outlook
Express" or "C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Desktop" and access
that folder from another computer on the network.

If those restrictions are unacceptable, then you'll have to:

1. Disable simple file sharing on every computer.

2. Create matching user accounts on every computer, with the same user
names and passwords.
--
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 Steve and Mark,

Thanks for your helpful replies. Ssince all these computers were NOT using
Simple File Sharing I did not enable this. Instead, here's what I did so far
on all 8 computers on the LAN:

1- deleted all accounts but one.

2- renamed this one account the same name on all computers

3- reset the passwords to make them the same on all computers

4- Used Mark's suggestion to enable AutoLogon

5- restarted all the computers

Windows networking has so far worked properly after this change, but IIS
served error 401.1 until I used IIS Manager to change the password in the
Enable Anonymous Access property of my root iis folder to the new password I
set in #3 above.

So far, so good. However, I have another question that maybe you (or
others) can help me with:

When I was using RegEdit to enable AutoLogon I noticed that the
DefaultUserName value was still set to the ORIGINAL username for this account
-- not the new name gave it in step #2 above. So naturally I changed this
value to match the new username, and this new name remained intact after a
restart.

Then later I noticed that the AltDefaultUserName was still set to the
ORIGINAL account name as well, so I changed this to the new username, just
like I did for DefaultUserName above. But after a restart the
AltDefaultUserName value was NOT saved, instead it reverted back to the
ORIGINAL username again -- as if I never changed it in RegEdit.

To me this suggests that the original account username is stored somewhere
else on the operating system. So my question is ...

How can I "get rid of" the original name in all the places where it is
stored or used by the OS and/or any other programs?
 
If the AltDefaultUserName is being reset to "Administrator", I am thinking
it is a hardcoded thing. Never really investigated this. If it is not
causing issues, I would ignore it.
Perhaps someone else may have some more info.

Regards
Mark Dormer
 
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