Still having problems with home network

[Retired USA]

I am still having problems accessing shares on other computers of my home
network. I have been following threads here to see if others are having the
same or similar problems with their networks. Evidently I don’t understand
some of the things mentioned here and would like to find someone that can
explain a couple of them to me. Maybe after understanding what they are
talking about I can get this network up and running.

First, I’ve seen “Set the permissions to Everyoneâ€. I don’t understand
where it is that I set permissions. Since each time I try to connect to
another computer on the network I get the message that I don’t have
permission, maybe this is the problem.

Also, when I bring up the Network Places window I do see a couple of shares,
but only the ones on the computer I am using. Under the Network Location
column some of them are listed as “Local Network†and some are listed as “The
Internetâ€. When the home network was working I believe that they were all
listed as “Local Networkâ€. Is this part of the problem?

Could someone please explain to me how to set permissions and why would
there be a difference in the Network Locations.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Malke]

I am still having problems accessing shares on other computers of my home
network. I have been following threads here to see if others are having
the
same or similar problems with their networks. Evidently I don?t
understand some of the things mentioned here and would like to find
someone that can
explain a couple of them to me. Maybe after understanding what they are
talking about I can get this network up and running.

First, I?ve seen ?Set the permissions to Everyone?. I don?t understand
where it is that I set permissions. Since each time I try to connect to
another computer on the network I get the message that I don?t have
permission, maybe this is the problem.

Also, when I bring up the Network Places window I do see a couple of
shares,
but only the ones on the computer I am using. Under the Network Location
column some of them are listed as ?Local Network? and some are listed as
?The
Internet?. When the home network was working I believe that they were all
listed as ?Local Network?. Is this part of the problem?

Could someone please explain to me how to set permissions and why would
there be a difference in the Network Locations.

You probably don't have identical user accounts/passwords created and/or
have misconfigured firewalls. See below:

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.

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 overlooked firewall (including a stateful
firewall in a VPN); 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/security program with its own
firewall component, 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. Refer to any third party security program's Help or user forums for
how to properly configure its firewall. Do not run more than one firewall.
DO NOT TURN OFF FIREWALLS; CONFIGURE THEM CORRECTLY.

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. DO NOT NEGLECT TO CREATE
PASSWORDS, EVEN IF ONLY SIMPLE ONES. 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, turn off
Simple File Sharing (Folder Options>View tab).

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.

Malke

 

[Jim]

I am still having problems accessing shares on other computers of my home
network. I have been following threads here to see if others are having
the
same or similar problems with their networks. Evidently I don't
understand
some of the things mentioned here and would like to find someone that can
explain a couple of them to me. Maybe after understanding what they are
talking about I can get this network up and running.

First, I've seen "Set the permissions to Everyone". I don't understand
where it is that I set permissions. Since each time I try to connect to
another computer on the network I get the message that I don't have
permission, maybe this is the problem.

Also, when I bring up the Network Places window I do see a couple of
shares,
but only the ones on the computer I am using. Under the Network Location
column some of them are listed as "Local Network" and some are listed as
"The
Internet". When the home network was working I believe that they were all
listed as "Local Network". Is this part of the problem?

Could someone please explain to me how to set permissions and why would
there be a difference in the Network Locations.

Thanks in advance.

There is more to sharing files and folders than just setting them shared.
You must also define a map on the remote computer to the shared resource.
The local computer does not know which, if any, of the remote computers have
mapped the shared resources. Hence, when you display shared resources, all
the local computer can give you is a list of available shared resources.
Malke has posted the details of defining mapped resources.

As for the "Set the permissions to Everyone", this means the persmissions on
the shared resources of the local computer. On Windows XP, you go to the
folder options in the control panel or in Explorer.
Then click the View tab. The box named "Advanced settings" has a long list
of options which can be enabled or disabled. At the bottom of the list is a
check box titled "Enable Simple File Sharing".
Disable this setting. Exit the control panel.

Now go to each shared resource, and click the security tab. You will see a
list of all accounts which can access the resource and the permissions that
apply to each resource. If not present, add "Everyone" to the list of
accounts. Then, you will see a list of permissions for "Everyone". Give
Everyone the permissions which are applicable to Everyone (every account
which is present on your computer). Click the Apply box, then exit the
control panel.

Jim