USB drives no longer accessible over network

[windsurferLA]

USB drives no longer accessible over network

My WinXP-pro DeskTop and my WinXP-home LapTop are linked together
through a SMC7004VBR router. Attached to the WinXP-home LapTop USB
ports are two external hard drives. Attached to the WinXP-pro DeskTop
USB prots is one external hard drive.

At one time, the XP-pro DestTop machine could access data on the XP-home
LapTop’s external hard drives. Recently, I get error message that I
don’t have permission. The XP-Home LapTop can access the files on the
USB external hard drive on the XP-pro desk top. The XP-pro DeskTop can
access files on the C:\ drive of the XP-home LapTop without problem.

The XP-home LapTop is running Norton system works without a firewall.
The windows firewall is supposedly disabled. When I use the XP-home
LapTop to look at its Network connections, it will not let me look at
files on the external USB mounted HDD. If can see the files through the
my computer icon.

What has happened between when things used to work and now is that the
LapTop has done a lot of traveling. I don’t think I changed any of the
sharing options. I’ve tried disabling and re-enabling sharing. I’ve
tried a cold reboot of the machine. I never documented how it worked
before because it was always so simple to get it up and running. No
matter how I alter the settings, I can’t seem to get the machine to let
me look at the USB mounted HDD through the network connections.

I suspect some firewall setting even though they are all supposedly
turned off. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[CreateWindow]

Hi,

As previously mentioned by another helper, turn OFF simple file sharing on
all machines.
Are all your machines part of the same workgroup?
Are you running NTFS file systems on all machines?
The default Windows F/Wall is to disable file sharing. Make sure that's
enabled - but I think you are running Norton FW.
Maybe create a user called shareuser and assign a password - use that user
to do all your mapping.

Hope that helps a bit,

CreateWindow
http://mymessagetaker.com

 

[Andre De Clercq]

I went through exactly the same problem with Norton 2006 AV. I contacted
Symantec and got sevral "hints" without any results. Only using another AV
(Antivir) on my networked PC's solved the problem. Just uninstall Norton on
your portable and see if it works. For me this was the start to suspect
Norton.

 

[windsurferLA]

My reply is at top of this post rather than standard bottom of post
because response was placed there.

In answer to the question... I'm using simple file sharing on all
machines. It worked before with simple file sharing.

All machines are part of the same workgroup. All machine HDD are
running NTFS. The Windows security screen says the windows fire wall is
turned off. I have not found a screen for a Norton firewall; my
recollection is that I deleted that feature of Norton systemworks. My
objective in the past has been to disable the software firewalls as the
machine, a six year old lap top, has trouble digesting the newer, bigger
programs.

Keep in mind that I can view files on the C:\ drive of the target
machine from any other machine on the network. The problem is that I
can't view the files on the USB external drives. The USB drive was even
inaccessible from a remote site when it was mapped into a directory on
the C:\ drive.

Thanks for the ideas.

 

[windsurferLA]

Andre ... thanks for suggestion.. I too suspect Norton anti-virus or
Norton "worm Protection."

I'm not particularly anxious to move away from Norton as my anti-virus
protection because I'd then have mixed bag problem. The other three
machines I maintain also run Norton AV. I'm running Norton Internet
Security on my main desk top machine, and it doesn't have the problem of
the laptop.

Additional testing shows that if I temporarily turn off Norton
Antivirus, I still have the problem. The problem is associated with the
LapTop computer running WinXP-home, because if I plug the USB HDD into
my desktop machine, it will allow its files to be shared over the network.

I suspect something is different with XP-HomeEdition and its interaction
with Norton that is preventing the USB HDD files from being shared over
network.

Let me know if you have any further ideas.

WindsurferLA