windows xp home access program files across a LAN

[Guest]

When I try to access a program in the prgram files list
which is on the win xp computer from another computer on
my small home network I get a message that access is
denied. When I go to the program files on the Win xp
computer to allow sharing I get a message that sharing
options are disabled because they are used by the
operating system.
How do I fix this? I wish to share program files across my
LAN from any of my computers.
thanks
Paul

 

[Chuck]

When I try to access a program in the prgram files list
which is on the win xp computer from another computer on
my small home network I get a message that access is
denied. When I go to the program files on the Win xp
computer to allow sharing I get a message that sharing
options are disabled because they are used by the
operating system.
How do I fix this? I wish to share program files across my
LAN from any of my computers.
thanks
Paul

Paul,

Are your computers running WinXP Home, WinXP Pro, or a mix? SP2, or pre-SP2?
This will make a difference.

Make sure the browser service is running on each computer. Control Panel -
Administrative Tools - Services. Verify that the Computer Browser, and the
TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper, services both show with Status = Started.

On any XP Pro computer, check to see if Simple File Sharing (Control Panel -
Folder Options - View - Advanced settings) is enabled or disabled. With XP Pro,
you need to have SFS properly set on each computer.

On XP Pro, and with SFS disabled, check the Local Security Policies (Control
Panel - Administrative Tools). Under Local Policies - Security Options, look at
"Network access: Sharing and security model", and ensure it's set to "Classic -
local users authenticate as themselves".

On XP Pro, and with SFS disabled, if you set the above Local Security Policy to
"Guest only", enable the Guest account, using Start - Run - "cmd" - type "net
user guest /active:yes" in the command window. If "Classic", setup and use a
common non-Guest account on all computers. Whichever account is used, give it
an identical, non-blank password on all computers.

On XP Home, and on XP Pro with Simple File Sharing enabled, make sure that the
Guest account is enabled, on each computer. Enable Guest with Start - Run -
"cmd" - type "net user guest /active:yes" in the command window.

Do any of the computers have a software firewall (ICF / WF, or third party)? If
so, you need to configure them for file sharing, by opening ports TCP 139, 445
and UDP 137, 138, 445, by enabling the File and Printer Sharing exception, and /
or by identifying the other computers as present in the Local (Trusted) zone.
Firewall configurations are a very common cause of (network) browser, and file
sharing, problems.

If the above does not help, can you provide an exact quote of the error message?

Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.

 

[Guest]

-----Original Message-----

Paul,

Are your computers running WinXP Home, WinXP Pro, or a mix? SP2, or pre-SP2?
This will make a difference.

Make sure the browser service is running on each computer. Control Panel -
Administrative Tools - Services. Verify that the Computer Browser, and the
TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper, services both show with Status = Started.

On any XP Pro computer, check to see if Simple File Sharing (Control Panel -
Folder Options - View - Advanced settings) is enabled or disabled. With XP Pro,
you need to have SFS properly set on each computer.

On XP Pro, and with SFS disabled, check the Local Security Policies (Control
Panel - Administrative Tools). Under Local Policies - Security Options, look at
"Network access: Sharing and security model", and ensure it's set to "Classic -
local users authenticate as themselves".

On XP Pro, and with SFS disabled, if you set the above Local Security Policy to
"Guest only", enable the Guest account, using Start - Run - "cmd" - type "net
user guest /active:yes" in the command window. If "Classic", setup and use a
common non-Guest account on all computers. Whichever account is used, give it
an identical, non-blank password on all computers.

On XP Home, and on XP Pro with Simple File Sharing enabled, make sure that the
Guest account is enabled, on each computer. Enable Guest with Start - Run -
"cmd" - type "net user guest /active:yes" in the command window.

Do any of the computers have a software firewall (ICF / WF, or third party)? If
so, you need to configure them for file sharing, by opening ports TCP 139, 445
and UDP 137, 138, 445, by enabling the File and Printer Sharing exception, and /
or by identifying the other computers as present in the Local (Trusted) zone.
Firewall configurations are a very common cause of (network) browser, and file
sharing, problems.

If the above does not help, can you provide an exact quote of the error message?

Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.
.
Hi Chuck - thanks for helping.

first, 3 computers with a simple hub; one running xp home-
(the one with the access denied)
the other two running 98 se. not sure about sp2- probably
not.
I have mostly followed your leads:
on the xp both browser and TCP helper are started.
on the 98 there are no adm. tools.
on the xp from start- run the "cmd" opens a dos window so
i entered "net user guest /active - enter ; response was -
successful.- did that activate the guest account? remember
this is xp home version.
so far the results are the same.
example : from one 98 - windows explorer, net neigh. xp.c
drive, program files response{- \\( )\c\program files is
not accessable, access is denied.} ( this is a Exploring
window - usual cross in a red circle.

no firewalls.

In control panel under user acct. I turned on guest acct.-
no difference.

as I said I mostly followed your lead- if you haven't
given up on me - lead me further.
thanks
Paul

 

[Chuck]

-----Original Message-----

first, 3 computers with a simple hub; one running xp home-
(the one with the access denied)
the other two running 98 se. not sure about sp2- probably
not.
I have mostly followed your leads:
on the xp both browser and TCP helper are started.
on the 98 there are no adm. tools.
on the xp from start- run the "cmd" opens a dos window so
i entered "net user guest /active - enter ; response was -
successful.- did that activate the guest account? remember
this is xp home version.
so far the results are the same.
example : from one 98 - windows explorer, net neigh. xp.c
drive, program files response{- \\( )\c\program files is
not accessable, access is denied.} ( this is a Exploring
window - usual cross in a red circle.

no firewalls.

In control panel under user acct. I turned on guest acct.-
no difference.

as I said I mostly followed your lead- if you haven't
given up on me - lead me further.
thanks
Paul

Paul,

DOHH. I reread your original post, and see that you are talking about
"C:\Program Files". On an XP Home system.

Under XP Home, "C:\Program Files" and "C:\Windows" are system directories, and
require administrative access. Since XP Home uses Simple File Sharing, the
Guest account is used for sharing. The Guest account is not an administrator.

Therefore, "C:\Program Files" and "C:\Windows" cannot be accessed remotely from
a Windows XP Home system.

Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.

 

[Steve Winograd [MVP]]

When I try to access a program in the prgram files list
which is on the win xp computer from another computer on
my small home network I get a message that access is
denied. When I go to the program files on the Win xp
computer to allow sharing I get a message that sharing
options are disabled because they are used by the
operating system.
How do I fix this? I wish to share program files across my
LAN from any of my computers.
thanks
Paul

Even if you could share the Program Files folder, you probably
couldn't share programs across the LAN. Most programs have to be
installed on a computer to run on that computer. The installation
process copies necessary files to the computer and creates necessary
entries in the system registry database.

By default, Windows XP (when installed on an NTFS disk partition)
blocks network access to the Program Files and Windows folders and to
individual users' folders within Documents and Settings. I don't know
why Microsoft designed it that way.

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 you have Windows XP Professional, you can permanently disable
simple file sharing, which removes those sharing restrictions:

1. Open My Computer and click Tools | Folder Options | View.
2. Scroll to the end of the advanced settings.
3. Un-check "Use simple file sharing (recommended)".

If you have Windows XP Home Edition, there's no easy solution. The
safest thing is to share individual subfolders, as mentioned above.

You can re-install the operating system on a FAT or FAT32 disk
partition -- those disk formats don't have any sharing restrictions.
However, that would lose the benefits of NTFS, which is more reliable
and efficient and can use larger disks. You'd also need to re-install
all of your applications.

I've heard of two possible solutions for XP Home Edition on an NTFS
disk partition, but:

1. They're un-supported, un-documented, and un-tested by Microsoft.
2. There's no guarantee that they'll work.
3. They might cause data loss or corruption.

I haven't tried them, and I don't know whether they're safe. If you
want to try them, at your own risk:

1. Back up your important data first so that you can restore it in
case of problems.

2. Run System Restore to create a restore point that you can go back
to in case of problems.

Here they are:

1. Start Windows XP in "Safe Mode with Networking" (which temporarily
disables "Simple File Sharing"), share the desired folder(s), set the
permissions, and reboot normally, or:

2. Follow the procedure shown here:

http://www.dougknox.com/xp/tips/xp_home_sectab.htm
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

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