XP Pro, 3 computer workgroup stumped

[Guest]

Three computers. All were working fine on Friday. Now Computer A can access
shares on B and C, Computer C can access shares on A nd B, But Computer B can
only access shares on Computer A. It has lost all connectivity to computer
C. This is a simple file sharing scenario. No passwords have ever been
used, but now Computer C requests authentication ONLY from Computer B.
Computer A can still access Computer C just fine. And no matter what
authentication is provided, i'm denied access. Any thoughts?

 

[Chuck]

Three computers. All were working fine on Friday. Now Computer A can access
shares on B and C, Computer C can access shares on A nd B, But Computer B can
only access shares on Computer A. It has lost all connectivity to computer
C. This is a simple file sharing scenario. No passwords have ever been
used, but now Computer C requests authentication ONLY from Computer B.
Computer A can still access Computer C just fine. And no matter what
authentication is provided, i'm denied access. Any thoughts?

Dan,

Are the computers running XP Home, XP Pro, a mixture, other OS? This all makes
a difference.

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 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 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", then type "net user guest /active:yes" in the command window. Ensure
that the password for Guest is blank, with Start - Run - "control
userpasswords2"; select Guest, click Reset Password, click OK without entering a
new password.

On XP Pro, if you're going to use Guest authentication, check your Local
Security Policy (Control Panel - Administrative Tools) - User Rights Assignment,
on the XP Pro computer, and look at "Deny access to this computer from the
network". Make sure Guest is not in the list. Look at "Access this computer
from the network", and make sure that Everyone is in this list.

Do any of the computers have a software firewall (ICF / WF, or third party)? If
so, you need to configure them for file sharing. Firewall configurations are a
very common cause of (network) browser, and file sharing, problems.

More about file sharing, between all different versions of Windows:
<http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...db-aef8-4bef-925e-7ac9be791028&DisplayLang=en>

--
Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.
My email is AT DOT
actual address pchuck sonic net.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for your response Chuck,

All the computers are Windwos XP Pro w/SP2. All have the firewall set to
allow file and Print sharing on the subnet. All computers have Simple File
Sharing enabled. And the local policy settings on all computers are set up
as you described below for the SFS/Guest comfiguration.

Dan

 

[Chuck]

Thanks for your response Chuck,

All the computers are Windwos XP Pro w/SP2. All have the firewall set to
allow file and Print sharing on the subnet. All computers have Simple File
Sharing enabled. And the local policy settings on all computers are set up
as you described below for the SFS/Guest comfiguration.

Dan

Dan,

And is the Guest account enabled (SFS requires it), with identical password
(preferably non-blank) on all 3 computers?

If so, provide ipconfig information for each computer, and we'll start analysing
your problem.
Start - Run - "cmd". Type "ipconfig /all >c:\ipconfig.txt" into the command
window - Open c:\ipconfig.txt in Notepad, make sure that Format - Word Wrap is
NOT checked!, copy and paste entire contents into your next post.

--
Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.
My email is AT DOT
actual address pchuck sonic net

 

[Guest]

Dan,

And is the Guest account enabled (SFS requires it), with identical password
(preferably non-blank) on all 3 computers?

If so, provide ipconfig information for each computer, and we'll start analysing
your problem.
Start - Run - "cmd". Type "ipconfig /all >c:\ipconfig.txt" into the command
window - Open c:\ipconfig.txt in Notepad, make sure that Format - Word Wrap is
NOT checked!, copy and paste entire contents into your next post.

--
Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.
My email is AT DOT
actual address pchuck sonic net

 

[Guest]

Well Chuck,

I fixed the problem. Here is what happened...

Some genius (not me of coarse) wrote a static HOSTS file on a DHCP enabled
network. There was a static HOSTS fiile on Computer B only which is why the
rest of the network functioned properly, and that host file only contained an
entery for Computer C. It just so happens that the DHCP server (the DSL
router) had been power cycled and the computers recieved new leases. This
invalidated the HOSTS file. Somehow, Computer B received Computer C's old
IP address, so when it tried to acceess computer C, it never left itself. It
was looping back. This is something i should have checked earllier in my
troubleshooting, The first thing i did was ping Computer C from B, and I
got a reply, so i figured all was good, but i didn't analyze what ip
address i was getting a reply from and what computer actually owned the
address.

Thanks for your help.

Dano

 

[Chuck]

Well Chuck,

I fixed the problem. Here is what happened...

Some genius (not me of coarse) wrote a static HOSTS file on a DHCP enabled
network. There was a static HOSTS fiile on Computer B only which is why the
rest of the network functioned properly, and that host file only contained an
entery for Computer C. It just so happens that the DHCP server (the DSL
router) had been power cycled and the computers recieved new leases. This
invalidated the HOSTS file. Somehow, Computer B received Computer C's old
IP address, so when it tried to acceess computer C, it never left itself. It
was looping back. This is something i should have checked earllier in my
troubleshooting, The first thing i did was ping Computer C from B, and I
got a reply, so i figured all was good, but i didn't analyze what ip
address i was getting a reply from and what computer actually owned the
address.

Thanks for your help.

Dano

Dan,

Excellent. Good diagnostic work. Thanks for the update.

--
Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.
My email is AT DOT
actual address pchuck sonic net.