XP Home File Sharing

A

Arnis

New Member
I have 3 XP Home PC's on a LAN and one of them denies access to the others even though it can share their files and printers. All can connect to the internet and can ping eachother. The 3 machines all show up as belonging to MSHOME on all the computers. All files that are to be shared are so enabled. All HDDs are in NFTS format. They are all ethernet connected to the router. All use Zone Alarm free firewall and AVAST virus software.
I uninstalled ZA on all PC's, but that made no difference.
Have spent last 4 days from 6am to 9pm trying to solve this problem and am ready to give up.
Can you help ?:o
Tha LAN has been working for some time, but I had not tried to share the latest computer's files untill I installed a 1TB HDD on it for the purpose of backing up all the computers.:confused:
 
Strange - I've never had an issue... Have you tried to reconfigure the network settings on all the computers? Please try that, joining the correct workgroup, then re-enable the sharing of the appropriate folders?

Is Windows Firewall turned on? If so, try turning it off. Shouldn't be an issue, but worth a shot?
 
What do mean by "denied access?" What access is being denied specifically? If they can all get online and share files between each other, then I don't know what's being denied lol.

Dumb question, but what are the IP addresses of each computer?
 
Thank you for your quick respenses,
I have reconfigured my LAN Workgroup to a new name "ARNET" and re-enabled sharing on all the drives that I want to share. Also shut off Windows Firewall.
Unfortunately the result is as it was before.
The message that I get when I try to access the new computer "BBOX" is;
\\BBOX is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of the server to find out if you have access permissions. Access is Denied.

To provide more info as requested the three computers are identified as;

Computer Name ARNIES IP 192.168.1.4 conected by USB to Router
BBOX 192.168.1.3 connected by Ethernet
DESEX 192.168.1.7 connected by Ethernet
192.168.1.6 connected by Wireless

BBOX can read and modify files on ARNIES & DESEX
ARNIES & DESEX share files with each other but not BBOX

The router is NeComm NB5Plus4W
All the computers run XP Home 2002 SP3
All have access to the internet.
An unusual observation is that when looking at Network Places some are listed under the heading of Local Network and some under The Internet !?
Is there any other information that you may need to appraise my situation ?
Regards,
Arnis
 
An unusual observation is that when looking at Network Places some are listed under the heading of Local Network and some under The Internet !?
Click to expand...

That's not right. :D
Do you see all three of the computers when you go to Start-->Network Places-->View Workgroup Computers?
[edit]
The message that I get when I try to access the new computer "BBOX" is;
\\BBOX is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of the server to find out if you have access permissions. Access is Denied.
Click to expand...

How are you going about accessing it?
[/edit]
 
Last edited:
Arnis said:
Thank you for your quick respenses,
I have reconfigured my LAN Workgroup to a new name "ARNET" and re-enabled sharing on all the drives that I want to share. Also shut off Windows Firewall.
Unfortunately the result is as it was before.
The message that I get when I try to access the new computer "BBOX" is;
\\BBOX is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of the server to find out if you have access permissions. Access is Denied.

To provide more info as requested the three computers are identified as;

Computer Name ARNIES IP 192.168.1.4 conected by USB to Router
BBOX 192.168.1.3 connected by Ethernet
DESEX 192.168.1.7 connected by Ethernet
192.168.1.6 connected by Wireless

BBOX can read and modify files on ARNIES & DESEX
ARNIES & DESEX share files with each other but not BBOX

The router is NeComm NB5Plus4W
All the computers run XP Home 2002 SP3
All have access to the internet.
An unusual observation is that when looking at Network Places some are listed under the heading of Local Network and some under The Internet !?
Is there any other information that you may need to appraise my situation ?
Regards,
Arnis
Click to expand...

Did you change the settings and domain name (WorkGroup) on all machines within the domain? You need to log into every machine and add them to the new domain and then give access, or permissions, to every other machine on the network. The reason you are not able to access some machines is because the permissions are set to deny access.

The second bolded part is a bit weird too. All machines should be listed in Network Places only and no where else.
 
Remember this is simple file sharing we are talking about on XP Home operating system.
Yes all the three computers can be seen when looking at the Networked Computers from all of the individual machines.
As far as I know there are no separate permissions settings available in this operating system.
Yes I did change the Workgroup name from MSHOME to ARNET on each of the computers.
Regards
Arnis
 
BBOX can read and modify files on ARNIES & DESEX
ARNIES & DESEX share files with each other but not BBOX
Click to expand...

Are you 100% positive that you don't have any other internet-security type program that may be blocking communication? Please check the msconfig (Start-->Run-->type 'msconfig') Startup and Services tabs for any process that may be starting up that could be blocking the other computers from connecting to it.

Remember this is simple file sharing we are talking about on XP Home operating system.
Click to expand...

That's why it's so perplexing! It should just work! :rolleyes: Right?

Also, you may try rebooting your router. Couldn't hurt and it wouldn't take long. Unplug it for a full minute, power and ethernet cables. Then, plug in the power first, then the source cable, and then plug in the out-ethernet cables one by one.

I looked all around the intrawebz (mainly this page:http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/t1056577268). Here are several other things you might try:

Start-->Control Panel-->Network Connections-->right-click your active network adapter-->Properites-->Highlight File and Printer Sharing...-->Install-->Protocol-->Add-->NWLink IPX/SPX/NetBIOS-Compatible Transport Protocol-->OK

--or--

Go to Start-->Run-->Type 'cmd' <enter>
At the command prompt type in, 'net user guest /active:yes' then hit enter. Restart the computer

--or--

Go to Start-->Run-->Type 'cmd' <enter>
At the command prompt type 'ipconfig /all' and make note of the Node Type - it should be anything except 'peer-to-peer'.
If it is peer-to-peer, got to Start-->Run-->Type 'regedit' <enter>
go here: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Netbt\Parameters

when you click on parameters you should have "DHCP Node Type" or just "Node Type"

Change the value to 4 (mixed type).


--or--

Go to Start-->Control Panel-->Administrative Tools-->Local Security Policy.

Then under Security Settings-->Local Policies-->Security Options-->Network access: Sharing and security model for local accounts

Select "Classic - local users authenticate as themselves"

--or--

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
2. Locate and then double-click the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa
3. On the right side, double-click restrictanonymous.
4. Make sure that the value in the Value data box is set to 0, and then click OK.
5. Close Registry Editor.
6. Restart the computer.

--or--

Start-->Control Panel-->System-->Remote tab--> ensure Allow Remote Assistance Invitations... (I don't think this will actually work, but someone said it did... :rolleyes:)

--or--

Try creating a user account w/ the same username/password as the other computers (again, someone said it worked)

--or--

Start-->Control Panel-->Administrative Tools-->Local Security Policy-->Security Settings-->Local Policy-->User Rights Assignment-->check Access this computer from the network-->Security Settings... If this is blank or does not have a listing for the user you are trying to file share with, simply add the user, i.e. Guest - Setup a Guest account with a Password, then add the Guest account to the above Policy (Access this computer from the network). Reboot.

Hopefully one of these will work for you. Please let us know!
 
deanj20,
Than you for the massive amount of effort you have put into the previous suggestions. I will try them if I can.
I think that some of them I have tried before making the appeal to the forum.
Please note that in my systems there is no "Local Security Policy".
The only items under Admin Tools are;Component Services, Computer Management, Data Services(ODBC), Event Viewer, Performance and Services. None of these include a Security Policy.
It's too late for me right now at 10:15 PM as I have been going since 6 AM and vert likely to make mistakes in my condition.
Thanks Again.
Arnis
 
deanj20,
Hooray !!!!!! It worked !!!
The change to the "Restrict Anonymous" setting to 0 did it !!!
I humbly thank you for all your help.
It is a great relief to myself as I have spent at least 5 very full days on this problem. Its the best Easter Egg that I have ever had.
I wish you a Happy Easter as well.
It was a challenge rather than a critical need, although being a pensioner the ability to use the new HDD as was planned makes the expenditure worth while.
Thanks again, Arnis
 
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