File Sharing Problem

[mike.dingas@cox]

I'm so frustrated with this problem I could scream! Here's the problem:

I have 3 desktops and one laptop connecting to a LinkSys Router. All systems can access the internet through the router. File sharing is only problematic on one desktop.

Unit A can be seen in My Network Places by all other units. It can access shared files on the other 3 units. No other unit can access the shared folders on it, however. All units have the same accounts established and the same passwords. The other desktops can 'see' each other as well as the laptop and can access any shared folder other than on Unit A.

Any attempt to access a shared folder on Unit A from the other units results in Access Denied (possible permissions issue). All systems use Windows XP Home edition and NTFS.

I've research on the Internet for help and tried everything I could find. Unit A is an older PC that will be replaced and I need to be able to use the File Transfer feature.

I would appreciate any insights into resolving this problem.

[Variable]

It cannot be a permissions issue with XP home since it uses Simple File Sharing, which doesn't send authentication credentials. It sounds like a firewall but you can check the guest account on the problem machine. Start, Run, type cmd and hit enter. type net user guest and hit enter
It should say account active yes.

Make sure you have a folder shared of course.

[mike.dingas@cox]

I checked the Guest account. From the command prompt it said it was active but from the Control Panel-User Accounts is said it was off. So, I turned it one. Bummer...same problem.

I've also disabled the Firewall on the 'bad' unit to see if that would allow access. It did not so I've re-enabled the Firewall.

By the way, all accounts have Admin priviledges. Not the safest thing but I seem to recall having other problems with the network when I first got the router and that seemed to fix things.

[mike.dingas@cox]

Here's something else I notice.

PC-A (problem child) : My Network Places lists all networked shared folders under Local Network. Including it's own shared folders.

PC-B : My Network Places lists only its own shared folders under Local Network. The shared folders on PB-C and the Laptop are listed under Internet. PC-A folders are not listed.

PC-C: Lists its shared folders and those on PC-B and the Laptop under Local Network. The Internet list is not shown (empty?)

The network was set up some time ago (yes, PC-A has been a problem since then) so I'm more than a bit fuzzy on how I established each node.

Sorry that I'm piece-mealing info here but I'm tinkering with the network and sometimes find something that may (or may not) be significant.

[Variable]

All have the same workgroup? Can you ping the IP address of each machine from each machine? Have you looked at your security softwre like firewalls and such and disabled them during testing?

[mike.dingas@cox]

Yes, all in the same workgroup and I can get a ping reply on all PC's. Firewall was disabled as a test with no difference.

[Variable]

hmm, could be NetBIOS is blocked or off. Try
\\192.168.1.2\C$ from a working machine at the run command, to the problem machine, where the IP address is the IP address of the problem machine. You can file share by IP and by name,IP could work but not name. My Network Places is a list of shares gleaned from broadcasts over file sharing ports using NetBIOS.
If you have XP Home, files shared, workgroup and network the same, can ping all IP's of each machine from each machine. Can view and access shared files from all machine but one machine. On this problem machine you can see and access other shared resources but no one can access shared resources on the problem machine. It is a firewall or service disabled that is causing it. Look at your event viewer for possible issues.

Try and access the problem machine to get the error message. Review the Event Logs for items near this time frame.

Right click My Computer, click Manage, expand Event Viewer. Look at security and application logs especially. If the logs are long and confusing , right click and clear the log. Reboot the machine, try to replicate the problem again. Now you have clean logs to look at and won't get sidetracked by older or unrelated issues.