XP Laptop will not communicate with W2000 Server

[Larr2000]

I have a network with Windows 2000 Pro as my server with D-Link wireless router (802.11b) with DSL as my Internet access. My notebook has XP and both are set up using workgroups. My server can see all the system drives and shared folders. I chose not to use a password in setting up the server or the notebook. The notebook, however asks me for a password to look back at the drives on the server even though I never set up either with a password. I have enabled Guest Accounts and even tried resetting the password to blank on the server using the My Computer - Manage option. Is there something unique about XP that thinks I am hacking into the server and will not let me in?

[greengeek]

XP Home or Pro?

[greengeek]

There are some known issues with XP Home and networking, I saw something about this earlier in the week, I'll try to find it for you. Hopefully some network expert will jump in here and help.

[nlinecomputers]

You do have the same accounts on both machines do you not? If you have a Bob user on the server you've got to have a Bob user on the laptop as well. Or login as Bob when the server asks for your password. Also XP home is kind of wierd in that the logon name that it uses often does not match the user name that is displayed at the top of your Start Menu.In Windows 2000 you have a logon name and a full name field. Microsoft in a moment of total idiocy thought that users would be more confortable with using the Full name field and not the logon name. When you create a user in XP using the create a new user wizard it asks for your full name and it creates a logon name based on the full name you gave it. You get NO option to tell it your logon name! If you tell it John Smith it gives you a logon name of John. In XP PRO you can use the Administation tools in control panel to create/modify users just like you can in Windows 2000. But XP HOME doesn't have that MMC tool! The only way to create a user is with the stupid wizard. Plus just to make matters even worse: If you get a copy of Windows XP HOME preinstalled then you automaticly have either an owner or a default user. When you create the first user it assigns it to the logon of "owner" or "default." Your user name might be Tom Jones but XP gives you a logon of owner,Most likely the reason you can't logon is because your running XP HOME and it is trying to use a logon name of "Owner"This Microsoft KB link describes some of the issues with the Owner account Q312131

[ctsolutions]

On your Win2000 box, open the group policy editor by pressing Windows + R and typing gpedit.msc [enter]Go to Computer Configuration (which overrides conflicting settings in User Config) -> Windows Settings -> Security Settings -> Local Policies -> Security Options and scroll down to the Network Access items. Sharing and Security model for local accounts, which you might logically assume applies to locally logged on users, actually applies to users on the local network, as opposed to someone accessing over the net. If you set it to Classic - local users authenticate as themselves then you need to have an account on the 2000 box that's the same as your account on XP (here's where that info about owner accounts etc is crucial.) If, on the other hand, it's set to Guest only - local users authenicate as guest then you need to make sure that the Guest account has explicit permission to access the shares from the network. Check the group policy to make sure it's not set to deny the guest access to shared files from the network (althuogh I recommend classic mode for security.) Also, if you have an NTFS drive in your 2000 system, you need to check the NTFS permissions - right-click the share and select properties, then choose the Seurity tab. Keep in mind that Deny is absolute - for example if you select Deny access to the Everyone group, it will lock you out, even if you have explicit permission to access also (like as an admin.) I suggest removing the Everyone group from the list and adding Authenticated Users. Then make sure you have matching accounts on both systems.NOTE - before you make any changes to your group policy and/or NTFS permissions, make a full backup (an image if possible) because some of the settings may have unforseen effects.