XP Pro & XP Home

[brabhamj]

I was wondering if anyone knows how to access a printer and files on a Windows XP Home edition computer from a Windows XP Professional edition computer and vice-versa?

[Stryder]

Are both of these computers on a lan together?*Moved to Security and Networking.

[brabhamj]

They are both running off of a router which is running off of a cable modem. I just have them on a workgroup right now.

[Stryder]

I am no network guru. With that being said, both computers are a part of the same work group, yes? Secondly, do you have file and print sharing turned on? If yes, can you see the other machine from My Network Places? Side note: I personally have 2 NIC cards in all my computers. One for internet access only and one for file and print sharing only....I do it this way because it is much more secure. The NIC I use for sharing has no internet access, so the bad people can't get in.

[brabhamj]

They are on the same workgroup, file and printer sharing is turned on in both computers but you can't see each other under network places, though when you do a search for computers, they show up. However, when you try and access a share on the other computer, it says no authentication.

[Stryder]

OK. Have you went to a specific drive and made it available for sharing? If you go into my computer, right click on your drive icon, hit properties, you will see a tab called sharing. You will need to turn sharing on there as well. Same with the printer.*Sorry it took so long to get back to you. Was in the middle of doing some vocabulary lessons with my daughter.

[GolfProRM]

It also helps if you have accounts setup on both computers that match the username on the other computer... for example if your username on your XP home machine is Joe, then setup a user account on the XP Pro machine named Joe (use the same password). Do the same for the other machine. This will save having to log on to each machine when you access anything shared (without having to use a guest account). User controls are Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Users (know for sure this is it in XP Pro, think so in home, but can't verify). Then just add the user. :)Make sure in your sharing properties that you give access to this new user you just created.

[siebkens]

Side note: I personally have 2 NIC cards in all my computers. One for internet access only and one for file and print sharing only....I do it this way because it is much more secure. The NIC I use for sharing has no internet access, so the bad people can't get in.

I have 2 NIC cards in my Internet Connection Sharing Computer - If I rerun the Network wizard to do any reconfiguring, Win XP Pro creates a bridge. What a pain! Is there any way to stop this from happening?And while I was reconfiguring, I messed something up. My computers are talking, but my client computers (running ME) can't access Shared Documents or Windows system folders on my XP Pro machine. Access is denied. I CAN access any other folders on my XP machine from my ME clients other than these 2 areas. My ME clients are talking & I can reach my printer which is on one of my ME machines from all computers. I tried the same login like GolfProRM suggested, but that didn't help. Tried turning Simple File sharing off like was suggested on one of the pages at the MS tech support pages. Turned it back on too.What should the default settings of the Authentication tab on my LAN connection to the network be? Should the Authenticate as computer . . . and Authenticate as guest buttons be checked or unchecked? Thanks!!PS - everything worked fine before I started into this exercise. It all started because I needed to switch 2 ME machines.

[Stryder]

Side note: I personally have 2 NIC cards in all my computers. One for internet access only and one for file and print sharing only....I do it this way because it is much more secure. The NIC I use for sharing has no internet access, so the bad people can't get in.

I have 2 NIC cards in my Internet Connection Sharing Computer - If I rerun the Network wizard to do any reconfiguring, Win XP Pro creates a bridge. What a pain! Is there any way to stop this from happening?And while I was reconfiguring, I messed something up. My computers are talking, but my client computers (running ME) can't access Shared Documents or Windows system folders on my XP Pro machine. Access is denied. I CAN access any other folders on my XP machine from my ME clients other than these 2 areas. My ME clients are talking & I can reach my printer which is on one of my ME machines from all computers. I tried the same login like GolfProRM suggested, but that didn't help. Tried turning Simple File sharing off like was suggested on one of the pages at the MS tech support pages. Turned it back on too.What should the default settings of the Authentication tab on my LAN connection to the network be? Should the Authenticate as computer . . . and Authenticate as guest buttons be checked or unchecked? Thanks!!

I have 2 NIC cards in ALL of my computers. The NIC cards with internet access all go through my router. The NIC cards for accessing different computers connect through a seperate hub. The set up you have I have never tried, so I have no answers. Sorry I could not be of more help. I am of the "network challenged" family. I know just enough to get things working most of the time. My method of networking consists of reading lots of manuals/books and keep trying until I get it right. I have only been networking for about 2 years.....give or take a half dozen bottles of aspirin. I still have a long way to go. So hopefully someone will be able to help more than me.

[Peachy]

They are on the same workgroup, file and printer sharing is turned on in both computers but you can't see each other under network places, though when you do a search for computers, they show up.  However, when you try and access a share on the other computer, it says no authentication.

Can you determine if you have other network protocols installed besides TCP/IP? If not, are you enabling NetBIOS over TCP/IP. Best bet would be to also install IPX/SPX or NetBEUI.

[siebkens]

Make sure in your sharing properties that you give access to this new user you just created.

Could you be more specific as to what you mean here? Do you mean the settings in Control Panel/ user accounts? Account type - i.e. computer administrator, guest, etc. Or the sharing properties of the drive or folder you want to share?

[GolfProRM]

Make sure in your sharing properties that you give access to this new user you just created.

Could you be more specific as to what you mean here? Do you mean the settings in Control Panel/ user accounts? Account type - i.e. computer administrator, guest, etc. Or the sharing properties of the drive or folder you want to share?

In the sharing options of the folder, there's a permissions button... click on that and add the user that you created... You can then give specific permissions to that user (full control/write/read). If you set them to full control, you can copy files back and forth very easily... of course you only need read access for you to see the files.

[nlinecomputers]

Windows XP uses the same security models that NT and 2000 use. You can't access a resource unless you have an account (a user on that machine).XP HOME makes this a bit more difficult because the dang program obfuscates the "REAL" logon name in favor of the "Full name" field as the logon name. In all NT based Windows's untill XP HOME a user had a logon name and a "Full Name" or you could call it a real name on file for it. With NT and 2000 your log on with your logon name. But with XP the welcome screen only displays the "Full Name" which can be unrelated to your logon name. You can have a user name of "Xena" and a Full name of "Jane Smith". In NT and 2000's Users mangers this was obvious. XP Home hides this stuff but it is fully available in XP Pro just as it was in Win 2000.XP pro has a Local Users and Groups manager in the Computer Management console that lets you create users and see the logon names. XP Home does not have a Local Users and Groups folder in the Computer Management MSC that XP Pro has (Real stupid idea Billy!). Even though your using your "Full Name" it is likely that the "Full Name" you signed up with is not what XP Home assigned you. You likely have a logon name of "Owner" or "Default" (whatever the guys you built your computer assigned you) The only way to find out is to log off your user back to the welcome screen and press CNTL-ALT-DEL twice. A standard windows logon screen will appear with the last logon name in the user name box. THAT is the user name that must be used on ALL machines. As long as that user name, probably "Owner", is used on all machines then logons are simple. You can also look at C:\Documents and Settings and look at the folder names. One of the folders is your logon name.Note some people use the XP network wizard to setup a network. This is fine but you must run the setup program on all of your machines and it assumes that your going to share files only from the one machine. If your sharing files on one machine and a printer on another and you start the wizard on each machine you'll wipe out what the last wizard setup. He who runs last wins.Ok everyone repeat after me: I will never buy Windows XP Home again. Should I do so I will be banished to computer ****.

[brabhamj]

Thanks to everyone who posted. I will not be at the computers that are in question until this weekend, so I'll try all your suggestions then.Jonathan

[siebkens]

In the sharing options of the folder, there's a permissions button...  click on that and add the user that you created...  You can then give specific permissions to that user (full control/write/read).  If you set them to full control, you can copy files back and forth very easily... of course you only need read access for you to see the files.

On the sharing tab, I only have 2 checkboxes - Share this folder on the network & Allow network users to change my files. These are both checked.I kind of cheated - I just moved My Documents to the root drive so they weren't in the Documents & Settings folder anymore & I can now get to them. Now I just have to figure out how to get Internet Connection Sharing to work for my clients. I think this is related to my access problem.

[Peachy]

On the sharing tab, I only have 2 checkboxes -  Share this folder on the network & Allow network users to change my files.  These are both checked.

To disable Simple File sharing, open Windows Explorer and select Tools > Folder Options > View. Scroll to the bottom of the list and uncheck Use simple file sharing. This will give you back the familiar Windows 2000 Sharing and Security dialog.

[siebkens]

To disable Simple File sharing, open Windows Explorer and select Tools > Folder Options > View. Scroll to the bottom of the list and uncheck Use simple file sharing. This will give you back the familiar Windows 2000 Sharing and Security dialog.

Sorry, I thought of that after I walked out the door this morning. OK, I disabled simple file sharing & gave everyone full control at the root. (I know, I can hear all of you security people cringing). Also tried this on the All users My Documents. Restarted server, restarted client, logged in on client as user that is set up in XP pro. Still getting Access is denied message when trying to go to either Windows folder on XP pro or All users My Documents within Documents & Settings folder. I also disabled my firewall, just to make sure but that didn't make any difference either.Thank you for helping - it is definitely appreciated!

[siebkens]

Replaced owner on C drive according to this MS Tech support page. Still not accessiblehttp://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?...kb;en-us;810881

[nlinecomputers]

Have you created the same LOGON name on every computer? NOTE what term I used; LOGON name not FULL NAME.Windows XP HOME hides the logon name from you. It is NOT the same as the name displayed on the Windows XP welcome screen. (Although they can be the same it is not required and often isn't. On my XP my welcome screen says "Nathan Williams" but the logon is only "nathan")When you setup Windows XP HOME for the first time, it asks you the name of the users to setup. It will use the first name of the user as the logon name. HOWEVER if this system was preinstalled by the manufacture such as compaq or a dell then the user name that was created MAY NOT match the first name. Compaq or Dell or whoever had to use some logon to get the system loaded for you. They should pick either "Owner" or "Default" That name is the LOGON name for the first user created even if the first name of the first user is "Susie".Can you tell us what users names are listed in your C:\Documents and Settings directory? The names in that directory are all the users created on your box.

[siebkens]

Have you created the same LOGON name on every computer?  NOTE what term I used; LOGON name not FULL NAME.Windows XP HOME hides the logon name from you.  It is NOT the same as the name displayed on the Windows XP welcome screen.  (Although they can be the same it is not required and often isn't.  On my XP my welcome screen says "Nathan Williams" but the logon is only "nathan")When you setup Windows XP HOME for the first time, it asks you the name of the users to setup.  It will use the first name of the user as the logon name.  HOWEVER if this system was preinstalled by the manufacture such as compaq or a dell then the user name that was created MAY NOT match the first name.  Compaq or Dell or whoever had to use some logon to get the system loaded for you.  They should pick either "Owner" or "Default"  That name is the LOGON name for the first user created even if the first name of the first user is "Susie".Can you tell us what users names are listed in your C:\Documents and Settings directory?  The names in that directory are all the users created on your box.

Yes, I have created the same logon on all computers.I reformatted using NTFS & reloaded Win XP Pro only about 2 months ago - after I used a cute little utility program that wiped out all of my XP login information. My logins all worked until about a week ago when I was doing some reconfiguring to move one computer out & another in.The user names in Documents & Settings are: Administrator, All Users (which is where I had My Documents before this last problem cropped up), default & siebkens. Also, Default User, Local Service, NetworkService folders which are a lighter color that the previous 4.Here is an incredible link with a tutorial showing enabling sharing & changing permissions, but unfortunately, it still didn't fix my problems. http://www.wown.com/j_helmig/wxppfsec.htm

[siebkens]

Sorry to hog this thread - but I got my access problem fixed!!!! I did lots of stuff (including backing everything up, since I thought I was going to have to start over), but I think that the steps that I did that made a difference were:Logged in as the grand poobah administrator on my XP Pro machine. Turned off client machines. Took ownership of C drive according to this MS support article: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?...kb;en-us;810881Then, I had to make the security/ permissions inheritable through all folders. These pages were a great help: http://www.wown.com/j_helmig/wxppfsec.htmhttp://www.wown.com/j_helmig/wxppntsh.htmChoose C: drive, security, advanced & choose the check box - replace permission entries on all child objects . . . If you're working on a network where internal security is an issue, you'll have to reset the permissions for each folder at this point. Since this is a home network & the worst that I have to worry about is an almost-teen, I'll leave it as is for now. B)PS - I looked up Access denied for Win XP at Computing.net & there were loads of problems. That's where I found the last 2 links

[nlinecomputers]

Cool!I'd overlooked what you had said about only having access to parts of the drive. I thought you were totally cut off. So I was leading you down the wrong path. Sorry my bad there. Glad you figured it out!I bet those D*** network wizards are what got you messed up. I don't trust them. They make more of a mess then they fix. Far easier just to do it the old fashioned way.

[siebkens]

I can now set up my network the old-fashioned way - it's a fairly new skill for me. But when I use internet connection sharing, I don't know of any way to set it up other than by the wizards.