File sharing "any folder" on Vista

[Guest]

Hello, I am trying to share folders on Windows Vista (Home premium). I am
following the instructions in "Windows help and support" titled "Share files
from any folder on your computer". When I "Click the arrow to the right of
the text box, click the person's name in the list, and then click Add." The
name I selected is not added to the list even though it shows up when I click
the down arrow as suggested above. (In the following I will be using
fictitious names for security purposes). Could this be happening because I
initially set up my computer with an administrator user account of "name 1",
I then loaded my "document" files in this account. I then changed the name of
the inital account to "name 2' and added another Administrator user account
calling it: "name 1". I noticed that sometimes I have seen an identitfier of
"XXXX-PC Name 1" - could this be causing a conflict because Windows sees the
same name?
Another question - When doing this "File Sharing" I am assuming that I am
supposed to be the person who wants to share my files with someone else and I
choose the someone else I wish ti share with in the process; is this correct?
I'm sorry that this is long but I wanted to give adequate information.
Please tell me how to set up file sharing so both users can access all the
folders I wish to share.

 

[David Dickinson]

I then changed the name of
the inital account to "name 2' and added another Administrator user
account
calling it: "name 1".

Unfortunately, "Names" (or "Full Names") and "User Names" are not the same
thing in Vista or XP. Users have two identifiers: The "Full Name" is
displayed on the Welcome Screen, but the User Name is assigned tokens for
permissions. You can see this confusing state of affairs more clearly in
Computer Management/Users on Vista Business or better and XP Pro, but on
Home versions of those operating systems you need to use User Passwords 2,
which you can access by clicking Start/Run and typing "control
userpasswords2". If you click the Properties button for the user whose name
you changed, you'll see that you did, indeed, change the "Full Name" of the
user, but the "User Name" remains what was originally assigned, e.g.:

1. While setting up the computer, you created user Bob. The system gives
the account that User Name and displays "Bob" on the Welcome Screen.

2. Later, you use "User Accounts" or "Manage Users" (depending upon your
version of Vista) to change the name of the account to "John". The User Name
remains "Bob", but the account is assigned the Full Name "John", which is
what is now shown on the Welcome Screen.

To avoid confusion later on, after you change an account's name (actually
the "Full Name") in "User Accounts" or "Manage Users", you should use
UserPasswords2 to change the User Name.

However, why the account that you pick while creating the file share is not
displayed in the access control list is very strange indeed. I just don't
understand why that isn't working. Perhaps I didn't understand exactly what
you're doing and what is happening. (Sometimes you have to lead me
click-by-click through the problem). Also, I can't follow those same
instructions that you used from Help because on my Vista Business machine
I've turned off Simple File Sharing and made my machine look as much like XP
as possible (I'm more interested in performance than cosmetics, and I'm an
old fuddy duddy -- I made XP look as much like 2000 as I could, which I made
to look as much like 98 as possible).

When doing this "File Sharing" I am assuming that I am
supposed to be the person who wants to share my files with someone else
and I
choose the someone else I wish ti share with in the process; is this
correct?

Yes, but I'm not sure what you're asking here. An administrator can also
set up a share for another administrator's personal files (although in Vista
can be a bit tedious) or for folders created by another administrator.

 

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

You cannot have 2 accounts on the same installation with the same name. Even
though you changed the original account, "Name 1" to "Name 2" this only
changes what you see in the login screen and other places where the account
name appears. All of that original accounts user folders/files and registry
settings still use the original account name (Name 1).

You cannot create another account called "Name 1" until the original account
is deleted, including all of the folders and files.

Windows Vista Help: File sharing essentials:
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/e20e6875-7210-47bb-bf19-5c60e6ae86151033.mspx