Getting 2 XP pro computers to see one another and share a drive

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Technician

Hi all, I'm having a little difficulty getting my 2 windows XP computers to
share a second drive. I have the small hand under the drive in question, I
have the same work group name and they are both able to surf the internet
through a common router. I disable the firewalls that I have installed (
Not the MS variety ) and have tried everything that I can think of but I
simply cannot get them to play nice. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
 
Do you have a user account on each computer with the same name? This is
required for peer to peer file sharing on XP. That user doesn't have to be
logged in just have the account present. Also I will assume that each
machine has a different machine name (required) when you state that they
have the same workgroup name.
 
Yes, I have an Admin account on both machines. Both machines have the same
Workgroup name. Each computer has it's own distinctive name.
 
Right click on desired drives/folders, click on Sharing and Security, see if
the sharing boxes are checked.
 
Steve, I checked on my system and it indeed has "Share this folder on the
network" and "Allow network users to change my files" both checked. The
only thing Greyed out is the "Make this folder Private" check box. I feel
that I am close but one domino is out of place and messing up the whole
works. Thanks for your help.
 
LVTravel said:
Do you have a user account on each computer with the same name? This is
required for peer to peer file sharing on XP.
Click to expand...

LV, I'm curious where you got that information. Can you provide a link?
You're not the first person I've seen suggest this BTW. :)

The reason for my curiosity is that I have an XP Pro laptop and an XP Pro
desktop neither of which have a user account with the same name. They share
fine. I frequently backup the laptop HDD to the desktop and move files from
one to the other with no problem. It's 4 PC home LAN, p2p, simple file
sharing through a common router. If the information is not readily at hand
please don't knock yourself out. Like I said just idle curiosity.

Thanks in advance

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I was just trying to help.
Please use your own best judgment before implementing any suggestions or
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No warranty is expressed or implied.
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See store for details. :)

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HillBillyBuddhist said:
LV, I'm curious where you got that information. Can you provide a
link? You're not the first person I've seen suggest this BTW. :)

The reason for my curiosity is that I have an XP Pro laptop and an XP
Pro desktop neither of which have a user account with the same name.
They share fine. I frequently backup the laptop HDD to the desktop
and move files from one to the other with no problem. It's 4 PC home
LAN, p2p, simple file sharing through a common router. If the
information is not readily at hand please don't knock yourself out.
Like I said just idle curiosity.

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...

The reason is because the security information in a peer-to-peer network is
held on each local machine, and therefore each machine needs to know who is
authorised to access it, unlike a domain network where the security and
access information is held centrally on the domain server.
 
Gordon Burgess-Parker said:
The reason is because the security information in a peer-to-peer network is
held on each local machine, and therefore each machine needs to know who is
authorised to access it, unlike a domain network where the security and
access information is held centrally on the domain server.
Click to expand...

That makes sense but doesn't explain why I have no problem with file sharing
between two XP computers with distinctly different user accounts, or why I
can share files between the XP computers and 98/95 computers that are not
set up for multiple users. Could it possibly be because I use "Simple" file
sharing?
 
HillBillyBuddhist said:
That makes sense but doesn't explain why I have no problem with file
sharing between two XP computers with distinctly different user
accounts, or why I can share files between the XP computers and 98/95
computers that are not set up for multiple users. Could it possibly
be because I use "Simple" file sharing?
Click to expand...

In the case of the XP machines, both Administrator accounts have probably
got the same password - ie none!
I don't think that 98/95 machines have that level of security anyway.
 
Hi there, in the case of the two XP machines, in my case one has a password
and the other does not. It *used* to work this way but then something got
corrupted and here I am. If anyone has any specific steps on how I can fix
this problem PLEASE post it here. Thank you.
 
I think that we have gotten off topic here. Let me see if I can bring it
back on track. I want to share a second hard drive on a second computer
with my prime computer through my router. I have admin accouns on both
machines, both machines are part of the same workgroup ( I double checked
the spelling ) and both firewalls are down. I have the shared hand under
the drive that I wish to share but it simply will not show up in the My
Computer window on the prime system. I'm trying to avoid yet another
fruitless call to MS. Thanks.
 
You can mount shares on computer B shared out by computer A whether or not
they are in the same workgroup. Sounds to me like you should give up on
windows networking and just mount the share on B using A's IP address and
the share name. Crude but it works. You will be given the opportunity to
supply credentials to system A and you should then use an account defined on
A. In Explorer under Tools>Map Network Drive use the \\server\share syntax
but use the IP address of A as in

\\192.168.1.100\foobar

cp
 
Technician said:
Hi there, in the case of the two XP machines, in my case one has a password
and the other does not. It *used* to work this way but then something got
corrupted and here I am. If anyone has any specific steps on how I can fix
this problem PLEASE post it here. Thank you.
Click to expand...

Normally Windows XP machines share resources as Guest on each other
when using simple file sharing. If you are not using simple file
sharing you must turn on Permissions for the resources you want to
share. You must have NETBIOS enabled through whatever your default
protocol is. I think that one of the latest security updates to
Windows XP disabled NETBEUI for Windows XP. You must enable NETBIOS
through TCP/IP or IPX/SPX to run a peer to peer network. I used to
share resources between a desktop with Windows XP and a laptop with
Windows 98 SE. Unfortunately, the laptop had a losing battle with
spilled coffee. I got a replacement last month with Windows 98 SE.
I could not access the Windows XP machine from the laptop. I had no
problem in the other direction. I tried the NETBEUI which locked up
my firewall. I finally activated NETBIOS through TCP/IP and have
not had a problem since.
 
Earl, thanks for the tips. Now if you would be kind enough to tell me how
to go about this I would really appreciate it. I have been trying a lot of
things lately so I'm a bit confused. Thanks again for your time and help.
 
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