How to share a folder with other computers in the workgroup network

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anthony B
  • Start date Start date
A

Anthony B

How to share a folder with other computers in the workgroup network?

I set the sharing on the folder property for everyone.
Other computers in the workgroup network can see this folder, but cannot
access it.

What do I have to do?
 
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb727037.aspx

Have a read of the above link re Vista File and Printer Sharing.

1st thing to do is make sure that the Workgroup Name of ALL the computers is
the SAME.

In Vista Network and Sharing:

Network Discovery: ON (So it can see the other computers)

Network set to Private (Public is for hotspots, airports, etc)

File Sharing: ON

Public Folder Sharing: ON (Vista’s Public Folder is the same as XP’s Shared
Docs)

Password Protected: OFF (unless you want to set up identical usernames and
passwords on ALL computers in your Network) If you have it ON, you will be
asked for a username and password when you try to access a Vista computer
from an XP computer.

Also, run the XP’s Home Network File and Printer sharing Wizard.
 
Mick, yes, in the Network Sharing Center, I have everything ON, except
Password protected. I also have the specific folder property "Folder
Sharing" turn ON. Share for EVERYONE.

I am able to share between XP systems. But when we click the Vista folder,
the message is:

\\DellsystemVista\sharefolder is not accessible. You might not have the
permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of this
server to find out if you have the access permissions.

Access is denied.
 
Mick, yes, in the Network Sharing Center, I have everything ON, except
Password protected. I also have the specific folder property "Folder
Sharing" turn ON. Share for EVERYONE.

I am able to share between XP systems. But when we click the Vista folder,
the message is:

\\DellsystemVista\sharefolder is not accessible. You might not have the
permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of this
server to find out if you have the access permissions.

Access is denied.
 
Anthony said:
Mick, yes, in the Network Sharing Center, I have everything ON, except
Password protected. I also have the specific folder property "Folder
Sharing" turn ON. Share for EVERYONE.

I am able to share between XP systems. But when we click the Vista folder,
the message is:

\\DellsystemVista\sharefolder is not accessible. You might not have the
permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of this
server to find out if you have the access permissions.

Access is denied.
Click to expand...

Give the exact path of your "sharefolder" please. Ex. would be
C:\Users\Public. If you are trying to share at the root of C:\, that is
why you are having the problem since Vista protects that area. It can be
done, but a better solution is to create a folder where the operating
system allows it. Waiting for your clarification for that.

In addition, you should create matching user accounts and passwords on
all machines.You do not need to be logged into the same account on all
machines and the passwords can be different for each user account; they
just need to exist on all machines. If you wish a machine to boot
directly to the Desktop (into one particular user's account) for
convenience, you can do this. The instructions at this link work for
both XP and Vista:

Configure Windows to Automatically Login (MVP Ramesh) -
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/Autologon.htm


Malke
 
Malke said:
Give the exact path of your "sharefolder" please. Ex. would be
C:\Users\Public. If you are trying to share at the root of C:\, that is
why you are having the problem since Vista protects that area. It can be
done, but a better solution is to create a folder where the operating
system allows it. Waiting for your clarification for that.

In addition, you should create matching user accounts and passwords on all
machines.You do not need to be logged into the same account on all
machines and the passwords can be different for each user account; they
just need to exist on all machines. If you wish a machine to boot directly
to the Desktop (into one particular user's account) for convenience, you
can do this. The instructions at this link work for both XP and Vista:

Configure Windows to Automatically Login (MVP Ramesh) -
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/Autologon.htm


Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
Click to expand...

Malke,
\\DellsystemVista\sharefolder
DellsystemVista is the computer name of our new Dell running Vista
D:\Sharefolder is the folder name in Drive D with folder share turned on.

Yes, all our computers in this office use the same workgroup name and has
only ONE user account name and are exact identical and is the administrator
too, call adminsys. No password is used or set in any account.

So, why am I not able to access this folder in the Vista computer from other
XP systems in the office from the same account names?
 
Anthony said:
Malke,
\\DellsystemVista\sharefolder
DellsystemVista is the computer name of our new Dell running Vista
D:\Sharefolder is the folder name in Drive D with folder share turned on.

Yes, all our computers in this office use the same workgroup name and has
only ONE user account name and are exact identical and is the administrator
too, call adminsys. No password is used or set in any account.

So, why am I not able to access this folder in the Vista computer from
other
XP systems in the office from the same account names?
Click to expand...

Since you've put a folder at the root of a drive, try this from MVP Bill
Castner:

"You need to specifically add the User(s), Group(s) or "Everyone" to the
Security tab of the Root share*. Similarly, you need to explicitly add
the User, Group or Everyone for any share created for any part of a user
profile that you wish to share. This is not always obvious to users. A
reasonable picture of the process can be seen here for Vista shares,
although the screen shots already show the Group "Everyone" added.
Adapt as needed..."

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/vista/1008-how-share-root-drive-under-vista.html#post8291

*This means the "sharefolder".

If that doesn't do the job, assign a password to all user accounts. You
can still set the machines to log in automatically if you want for
convenience:

Configure Windows to Automatically Login (MVP Ramesh) XP and Vista -
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/Autologon.htm


Malke
 
Malke said:
Since you've put a folder at the root of a drive, try this from MVP Bill
Castner:

"You need to specifically add the User(s), Group(s) or "Everyone" to the
Security tab of the Root share*. Similarly, you need to explicitly add
the User, Group or Everyone for any share created for any part of a user
profile that you wish to share. This is not always obvious to users. A
reasonable picture of the process can be seen here for Vista shares,
although the screen shots already show the Group "Everyone" added. Adapt
as needed..."

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/vista/1008-how-share-root-drive-under-vista.html#post8291

*This means the "sharefolder".

If that doesn't do the job, assign a password to all user accounts. You
can still set the machines to log in automatically if you want for
convenience:

Configure Windows to Automatically Login (MVP Ramesh) XP and Vista -
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/Autologon.htm


Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
Click to expand...

OK, thank you Malke.
Please allow me to learn more in Vista. In order for me to share one folder,
say, d:/sharefolder in D: drive.
I have to add "everyone" in the D: drive (that is what you call root drive,
right?).
Then, set the "sharefolder" property to share.
But this will not expose, not shared with the rest of the folder in this D:
drive to others on the network, right?
 
Anthony B wrote:
OK, thank you Malke.
Please allow me to learn more in Vista. In order for me to share one
folder,
say, d:/sharefolder in D: drive.
I have to add "everyone" in the D: drive (that is what you call root drive,
right?).
Then, set the "sharefolder" property to share.
But this will not expose, not shared with the rest of the folder in this D:
drive to others on the network, right?
Click to expand...

i just glanced through this rather long thread and don't see where you
said what version of Vista you have, although I may have missed it. If
you have Home or Basic, you may not be able to create groups, etc. to
have fine-grained permissions. This is how XP Home vs. XP Pro works. I
don't have a Vista Home or Basic version to look at, only Ultimate.
However, in your very first post you stated that you set sharing to
Everyone; of course this means that anything in that folder is shared
with Everyone. So I don't really understand your concern here. This last
post you made would seem to be at odds with what you originally told us
you want to do.

So I'm a little confused. If you want to share the folder, set its
permissions as suggested OR create user accounts and passwords and only
allow certain users to access the share. You may be making this more
complicated than it needs to be.


Malke
 
Malke said:
i just glanced through this rather long thread and don't see where you
said what version of Vista you have, although I may have missed it. If you
have Home or Basic, you may not be able to create groups, etc. to have
fine-grained permissions. This is how XP Home vs. XP Pro works. I don't
have a Vista Home or Basic version to look at, only Ultimate. However, in
your very first post you stated that you set sharing to Everyone; of
course this means that anything in that folder is shared with Everyone. So
I don't really understand your concern here. This last post you made would
seem to be at odds with what you originally told us you want to do.

So I'm a little confused. If you want to share the folder, set its
permissions as suggested OR create user accounts and passwords and only
allow certain users to access the share. You may be making this more
complicated than it needs to be.


Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
Click to expand...

Malke,
We are using Vista Ultimate for this several new Dell systems in this
office.

We want to share only one particular folder name "sharefolder" in drive d:

Do you mean I have to activate "everyone" in the entire drive d: ?
 
Back
Top