Network Folder Sharing without Passwords

[Guest]

Is it possible to share a folder in Vista across the network without
requiring people to login with a user account? My network is blocked from
outside access, and this used to be one of my favourite things in XP (and
something that bugged me about OS X).

In the Network File and Printer Sharing center, I see that option for the
Public folder, not not the folders I'm sharing manually. I tried going into
the Advanced Sharing permissions for the folder I want everyone to see, and
setup access for Everyone, Guest, Guests (what's the difference between the
two anyway?) and even Anonymous Logon, to no avail.

Am I missing something?

 

[Jimmy Brush]

Hello,

There's some bugs in Vista Beta 2 that make it difficult to share a folder
to the world without requiring anybody to log in. These steps should allow
it to work:

If you set Network Access to "Anyone who can connect to my network" and have
shared folders that allow write access, you must follow additional steps to
get write access to work properly.

*These steps are necessary due to bugs in Windows Vista Beta 2, and should
not be necessary in the future.*

Step 1:

- Click start
- Type: cmd
- Right-click cmd when it appears under Programs
- Click run as administrator
- If prompted for permission, click Continue
- Type: net localgroup users guest /add
- Press enter

Step 2:

- Click Start
- Click Computer
- Double-click on the drive with the windows logo in it (should be first one
listed)
- Right-click the Users folder
- Click Share...
- Click Advanced Sharing
- If prompted for permission, click Continue
- Make sure there is a checkbox next to "Yes, share this folder"
- Click Permissions
- Click Add
- Type: Everyone
- Press enter
- Click the checkbox next to Full Control under Allow
- Press OK
- Press OK
- Press OK

NOTE: If you were browsing your Vista computer when you made these changes,
you may have to restart the computer you were browsing from to notice these
changes.

- JB