Network File Sharing Trouble

[wei]

I am stuck.

I want to set up file sharing (read & write) between my desktops and
my new Toshiba. I have done this before in XP between desktops with
few problems. They always have been connected 'wired' (CAT5) to my
router. Two of my desktops also have W7 installed and working
(bootable) on one of the desktop's hard drives. I have always been
able to file share from W7 to XP, but not vice versa. I could work
with that though.

Now I have the new Toshiba with W7 of course connected wireless to my
router. Like the other W7's, it can file share with XP drives on my
desktops. But I cannot file share between the Toshiba and a W7
desktop or vice versa, The error I get is that I lack privileges to
access the folders/files on a second machine. I think I am using
network sharing and not the so-called homegroup file sharing.

I have tried several Google suggestions, to no avail. Likewise W7
help. I am set up as a single user with administrator privileges.

Any ideas???

XieXie
Wei

 

[John Williamson]

I am stuck.

I want to set up file sharing (read& write) between my desktops and
my new Toshiba. I have done this before in XP between desktops with
few problems. They always have been connected 'wired' (CAT5) to my
router. Two of my desktops also have W7 installed and working
(bootable) on one of the desktop's hard drives. I have always been
able to file share from W7 to XP, but not vice versa. I could work
with that though.

Now I have the new Toshiba with W7 of course connected wireless to my
router. Like the other W7's, it can file share with XP drives on my
desktops. But I cannot file share between the Toshiba and a W7
desktop or vice versa, The error I get is that I lack privileges to
access the folders/files on a second machine. I think I am using
network sharing and not the so-called homegroup file sharing.

I have tried several Google suggestions, to no avail. Likewise W7
help. I am set up as a single user with administrator privileges.

Any ideas???

Set up a workgroup, starting with the XP machine, then make sure you use
the same username and password (case sensitive) on all machines, and set
up all the machines to be in that workgroup. That's what worked for me.

 

[wei]

Set up a workgroup, starting with the XP machine, then make sure you use
the same username and password (case sensitive) on all machines, and set
up all the machines to be in that workgroup. That's what worked for me.

When I set up the workgroup on my XP machines, I did not use a
password, and further did not even see setting a workgroup password to
be an option. Being a single user, my 'welcome' logon user choice is
singular and does not use a password either. Then I come to Windows 7
and find a new word (great!) 'homegroup'. So are you saying I should
set up a homegroup on the W7 machines complete with password? I don't
see that you can set up a homegroup without a password. True? Then I
guess I should be able to access files on a W7 machine via the
homegroup? As long as I remember its password? From XP machines
too?

XieXie
Wei

 

[John Williamson]

When I set up the workgroup on my XP machines, I did not use a
password, and further did not even see setting a workgroup password to
be an option. Being a single user, my 'welcome' logon user choice is
singular and does not use a password either. Then I come to Windows 7
and find a new word (great!) 'homegroup'. So are you saying I should
set up a homegroup on the W7 machines complete with password? I don't
see that you can set up a homegroup without a password. True? Then I
guess I should be able to access files on a W7 machine via the
homegroup? As long as I remember its password? From XP machines
too?

The Homegroup is purely a Windows 7 thing. It has nothing to do with XP
workgroups or networking.

Windows 7 Home Premium and Starter can't create a workgroup, but can
join one. XP can neither create nor, as far as I know, join a Homegroup.
So, no, you don't need to set up a Homegroup in Windows 7.

To create a password for your workgroup account in XP, open the User
Accounts page in Control Panel, select your user name and there will be
an option to create a password.

The default name for the XP Workgroup is "Workgroup", and you need to
make all the computers join this workgroup (There is a Network Setup
Wizard to help you) before you can share files. Computers must all have
different names, but be in the same workgroup. The name and workgroup
are best set up using the Network Setup Wizard. You also need to enable
simple file sharing on all the machines, and if you want to share a
printer, printer sharing as well. Then you need to share each individual
drive and printer using the options in Windows Explorer and the Printer
and Devices page in Control Panel.

Once you have done that, then you need to make sure you are using the
same username and password on the Windows 7 machines as on the XP machine.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

When I set up the workgroup on my XP machines, I did not use a
password, and further did not even see setting a workgroup password to
be an option. Being a single user, my 'welcome' logon user choice is
singular and does not use a password either. Then I come to Windows 7
and find a new word (great!) 'homegroup'. So are you saying I should
set up a homegroup on the W7 machines complete with password? I don't
see that you can set up a homegroup without a password. True? Then I
guess I should be able to access files on a W7 machine via the
homegroup? As long as I remember its password? From XP machines
too?

XieXie
Wei

I want to emphasize something that may not be completely clear at this
moment.

The password does not belong to the workgroup, it belongs to a user on
each computer. An account used for sharing must have a password.

I made sharing work by having an account on each computer with the same
account name and the same password. I chose to make that account a
standard account, not an administrator account.

And I'll also emphasize John's remark that you need to use a workgroup,
since XP can't join a homegroup.

As an aside, the extra account on this computer has the same name as the
owner's account on the other computer. I forget if I did the
corresponding thing on the other computer, but I probably didn't have
to.

 

[wei]

The Homegroup is purely a Windows 7 thing. It has nothing to do with XP
workgroups or networking.

Windows 7 Home Premium and Starter can't create a workgroup, but can
join one. XP can neither create nor, as far as I know, join a Homegroup.
So, no, you don't need to set up a Homegroup in Windows 7.

To create a password for your workgroup account in XP, open the User
Accounts page in Control Panel, select your user name and there will be
an option to create a password.

The default name for the XP Workgroup is "Workgroup", and you need to
make all the computers join this workgroup (There is a Network Setup
Wizard to help you) before you can share files. Computers must all have
different names, but be in the same workgroup. The name and workgroup
are best set up using the Network Setup Wizard. You also need to enable
simple file sharing on all the machines, and if you want to share a
printer, printer sharing as well. Then you need to share each individual
drive and printer using the options in Windows Explorer and the Printer
and Devices page in Control Panel.

Once you have done that, then you need to make sure you are using the
same username and password on the Windows 7 machines as on the XP machine.

No change.
The desktop W7 machine and laptop Toshiba W7 have same single login
user name (Me) as Administrator with no password. The desktop XP
machine has different single login name as Administrator with no
password. I could change the XP login username to match that of the
W7 machines, but I really don't see what good that would do. File and
printer sharing is set up on all three machines. In fact, I can print
and scan on my AIO printer from all three. I can access and change
files and folders on the XP machine from either W7 machine, but not
vice versa, I cannot access files on either W7 machine from either W7
machine,

The error message I keep getting is that the shared filename is not
accessible and I that I may not have proper permissions for that
access. Note - I have set the permission level on all machines to
EVERYONE.

Thank you again for your interest because I am really getting
disgusted.
XieXie
Wei

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

I could change the XP login username to match that of the
W7 machines, but I really don't see what good that would do.

It would make it work, that's what good it would do.

I didn't change any user names, I added accounts as needed. And I made
sure that the same account names appeared on each unit.

And I gave each account a password, since AFAIK, it's required for this
to work.

This info is in my other recent post.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

I want to emphasize something that may not be completely clear at this
moment.

The password does not belong to the workgroup, it belongs to a user on
each computer. An account used for sharing must have a password.

I made sharing work by having an account on each computer with the same
account name and the same password. I chose to make that account a
standard account, not an administrator account.

And I'll also emphasize John's remark that you need to use a workgroup,
since XP can't join a homegroup.

As an aside, the extra account on this computer has the same name as the
owner's account on the other computer. I forget if I did the
corresponding thing on the other computer, but I probably didn't have
to.

The other computer does have an account with this computer's main user
name; that account is set as a standard user.

 

[Don Phillipson]

When I set up the workgroup on my XP machines, I did not use a
password, and further did not even see setting a workgroup password to
be an option. Being a single user, my 'welcome' logon user choice is
singular and does not use a password either. Then I come to Windows 7
and find a new word (great!) 'homegroup'. So are you saying I should
set up a homegroup on the W7 machines complete with password? I don't

You need not bother with Win7 homegroups (designed for public networks,
not private ones): just specify a single workgroup, the same name on all
PCs.
Woody Leonhard's Windows7 for Dummies explains all this clearly (and the
limitations to "Win7 Premium," designed to make you upgrade to
"Professional.")

 

[wei]

It would make it work, that's what good it would do.

Yep you're right on that one. I created an account on XP machine with
same name as account on W7 machine, and I can not at least access
files/folders from XP to W7 which I could not do before. Of course
the new XP account lost all of the old accounts settings, so I need to
figure out how to copy setting from the old account to the new. I
assume there is a way. Hope so. I couldn't simply rename the old
account to the new name, which is why I created the new account just
to see if it file-shared which it did. Of course I still cannot
file-share between W7 machines.
XieXie
Wei

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Yep you're right on that one. I created an account on XP machine with
same name as account on W7 machine, and I can not at least access
files/folders from XP to W7 which I could not do before. Of course
the new XP account lost all of the old accounts settings, so I need to
figure out how to copy setting from the old account to the new. I
assume there is a way. Hope so. I couldn't simply rename the old
account to the new name, which is why I created the new account just
to see if it file-shared which it did. Of course I still cannot
file-share between W7 machines.
XieXie
Wei

To be honest, I don't often need to transfer files between machines, so
rather than set up sharing, most often I just copy them to the public
folder in one of the machines so the other one can see them. I haven't
tried hard to make Windows networks work, because I too have problems.

To be *really* honest, I'm not always able to fully understand Windows
networks - you're lucky I knew enough to tell you as much as I did

 

[pjp]

To be honest, I don't often need to transfer files between machines, so
rather than set up sharing, most often I just copy them to the public
folder in one of the machines so the other one can see them. I haven't
tried hard to make Windows networks work, because I too have problems.

To be *really* honest, I'm not always able to fully understand Windows
networks - you're lucky I knew enough to tell you as much as I did

I've been reading this thread and am a little confused by the problems
mentioned.

I run a mix of 98se, XP (Home & Pro), Vista and Win7 pc's at home. All
are using WORKGROUP and it's "wide" open in sense no one needs login
credentials to access a share from any other pc. All the pc's have a
Temp folder's that shared with read-write permissions

I remember Vista being somewhat a pain at first having to manually set
permissions for "Everyone" if memory serves me right but under Win7 it
seems easier.

I just checked if it is that simple. I opened Explorer, picked a folder
on my backup drive, right clicked and choose Share With and selected
Specific People, insured Everyone had Read/Write access and closed out
the dialogs. Went over to a handy XP pc, opened Workgroup, selected the
Win7 pc, it displayed the share which I double clicked and opened. Files
were as expected. I copied a small file over to it and back with no
problems.

 

[Ken1943]

I've been reading this thread and am a little confused by the problems
mentioned.

I run a mix of 98se, XP (Home & Pro), Vista and Win7 pc's at home. All
are using WORKGROUP and it's "wide" open in sense no one needs login
credentials to access a share from any other pc. All the pc's have a
Temp folder's that shared with read-write permissions

I remember Vista being somewhat a pain at first having to manually set
permissions for "Everyone" if memory serves me right but under Win7 it
seems easier.

I just checked if it is that simple. I opened Explorer, picked a folder
on my backup drive, right clicked and choose Share With and selected
Specific People, insured Everyone had Read/Write access and closed out
the dialogs. Went over to a handy XP pc, opened Workgroup, selected the
Win7 pc, it displayed the share which I double clicked and opened. Files
were as expected. I copied a small file over to it and back with no
problems.

That's the way to go. Use a WORKGROUP and add user EVERYONE to folder
permissions.

That info is on the net, but seems to get lost with all the other METHODS
? around.


KenW

 

[wei]

You need not bother with Win7 homegroups (designed for public networks,
not private ones): just specify a single workgroup, the same name on all
PCs.
Woody Leonhard's Windows7 for Dummies explains all this clearly (and the
limitations to "Win7 Premium," designed to make you upgrade to
"Professional.")

What I to know at this point is how to copy one user's profile
(settings) to replace another's on the same XP desktop.
That is because I have sharing working from my XP desktop to my W7
desktop now, but to do it I had to create a second user on the XP
desktop with same username and password as is active on my W7 desktop.
However, that XP user now is devoid of any of the desktop icons or
other settings that the first XP user had. In fact it is pretty
virgin - 3 icons and no modified display settings. I did that because
XP would not allow me to simply change the initial username (and
password) from simple 'administrator' to the one used on the W7
desktop - namely 'ME'.

Again - what I want to do on the XP desktop is give all of the
original user's profile to the second, and working, user. XP provides
a 'copy' for that. But I can't make it work.

Then I will remove the first username altogether.
Seems basic enough - but this dummy can't do it.

XieXie
Wei

 

[apuzzler]

I am stuck.

I want to set up file sharing (read & write) between my desktops and
my new Toshiba. I have done this before in XP between desktops with
few problems. They always have been connected 'wired' (CAT5) to my
router. Two of my desktops also have W7 installed and working
(bootable) on one of the desktop's hard drives. I have always been
able to file share from W7 to XP, but not vice versa. I could work
with that though.

Now I have the new Toshiba with W7 of course connected wireless to my
router. Like the other W7's, it can file share with XP drives on my
desktops. But I cannot file share between the Toshiba and a W7
desktop or vice versa, The error I get is that I lack privileges to
access the folders/files on a second machine. I think I am using
network sharing and not the so-called homegroup file sharing.

I have tried several Google suggestions, to no avail. Likewise W7
help. I am set up as a single user with administrator privileges.

Any ideas???

XieXie
Wei

Wei,
I spent weeks tearing my hair out over this problem. Our network has a
combination of both XP & Win 7 machines. For your XP machines to see the
Win 7 machines you will have to do the following:
On the Win 7 Machines right click on My Computer and then right click on the
Hard disks you want to share. You will see a box with several tabs. The
two you will need to mess with are Security & Sharing. In Security you will
have to click on the Edit button and add "Everyone" and then make sure
"Everyone" has Full Control, and all the boxes checked in the box below. In
Sharing choose Advanced Sharing, then Permissions. The only group or names
listed in that box should be "Everyone" (Use the Remove button to rid of any
other names or group in that box and then make sure that Full Control,
Change, and Read are all checked. You will have to go back and forth
between the Security and Sharing a few times to get this straightened out
because if it isn't done in the correct order (and I still haven't figured
that out yet) it won't let you finish. I know that at least once during the
process you will have to go back to the Security tab and remove that line
"deny" for everyone--for some reason that always comes up during this
sharing process and has to be removed (but there will be a line that for
Everyone that allows, so leave it.)

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

What I to know at this point is how to copy one user's profile
(settings) to replace another's on the same XP desktop.
That is because I have sharing working from my XP desktop to my W7
desktop now, but to do it I had to create a second user on the XP
desktop with same username and password as is active on my W7 desktop.
However, that XP user now is devoid of any of the desktop icons or
other settings that the first XP user had. In fact it is pretty
virgin - 3 icons and no modified display settings. I did that because
XP would not allow me to simply change the initial username (and
password) from simple 'administrator' to the one used on the W7
desktop - namely 'ME'.

Again - what I want to do on the XP desktop is give all of the
original user's profile to the second, and working, user. XP provides
a 'copy' for that. But I can't make it work.

Then I will remove the first username altogether.
Seems basic enough - but this dummy can't do it.

XieXie
Wei

Well, I never (I mean *never*) log in to the extra user I set up for the
network. Just having it there seems to be enough to get networking to
function adequately.

So it just doesn't matter what that user's setup looks like.

Ken1943 suggests setting folder permissions to EVERYONE. I haven't tried
that, but my needs are modest, so I won't, especially given that I have
a degree of paranoia...

 

[Ken1943]

Well, I never (I mean *never*) log in to the extra user I set up for the
network. Just having it there seems to be enough to get networking to
function adequately.

So it just doesn't matter what that user's setup looks like.

Ken1943 suggests setting folder permissions to EVERYONE. I haven't tried
that, but my needs are modest, so I won't, especially given that I have
a degree of paranoia...

On 4 computers I have a D partition and one folder that I use to download
files on my C partition which I share ( using the everyone user in
permissions for one folder and D )

Say I get an update for CCleaner, most of the time I copy the update to a
flash drive and install it on the other 3 computers.

Just as easy. I really only set up sharing to see if it would work, LOL


KenW

 

[wei]

Wei,
I spent weeks tearing my hair out over this problem.

As have I

Our network has a
combination of both XP & Win 7 machines.

As have I

For your XP machines to see the
Win 7 machines you will have to do the following:
On the Win 7 Machines right click on My Computer and then right click on the
Hard disks you want to share. You will see a box with several tabs. The
two you will need to mess with are Security & Sharing. In Security you will
have to click on the Edit button and add "Everyone" and then make sure
"Everyone" has Full Control, and all the boxes checked in the box below.

Dealing with the Security tab made it work for me. I had missed the
Security tab, until now.

In Sharing choose Advanced Sharing, then Permissions. The only group or names
listed in that box should be "Everyone" (Use the Remove button to rid of any
other names or group in that box and then make sure that Full Control,
Change, and Read are all checked.

Mine were set okay as far as I could see. I was smart enuff to do
that.

You will have to go back and forth
between the Security and Sharing a few times to get this straightened out
because if it isn't done in the correct order (and I still haven't figured
that out yet) it won't let you finish. I know that at least once during the
process you will have to go back to the Security tab and remove that line
"deny" for everyone--for some reason that always comes up during this
sharing process and has to be removed (but there will be a line that for
Everyone that allows, so leave it.)

So now all is good. I was ready to remove W7 that came with the new
laptop in favor of another XP. Sharing with XP was never a problem to
me. The W7 on the desktop was there just as a test before I received
the laptop. I wanted to be ready! I thank you all for bearing with
me. All I can say at this point is you gotta be kidding. The level
of obscurity and difficulty exceeds my elderly capabilities, which are
thin these days. But then, the more 'golden' my golden years
become, the dumber I get.

XieXie

Wei

 

[Gene Wirchenko]

On Fri, 6 Jul 2012 11:38:40 -0700, "Gene E. Bloch"

[snip]

Ken1943 suggests setting folder permissions to EVERYONE. I haven't tried
that, but my needs are modest, so I won't, especially given that I have
a degree of paranoia...

If you are paranoid, you can never be sure that you are paranoid
enough.

I run with cookies and JavaScript disabled for all but a few
sites. I have been insulted for this at times, but I think I do a
good job of avoiding malware.

But I am not perfect. I once got bit by accidentally
doubleclicking on the malfile when I meant to click to select it so
that I could delete it.

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

As have I


As have I


Dealing with the Security tab made it work for me. I had missed the
Security tab, until now.


Mine were set okay as far as I could see. I was smart enuff to do
that.


So now all is good. I was ready to remove W7 that came with the new
laptop in favor of another XP. Sharing with XP was never a problem to
me. The W7 on the desktop was there just as a test before I received
the laptop. I wanted to be ready! I thank you all for bearing with
me. All I can say at this point is you gotta be kidding. The level
of obscurity and difficulty exceeds my elderly capabilities, which are
thin these days. But then, the more 'golden' my golden years
become, the dumber I get.

XieXie

Wei

Sounds like you're doing fine - and you really didn't even need to play
the age card