Solved One Share Target Shows Offline

Ok, I've been trying to solve this one all night. I have a Vista laptop and 5 XP Pro machines on my network. I have everything configured for 'no password' sharing and have been successfully sharing files across the machines for more than a year without a hitch.

This week, however, I lost the ability to access just one of my XP machines' files from the Vista laptop. When I access it from file explorer (\\office) I 'see' only one of the directories from which I have synch'd filed on the Vista machine, however when I select it, it says the target machine is offline. If I try to open a shortcut that points to the target 'Office' XP machine, I get a login panel saying the login was unsuccessful, however I've never had to login before and none of the accounts I have on the target machine work.

It just seems for some reason that the Vista machine doesn't want to connect to the target 'Office' machine any more.

I can access the target Office machine from my other XP machines with no problem and have full file access of shared folders and access to printrers to the 'Office' machine from the other XP machines. I can also access files on the Vista machine from the other XP machines.

I can also access files on the other XP machines from the Vista machine with no problem. It's this very specific access from the Vista machine to the specific (Office) machine that's hosed up.

I've gone through many web postings on sharing problems with no luck. I tried disparate things like re-installing the network card drivers, working in safe mode, making sure the workgroup is right, and so forth. Firewalls are off and I even booted with no startup programs to make sure nothing funny is going on there. Oh yea, I can ping the Offce machine fine from the vista machine.

Hmmmm. Any ideas?

That's quite a problem... you've already tried all the usual stuff. Have you rechecked the sharing permissions for your folders on the XP machine? You probably did, but didn't say so specifically so we'll start there. Right click the folder that's being shared, go to Properties, Sharing tab, Advanced Sharing. Make sure all your permissions are still set up correctly.

Ok ... permissions still look good. And I'm able to access the Office machine from the other XP machines. I also brought my Windows/7 laptop from the office and was able to access the Office machine's resources with no glitch. For the heck of it, I've also worked with the Vista machine on Ethernet and on Wireless to see if there would be any difference ... But ... nope ... it's consistent ... just can't seem to 'see' the \\Office machine to be online from the Vista animal ..... hmmmmm .....

Problem seems to be solved. After several evenings of hunting, searching, pecking, and re-pecking, I found the thing that made this thing work again. It's under Workgroup Password Problems in this forum. Why this started being a problem after a couple of years is still truly a mystery. Nevertheless .... Working again. Whew.

Glad to hear you got it figured out