Vista - XP Computer cant see Vista computer (again!!!)

I have 3 computers in a workgroup - 2 XP SP2 and one Vista. The XP computers
could always see the Vista computer and could access particular shared
folders on it, but trying to access the C: drive at the root (which was
shared), they would get the familiar "you may not have permission / access is
denied" message.

After a lot of playing around, reading stuff on forums (not this one), etc.,
I was able finally to get the XP computers to be able to access the Vista
computer at c:\. (It involved changing the security settings for "Guest,"
which seemed strange to me becuase I did not have the Guest user account
enabled.)

A few days after I got this working, I went out of the country for a few
week. Took one XP laptop with me and left the other computers (the Vista
machine and the XP desktop) running. Both machines were still running when I
came back home and obviously neither had rebooted due to any kind of failure
(programs were still running that don't run at startup). However, once again
neither XP machine can access the Vista machine though both can see it. Even
worse, they cannot access particular shared folders, which they could always
do before. (The problem before was always just seeing the c:\ root level).

Here is the sharing setup of the VIsta computer:

1. In "network and sharing center"everything is turned on (green, checked)
except password protected sharing.

2. It is a member of the same workgroup as the XP computers.

3. Security settings on c:\ for all user types including Guest are "full
control."

4. The only firewall that has even been run on the Vista computer or either
of the XP computers is the Windows firewall, and it is set to allow File and
Printer sharing on all computers.

5. Antivirus on all in Trend Micro, but the trend Micro firewall is not
installed.

6. The Vista machine is set to bypass the login screen at startup (via
"control userpasswords2). For a while it seemed to me that any kind of logon
at startup without entering a password (the password was not enabled, etc.)
was problematic and that maybe Vista was designed not to allow sharing under
such circumstances, but it was working fine with this setup before I left
town.


So in short, beofre i left town, I was able to access the entire c: drive of
the Vista computer from the XP machines. Upon returning to town, I am
getting "access is denied" and cannot even view individually shared folders
on the Vista machine from the XP machines - even though the Vista computer
and the XP desktop were left running!! Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Post the result of net view \\vistaipaddress here may help.

Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN Troubleshooting on http://www.ChicagoTech.net
How to Setup Windows, Network, VPN & Remote Access on http://www.HowToNetworking.com
"smoddelm" <smoddelm@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:09BE4865-7B46-4908-A8C5-D678281A7FA8@microsoft.com...
I have 3 computers in a workgroup - 2 XP SP2 and one Vista. The XP computers
could always see the Vista computer and could access particular shared
folders on it, but trying to access the C: drive at the root (which was
shared), they would get the familiar "you may not have permission / access is
denied" message.

After a lot of playing around, reading stuff on forums (not this one), etc.,
I was able finally to get the XP computers to be able to access the Vista
computer at c:\. (It involved changing the security settings for "Guest,"
which seemed strange to me becuase I did not have the Guest user account
enabled.)

A few days after I got this working, I went out of the country for a few
week. Took one XP laptop with me and left the other computers (the Vista
machine and the XP desktop) running. Both machines were still running when I
came back home and obviously neither had rebooted due to any kind of failure
(programs were still running that don't run at startup). However, once again
neither XP machine can access the Vista machine though both can see it. Even
worse, they cannot access particular shared folders, which they could always
do before. (The problem before was always just seeing the c:\ root level).

Here is the sharing setup of the VIsta computer:

1. In "network and sharing center"everything is turned on (green, checked)
except password protected sharing.

2. It is a member of the same workgroup as the XP computers.

3. Security settings on c:\ for all user types including Guest are "full
control."

4. The only firewall that has even been run on the Vista computer or either
of the XP computers is the Windows firewall, and it is set to allow File and
Printer sharing on all computers.

5. Antivirus on all in Trend Micro, but the trend Micro firewall is not
installed.

6. The Vista machine is set to bypass the login screen at startup (via
"control userpasswords2). For a while it seemed to me that any kind of logon
at startup without entering a password (the password was not enabled, etc.)
was problematic and that maybe Vista was designed not to allow sharing under
such circumstances, but it was working fine with this setup before I left
town.


So in short, beofre i left town, I was able to access the entire c: drive of
the Vista computer from the XP machines. Upon returning to town, I am
getting "access is denied" and cannot even view individually shared folders
on the Vista machine from the XP machines - even though the Vista computer
and the XP desktop were left running!! Any suggestions would be appreciated.

It showed all of the items that are supposed to be specifically shared,
including the c:\ drive.

However, I discovered the solution, which I had done at the same time I
"liberalized" the guest permissions but evidently undid: changed
restrictanaonymous from 1 to 0

"Robert L [MVP - Networking]" wrote:

> Post the result of net view \\vistaipaddress here may help.
>
> Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
> Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN Troubleshooting on http://www.ChicagoTech.net
> How to Setup Windows, Network, VPN & Remote Access on http://www.HowToNetworking.com
> "smoddelm" <smoddelm@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:09BE4865-7B46-4908-A8C5-D678281A7FA8@microsoft.com...
> I have 3 computers in a workgroup - 2 XP SP2 and one Vista. The XP computers
> could always see the Vista computer and could access particular shared
> folders on it, but trying to access the C: drive at the root (which was
> shared), they would get the familiar "you may not have permission / access is
> denied" message.
>
> After a lot of playing around, reading stuff on forums (not this one), etc.,
> I was able finally to get the XP computers to be able to access the Vista
> computer at c:\. (It involved changing the security settings for "Guest,"
> which seemed strange to me becuase I did not have the Guest user account
> enabled.)
>
> A few days after I got this working, I went out of the country for a few
> week. Took one XP laptop with me and left the other computers (the Vista
> machine and the XP desktop) running. Both machines were still running when I
> came back home and obviously neither had rebooted due to any kind of failure
> (programs were still running that don't run at startup). However, once again
> neither XP machine can access the Vista machine though both can see it. Even
> worse, they cannot access particular shared folders, which they could always
> do before. (The problem before was always just seeing the c:\ root level).
>
> Here is the sharing setup of the VIsta computer:
>
> 1. In "network and sharing center"everything is turned on (green, checked)
> except password protected sharing.
>
> 2. It is a member of the same workgroup as the XP computers.
>
> 3. Security settings on c:\ for all user types including Guest are "full
> control."
>
> 4. The only firewall that has even been run on the Vista computer or either
> of the XP computers is the Windows firewall, and it is set to allow File and
> Printer sharing on all computers.
>
> 5. Antivirus on all in Trend Micro, but the trend Micro firewall is not
> installed.
>
> 6. The Vista machine is set to bypass the login screen at startup (via
> "control userpasswords2). For a while it seemed to me that any kind of logon
> at startup without entering a password (the password was not enabled, etc.)
> was problematic and that maybe Vista was designed not to allow sharing under
> such circumstances, but it was working fine with this setup before I left
> town.
>
>
> So in short, beofre i left town, I was able to access the entire c: drive of
> the Vista computer from the XP machines. Upon returning to town, I am
> getting "access is denied" and cannot even view individually shared folders
> on the Vista machine from the XP machines - even though the Vista computer
> and the XP desktop were left running!! Any suggestions would be appreciated

Thank you for the feed back. For people who like to know more details about "restrictanaonymous from 1 to 0", check this link,

Error 5: You do not currently have ...Background: RestrictAnonymous controls whether null sessions, sessions that ... http://www.chicagotech.net/vista/vistanetissues.htm ...
http://www.chicagotech.net/netforums...asc&highlight=...


Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN Troubleshooting on http://www.ChicagoTech.net
How to Setup Windows, Network, VPN & Remote Access on http://www.HowToNetworking.com
"smoddelm" <smoddelm@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:A76BBD75-F569-4354-ACB7-673CCDF158CE@microsoft.com...
It showed all of the items that are supposed to be specifically shared,
including the c:\ drive.

However, I discovered the solution, which I had done at the same time I
"liberalized" the guest permissions but evidently undid: changed
restrictanaonymous from 1 to 0

"Robert L [MVP - Networking]" wrote:

> Post the result of net view \\vistaipaddress here may help.
>
> Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
> Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN Troubleshooting on http://www.ChicagoTech.net
> How to Setup Windows, Network, VPN & Remote Access on http://www.HowToNetworking.com
> "smoddelm" <smoddelm@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:09BE4865-7B46-4908-A8C5-D678281A7FA8@microsoft.com...
> I have 3 computers in a workgroup - 2 XP SP2 and one Vista. The XP computers
> could always see the Vista computer and could access particular shared
> folders on it, but trying to access the C: drive at the root (which was
> shared), they would get the familiar "you may not have permission / access is
> denied" message.
>
> After a lot of playing around, reading stuff on forums (not this one), etc.,
> I was able finally to get the XP computers to be able to access the Vista
> computer at c:\. (It involved changing the security settings for "Guest,"
> which seemed strange to me becuase I did not have the Guest user account
> enabled.)
>
> A few days after I got this working, I went out of the country for a few
> week. Took one XP laptop with me and left the other computers (the Vista
> machine and the XP desktop) running. Both machines were still running when I
> came back home and obviously neither had rebooted due to any kind of failure
> (programs were still running that don't run at startup). However, once again
> neither XP machine can access the Vista machine though both can see it. Even
> worse, they cannot access particular shared folders, which they could always
> do before. (The problem before was always just seeing the c:\ root level).
>
> Here is the sharing setup of the VIsta computer:
>
> 1. In "network and sharing center"everything is turned on (green, checked)
> except password protected sharing.
>
> 2. It is a member of the same workgroup as the XP computers.
>
> 3. Security settings on c:\ for all user types including Guest are "full
> control."
>
> 4. The only firewall that has even been run on the Vista computer or either
> of the XP computers is the Windows firewall, and it is set to allow File and
> Printer sharing on all computers.
>
> 5. Antivirus on all in Trend Micro, but the trend Micro firewall is not
> installed.
>
> 6. The Vista machine is set to bypass the login screen at startup (via
> "control userpasswords2). For a while it seemed to me that any kind of logon
> at startup without entering a password (the password was not enabled, etc.)
> was problematic and that maybe Vista was designed not to allow sharing under
> such circumstances, but it was working fine with this setup before I left
> town.
>
>
> So in short, beofre i left town, I was able to access the entire c: drive of
> the Vista computer from the XP machines. Upon returning to town, I am
> getting "access is denied" and cannot even view individually shared folders
> on the Vista machine from the XP machines - even though the Vista computer
> and the XP desktop were left running!! Any suggestions would be appreciated

Robert L,

Looking at all I did to get this to work, did I do anything that I can
probably undo to get back to a more secure system without causing the same
problem again? Thanks.

"Robert L [MVP - Networking]" wrote:

> Thank you for the feed back. For people who like to know more details about "restrictanaonymous from 1 to 0", check this link,
>
> Error 5: You do not currently have ...Background: RestrictAnonymous controls whether null sessions, sessions that ... http://www.chicagotech.net/vista/vistanetissues.htm ...
> http://www.chicagotech.net/netforums...asc&highlight=...
>
>
> Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
> Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN Troubleshooting on http://www.ChicagoTech.net
> How to Setup Windows, Network, VPN & Remote Access on http://www.HowToNetworking.com
> "smoddelm" <smoddelm@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:A76BBD75-F569-4354-ACB7-673CCDF158CE@microsoft.com...
> It showed all of the items that are supposed to be specifically shared,
> including the c:\ drive.
>
> However, I discovered the solution, which I had done at the same time I
> "liberalized" the guest permissions but evidently undid: changed
> restrictanaonymous from 1 to 0
>
> "Robert L [MVP - Networking]" wrote:
>
> > Post the result of net view \\vistaipaddress here may help.
> >
> > Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
> > Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN Troubleshooting on http://www.ChicagoTech.net
> > How to Setup Windows, Network, VPN & Remote Access on http://www.HowToNetworking.com
> > "smoddelm" <smoddelm@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:09BE4865-7B46-4908-A8C5-D678281A7FA8@microsoft.com...
> > I have 3 computers in a workgroup - 2 XP SP2 and one Vista. The XP computers
> > could always see the Vista computer and could access particular shared
> > folders on it, but trying to access the C: drive at the root (which was
> > shared), they would get the familiar "you may not have permission / access is
> > denied" message.
> >
> > After a lot of playing around, reading stuff on forums (not this one), etc.,
> > I was able finally to get the XP computers to be able to access the Vista
> > computer at c:\. (It involved changing the security settings for "Guest,"
> > which seemed strange to me becuase I did not have the Guest user account
> > enabled.)
> >
> > A few days after I got this working, I went out of the country for a few
> > week. Took one XP laptop with me and left the other computers (the Vista
> > machine and the XP desktop) running. Both machines were still running when I
> > came back home and obviously neither had rebooted due to any kind of failure
> > (programs were still running that don't run at startup). However, once again
> > neither XP machine can access the Vista machine though both can see it. Even
> > worse, they cannot access particular shared folders, which they could always
> > do before. (The problem before was always just seeing the c:\ root level).
> >
> > Here is the sharing setup of the VIsta computer:
> >
> > 1. In "network and sharing center"everything is turned on (green, checked)
> > except password protected sharing.
> >
> > 2. It is a member of the same workgroup as the XP computers.
> >
> > 3. Security settings on c:\ for all user types including Guest are "full
> > control."
> >
> > 4. The only firewall that has even been run on the Vista computer or either
> > of the XP computers is the Windows firewall, and it is set to allow File and
> > Printer sharing on all computers.
> >
> > 5. Antivirus on all in Trend Micro, but the trend Micro firewall is not
> > installed.
> >
> > 6. The Vista machine is set to bypass the login screen at startup (via
> > "control userpasswords2). For a while it seemed to me that any kind of logon
> > at startup without entering a password (the password was not enabled, etc.)
> > was problematic and that maybe Vista was designed not to allow sharing under
> > such circumstances, but it was working fine with this setup before I left
> > town.
> >
> >
> > So in short, beofre i left town, I was able to access the entire c: drive of
> > the Vista computer from the XP machines. Upon returning to town, I am
> > getting "access is denied" and cannot even view individually shared folders
> > on the Vista machine from the XP machines - even though the Vista computer
> > and the XP desktop were left running!! Any suggestions would be appreciated