Windows XP Home File Sharing

[Enterprise2002]

Hey all,

I know Windows XP Home only has Simple File Sharing and I have been running the same file shares for a while now, however I was wondering if it would be possible for force Windows XP to prompt every computer for login details of a local account.

At the minute it seems to be that any computer which is connected to the network can just open the file shares without any login details whatsoever.

Anything that can be done about this?

[ConstanceJill]

Perhaps you have to remove the rights to the group "Everyone" or something like that...
I'd recommend using Windows XP Home NTFS Security Shell Extension to have a closer look at the permissions and modify them if required.

[Enterprise2002]

I found that booting into Safe Mode gave me access to the UI needed to do that.
When I tried that I ended up with the network share becoming inaccessible to everyone, even though I'd specifically left the user I wanted to have access with permissions to do so.

When I tried to access the share from another computer it instantly told me access denied and gave me no opportunity to provide login details. I also tried creating the same account on both computers (with the same passwords) and it still gave me Access Denied.

yet, it works when 'Everyone' has the permissions to access it. Any other ideas as to what I can try?

[ConstanceJill]

Hmm... well if your users don't need to be able to open the files with the possibility to edit/save them over the network, I'd just go with a FTP server (such as FileZilla Server) : that's easier to manage xD
Yet it's not very satisfying if we don't find the solution to that problem :hmm:

[Freyr]

Originally Posted by Enterprise2002

I found that booting into Safe Mode gave me access to the UI needed to do that.
When I tried that I ended up with the network share becoming inaccessible to everyone, even though I'd specifically left the user I wanted to have access with permissions to do so.

When I tried to access the share from another computer it instantly told me access denied and gave me no opportunity to provide login details. I also tried creating the same account on both computers (with the same passwords) and it still gave me Access Denied.

yet, it works when 'Everyone' has the permissions to access it. Any other ideas as to what I can try?

That is because your not on a domain and your limited to local logons. Therefore the user details you have entered in the share (ie "user2" is actually stored as "mycomputername/user2") and while another computer might have a user account called "user2" the details are "anothercomputer/user2".

That's why it doesn't work.

The hiddden "guest" account on your computer is used to give remote unauthenticated access to your PC for network shares etc. Disabling it should require authentication details to be entered for any attempt to access anything on your computer.

[Sgt. D. Pilla]

That is because your not on a domain and your limited to local logons. Therefore the user details you have entered in the share (ie "user2" is actually stored as "mycomputername/user2") and while another computer might have a user account called "user2" the details are "anothercomputer/user2".

That's why it doesn't work.

The hiddden "guest" account on your computer is used to give remote unauthenticated access to your PC for network shares etc. Disabling it should require authentication details to be entered for any attempt to access anything on your computer.

Not to hijack a thread but...
How does one install a printer from a Win XP Home machine, to a Win 7 machine?
I've tried various things including setting up the same local accounts on each PC with same password (I remember having to do that for a client and their "XP Home Server" lol!)
I always get access denied, Tried enabling and disabling the guest account to, I never get prompted for credentials to enter, so can't exactly authenticate...
I just hate XP, its so much more complicated then it ever needed to be, yes, including XP Pro...

[Freyr]

Originally Posted by Sgt. D. Pilla

Not to hijack a thread but...
How does one install a printer from a Win XP Home machine, to a Win 7 machine?
I've tried various things including setting up the same local accounts on each PC with same password (I remember having to do that for a client and their "XP Home Server" lol!)
I always get access denied, Tried enabling and disabling the guest account to, I never get prompted for credentials to enter, so can't exactly authenticate...
I just hate XP, its so much more complicated then it ever needed to be, yes, including XP Pro...

Are you trying to ask how to share a network printer under XP Home and then install said shared printer under Win7?

[Enterprise2002]

Originally Posted by Freyr

That is because your not on a domain and your limited to local logons. Therefore the user details you have entered in the share (ie "user2" is actually stored as "mycomputername/user2") and while another computer might have a user account called "user2" the details are "anothercomputer/user2".

That's why it doesn't work.

The hiddden "guest" account on your computer is used to give remote unauthenticated access to your PC for network shares etc. Disabling it should require authentication details to be entered for any attempt to access anything on your computer.

How would I disable the guest account? Would that not be the 'Everyone' user?
When I removed the 'Everyone' user from having access to the share when I tried to access the share it did not ask me for any login details (so I could login as a user from the computer which has the share), and just gave me an access denied message.

How would I get it to prompt for details first? (which I thought it would have done.)

[ConstanceJill]

"Everyone" is a group, not a user.
The Guest account can be enable/disabled from Control Panel > User accounts > click on "Guest" and then you should have a button captionned like "Enable the Guest account" (should it be disabled)

[Enterprise2002]

Okay, from that then I take it anonymous users are part of the 'Everyone' group? And I thought I remembered reading that the guest account that could be enabled and disabled from the control panel is different to the guest account used to access network shares.

The guest account is disabled there in any case.