Network Tips - XP Pro

Stephen · Post by **Stephen** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 09:21

* Note: Firmware versions 01.04.144 and later now have a 'Windows Sharing' option for setting the default Username and Password for the beyonwiz to use when accessing network shares.

When setting up the network connectivity on the BW, I encountered some hinderances which were easily sorted out once pointed in the right direction. I have included this post to assist others work through similar network issues with XP Pro.

All of the information is posted throughout these forums but it can be a tedious process of reading through all the posts to extract the key information. Maybe additional Sticky posts can be setup within each forum category to summarise useful information posted for easy reference.

Firstly, my issues generally seem to have arisen due to taking steps in the past to lock out unwanted network access. Anybody doing this would generally block access by the Guest user. * See Note above. Unfortunately at present the BW relies on the Guest account to establish network shares and herein lies the conflict (I would much prefer support for a configurable user / password). I'm not sure what the default XP Pro settings are & whether any others would need to be changed.

1. Guest Account
[Adminstrative Tools > Computer Management > Local Users and Groups]
- Ensure Guest account is not disabled
- Ensure Guest password is blank
{Note that Guest is automatically a member of Everybody group}

2. Computer Local Polices
[Adminstrative Tools > Local Security Policy > Local Users and Groups > Local Policies > User Rights Assignments]
"Access this computer from network" - Ensure "Everybody" group and/or "Guest" user is included in list
"Deny Access to this computer from the network" - Ensure "Guest" user is not included in list

3. Shares
Setup shares as detailed in the sticky note already posted
{Note also the number of connections to the share can be restricted (eg to 1) if required}

4. Security
Setup security for shared NTFS volumes as detailed in the sticky note already posted
{Note that "Full Control" may be too much access freedom Guest access on some networks. Possibly only allow:
"Read and Execute", "List Folder Contents", "Read"}

5. Firewall (PC Software)
- Ensure that the BW's TCP/IP address is included within the Trusted list to access the PC over the network. I've Trusted a subnet group rather than a specific address.

Cheers

DaveR · Post by **DaveR** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 19:02

Stephen wrote:Unfortunately at present the BW relies on the Guest account to establish network shares and herein lies the conflict (I would much prefer support for a configurable user / password).

I believe this will be amended in the next firmware release.

DaveR · Post by **DaveR** » Sat Sep 01, 2007 16:20

While playing with my network shares today I noticed that my guest account is disabled. So it seems that enabling the guest account is not needed to get the bw to communicate with a Windows PC.

alwayslooking · Post by **alwayslooking** » Sat Sep 01, 2007 16:35

If you didn't have to enter a user/pass on the bw to access the PC that's a bit of a security concern.
Do you have shares with "Everyone" with read/list/execute in the permissions?
I found I needed to enable to guest account when I was setting one up as the bw wouldn't connect until I did. After that it worked fine.

DaveR · Post by **DaveR** » Sat Sep 01, 2007 17:13

alwayslooking wrote:Do you have shares with "Everyone" with read/list/execute in the permissions?

Yep. I gave 'Everyone' full access to the shared directories (on my main PC).

Hmm, but I didn't do that on any of the other networked PCs. They just appeared in the BW's list of network shares.

DaveR · Post by **DaveR** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 22:14

Dave? wrote:While playing with my network shares today I noticed that my guest account is disabled. So it seems that enabling the guest account is not needed to get the bw to communicate with a Windows PC.

Hmm, while the beyonwiz can access my PC after I disable the guest account, if I 'Clear All PC' and then 'Scan' it won't find my PC... until I enable the guest account.

So enabling the guest account IS necessary for the Scan to find the PC.
But once found, you can continue to access the PC with the guest account disabled (assuming Everyone permissions are set to allow anomymous access).

bohemian · Post by **bohemian** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 01:06

Dave? wrote:
Dave? wrote:While playing with my network shares today I noticed that my guest account is disabled. So it seems that enabling the guest account is not needed to get the bw to communicate with a Windows PC.
Hmm, while the beyonwiz can access my PC after I disable the guest account, if I 'Clear All PC' and then 'Scan' it won't find my PC... until I enable the guest account.

So enabling the guest account IS necessary for the Scan to find the PC.
But once found, you can continue to access the PC with the guest account disabled (assuming Everyone permissions are set to allow anomymous access).

Yes I have found something similar experimenting with the restrictanonymous registry key.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa]

"restrictanonymous"=dword:00000000

A value 0 allows guest access, a value of 1 blocks the guest access.

But as you have found if restrictanonymous = 0 , I can successfully scan for networked shares. If I then change restrictanonymous = 1, I can still use the shares I found earlier.

Not sure how this can be, it appears the Bwiz holds onto the valid access it previously had even though the PC should be blocking guest acces once restrictanonymous is set back to 1.

Mork · Post by **Mork** » Sun Oct 07, 2007 16:17

In Firmware version 01.04.144, you can add SMB (Windows) security to the Wiz. This means that you can use your Windows username/password, or create a user/password for the Wiz (Eg "MyWizuser") in windows, then if you make sure that you add the "users' group or the "MyWizUser" to the share permissions as Read, Change and Full Access you can work with the share and not worry about the potential security problems of giving "Guest" and "everyone" access.

Extra security hint....
You can also then disable the "guest" user account, and remove "everyone" from the share permissions.

PLANT · Post by **PLANT** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 08:51

Can someone please do a STEP BY STEP video of networking a Lappie via a crossover cord and post it on YOUTUBE!

prl · Post by **prl** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 09:01

Hi, PLANT. Remember that almost everyone who posts here is simply another Beyonwiz owner. A few people from Beyonwiz Australia and Korea post sometimes, but generally not to provide customer support, and no-one who's been responding to your posts trying to help you with your networking problem works for Beyonwiz. What you're asking for is pretty time-demanding. Someone may be able to do it, but it's a pretty big ask.

Gully · Post by **Gully** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 09:20

It is also worth realising that there would be a few variations in what people see on their screens so one video would not be enough, even one per OS might not do it.

SJ2571 · Post by **SJ2571** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 11:12

PLANT wrote:Can someone please do a STEP BY STEP video of networking a Lappie via a crossover cord and post it on YOUTUBE!

+1

This sort of thing is needed badly! Even just one video to show us HOW to get started.

IanSav · Post by **IanSav** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 11:37

Hi,

Aren't these network basics a bit beyond the scope of the Beyonwiz forum. This is after all a PVR and media player product. There are many sites on the Internet that offer networking setup help. The network specifics of the Beyonwiz are very much alike to many other networking devices out there. I suggest you spend a few seconds in Google and you should hit millions of sites that will assist you with setting up networks.

I for one spend enough time in here trying to help with and research Beyonwiz related issues without needing to branch into computer and networking support. I suspect that a number of other helpers in here would feel the same way. Remember most of us are not Beyonwiz staff and are not paid to be here, please don't ask for even more of our time when there are already masses of this information out there.

Regards,
Ian.

prl · Post by **prl** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 12:00

A step-by-step video

"Tell him he's dreaming."

SJ2571 · Post by **SJ2571** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 14:16

> I suggest you spend a few seconds in Google and you should hit millions of sites that
> will assist you with setting up networks.

And yet, nothing found in Google helps. I've been trying for two days now. There's so many
posts asking for networking help in these forums that it proves there's issues. It's not as simple
as a Google result would imply. Do a search here for "network help" for 123 matches.

As for a step-by-step video, I'll do one if I ever get this working.

IanSav · Post by **IanSav** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 15:28

Hi SJ2571,

SJ2571 wrote:And yet, nothing found in Google helps. I've been trying for two days now. There's so many posts asking for networking help in these forums that it proves there's issues. It's not as simple as a Google result would imply. Do a search here for "network help" for 123 matches.

It sound like you need to visit your local computer shop and see if they can come out and help you get your network setup for you. Setting up home networks is well beyond the scope of this forum.

SJ2571 wrote:As for a step-by-step video, I'll do one if I ever get this working.

What is right for one computer will probably have little or no relevance to anyone else. This is the nature of modern networks. Different hardware, different software etc makes a single step-by-step video unrealistic.

Regards,
Ian.

bjbaker · Post by **bjbaker** » Sat Aug 16, 2008 17:24

I have had a Beyonwiz since August 2007.
There were some initial difficulties, but following the faq's here I was able to get it to access shares on my XP machine using the guest account. With later firmware I changed to a proper username and password. All was good. The BW could see my other machines that offer shares (W2K Server and a non-Windows, non-Samba server)

Now I have a new PC. I installed XP and added it to my Domain. The other PCs can access the shares on in, and it can access shares on the other PCs. Using WizFX it can pull recordings off the Beyonwiz. But the Beyonwiz refuses to see it..

I went back to basics and tried to repeat what had happened with the previous XP PC. So I enabled access for guest, and set security on the shares to give everyone access. I checked the registry value and that was 0. I even set the BW back to factory defaults and formatted the disk to ensure there was no lingering information that would differentiate between the old and new XP PCs. The BW still only finds the old PC.

Obviously there is a setting on the new XP PC that has eluded me, and it is driving me nuts. This is the only thing stopping me blowing away the old XP machine and reloading it with W2K server.

I have a notebook running XP, so out of perversity I told that to share a folder. A scan on the BW found it immediately.

I have compared settings on the Guest account (which I am sure is still required as the message I get from the DS10 is "Guest access is not enabled", but that's another story). The Local Security Settings are very similar (for some reason a few settings that were "Undefined" on the old system are set on the new system). Whether Firewall is turned on or off seems not to matter.

I am beginning to think I won't be streaming anything from the new PC.

IanSav · Post by **IanSav** » Sat Aug 16, 2008 18:13

Hi Bruce,

I suspect your problems are due to different sharing and security arrangements that occur when you are in a domain (as opposed to working in a work-group). Domains are not normally found in a domestic scenario.

Regards,
Ian.

bjbaker · Post by **bjbaker** » Sat Aug 16, 2008 18:53

IanSav wrote:Hi Bruce,

I suspect your problems are due to different sharing and security arrangements that occur when you are in a domain (as opposed to working in a work-group). Domains are not normally found in a domestic scenario.

Regards,
Ian.

Hi Ian.

Just cracked it. I reset the password on the local account and now the BW sees the new machine.

Your suggestion actually pointed me in the right direction Ian. I thought about what would be different in the non-domain version of my setup, and that would involve logging into a local account instead of the Domain. So I checked the local account settings. They looked OK, but I reset the password to be sure. It must have been set wrong, and since it wasn't being used to log in that wasn't obvious.

From the BW's perspective the Domain is irrelevant.

Thanks for the help.

bjbaker · Post by **bjbaker** » Sun Feb 26, 2012 11:58

Last November my Windows Domain controller failed catastrophically (a motherboard failure that took out both RAID1 system disks). I finally got round to rebuilding the system with new guts. As part of that I changed from using Windows 2000 server to Windows 2008 server. That imposed new password strength rules on me. So I had to change my password to something more complex. When I added my other 3 PCs (1x Win7, 2x WinXP) back into the new domain they then had to be logged into with that new password.

When I tried to look at a share on a PC from my H1 I was denied access until I updated the password in the Windows Sharing setup. No problem so far. This weekend I wanted to stream some video from a PC through my P1. No problem there, as I just had to change the password in the P1.

But then I looked at my P2. I fixed the password and went to the Network in the File viewer. It didn't see the PCs. I tried scanning, and all it could see was the P1 (& H1 if turned on). The physical network is fine (Iceguide and WizFX work with all of the PVRs).

Nothing I could think of helped. Everything was configured the same as the P1 except for the Device name, WizPNP name and IP addess. Trying to add PCs via the IP address failed. So I cleared the PCs in Network list in the P1 and rescanned. Nothing but the P2 (H1 was turned off by then) showed up.

So I started searching this forum and finally came across this old thread.

I have now set the password of my Local account (same username as the Domain account, and as used in the Windows Sharing setting in the Beyonwizs) on the 2x WinXP and 1x Win7 PCs.

A scan on the P1 & P2 now shows up the 2x WinXP PCs.

It does not find the Win7 PC.

Because there is no Local user on a Domain controller, that host may never be seen. Interestingly, the previous Windows 2000 Server was visible and usable. The H1 still had an entry for that PC, and since I re-used the address for the new server, I was able to browse the Windows 2008 server shares. Clearing and rescanning the PCs on the H1 means that has gone away now.

So to initially locate a PC via a scan, the username and password set in the Windows Sharing settings on the Beyonwiz must match a Local account on the PC. The workgroup field is ignored. Once the PC has been located the workgroup field is used as the domain name for accessing shares.

This may not be high in the overall wishlist, but I believe it would be better to always honour the workgroup field. So my W2K8 server, which has a 5+ TB file share, would be found by a scan. Also nice to have would be the ability to add additional credential sets in the Windows Sharing settings. Yes, I do have more than 1 domain at home as some file servers simply cannot be added to the Windows Domain.

runts · Post by **runts** » Fri Mar 02, 2012 09:10

I've just upgraded from Vista to Win7 Ultimate and can no longer see the PC. Neither can I see a Win 7 laptop. I can still scan and find an XP laptop and a Canon printer memory on the network. [As an aside, the scan now seems to take an extraordinarily long time. I'm used to it hanging at 49% for a few seconds but it does that for over a minute and then sometimes progresses up to mid 80%. I hadn't seen this previously]

So far I have tried a workgroup and the previous working solution which was a dedicated username and password.

I have noted there doesn't appear to be a 'sticky' for Win 7 networking. Any assistance would be appreciated.

Cheers

raymondjpg · Post by **raymondjpg** » Fri Mar 02, 2012 10:34

runts wrote:I've just upgraded from Vista to Win7 Ultimate and can no longer see the PC. Neither can I see a Win 7 laptop. I can still scan and find an XP laptop and a Canon printer memory on the network. [As an aside, the scan now seems to take an extraordinarily long time. I'm used to it hanging at 49% for a few seconds but it does that for over a minute and then sometimes progresses up to mid 80%. I hadn't seen this previously]

So far I have tried a workgroup and the previous working solution which was a dedicated username and password.

I have noted there doesn't appear to be a 'sticky' for Win 7 networking. Any assistance would be appreciated.

Cheers

Try this:

1. Make sure that the PC you upgraded to has sharing enabled on the folders you want to share. and add the guest account (read only) to the "Choose people to share with" tab under folder|properties|sharing
2. Re-scan the shares (red button) under the file player menu in the BW.

Note that the green button will not find a Win 7 PC (at least using the green button in a DP-P2).

I did suggest a sticky on Win 7 networking at one stage but wasn't game to write it myself. For people new to Win 7 there are quite a few new steps to go through compared to XP, and that may be the case when upgrading from Vista (I skipped that o/s myself so have no experience of it). If what I have suggested does not work, there may be some settings under Network and Sharing Center|Advanced sharing settings that need changing.

runts · Post by **runts** » Fri Mar 02, 2012 11:09

Thanks. I had enabled sharing on relevant folders but not enabled the Guest account. I'll try tonight. Do I need to use 'Guest' as the BW username and if so a password?

raymondjpg · Post by **raymondjpg** » Fri Mar 02, 2012 11:39

runts wrote:Thanks. I had enabled sharing on relevant folders but not enabled the Guest account. I'll try tonight. Do I need to use 'Guest' as the BW username and if so a password?

Not in my experience. Unless something has changed with Windows updates since I set mine up, what you have as BW username and password is irrelevant.

Just enable the guest account (read only) on the Win 7 shares. If you have any concerns about network security, you could explore other username/password options, but AFAIK enabling the guest account is the only way to get a BW to see Win 7 shares.

prl · Post by **prl** » Fri Mar 02, 2012 15:18

IIRC, if the Beyonwiz's attempt to authenticate to the Windows share server using the Username/Password in the Beyonwiz Windows Sharing setup fails, it then tries to authenticate as Guest (without a password).

grampus · Post by **grampus** » Fri Mar 02, 2012 18:23

prl wrote:IIRC, if the Beyonwiz's attempt to authenticate to the Windows share server using the Username/Password in the Beyonwiz Windows Sharing setup fails, it then tries to authenticate as Guest (without a password).

One of the major items that resolved my problem with WIN7, was to leave the Homegroup.
This put me into a workgroup.
There were a couple of other things that I disables, to do with passwording prior to this, and I haven't regressed it all to see whta was really needed, but, leaving HOMEGROUP, and using workgroup on the BW finall gave me access.

Someone waaayy back made the observation that HOMEGROUP was only for Win 7 machines. Right ot wrong I can't say, but that's what sent me down the leave HOMEGROUP path.

grampus · Post by **grampus** » Fri Mar 02, 2012 19:05

Just as an aside, I cleared all fields in my BW in the windows sharing, I was able to get at what I needed without login, so I guess I have REALLY opened the PC up to the world, now at some stage, when I some time, I'll start to put all the authentication back again, and work through it.

raymondjpg · Post by **raymondjpg** » Fri Mar 02, 2012 20:02

grampus wrote:Someone waaayy back made the observation that HOMEGROUP was only for Win 7 machines. Right ot wrong I can't say, but that's what sent me down the leave HOMEGROUP path.

Right!!! And it makes no difference to Workgroup sharing if you are in a Homegroup or not. But without another Win 7 machine on the network then being in a Homegroup is just a waste of time, if not PC resources (if it consumes any).

grampus wrote:...so I guess I have REALLY opened the PC up to the world, now at some stage, when I some time, I'll start to put all the authentication back again, and work through it.

Good luck with putting it back in, If you want the BW to see the Win 7 shares I haven't heard of anyone, or seen any evidence on this forum, of any other strategy than enabling the guest account on the shares. I would be delighted if someone could advise otherwise.

Enabling the guest account on the shares effectively opens up your pc to anyone else on the network, not really to the world. If someone can get past your NAT router and firewall(s) they would be savvy enough to hack an admin account to see anything they wanted to.

What I would be more concerned about (not that I am in this situation) is if I had users on the home network who I would prefer not to have access to particular shares on a Win 7 PC, for example children who may have a second (or third) BW and TV in their rooms.

While I guess that this issue is primarily about MS obsession with security in Win 7, which appears to come at the expense of the sort of networking functionality we enjoyed in XP, I would suggest that BW has had sufficient time now that it could have been addressed in a firmware update.

That is unless someone here can come up with a better way of securing shares in Win 7.

//end rant

grampus · Post by **grampus** » Fri Mar 02, 2012 20:08

Being a G.O.F., nobody else in my place has access to my PC, 'cos its just me.
So, one day I may try to work my way back to putting a few restrictions on, to enable some form of authentication.
One day, One day. Reminds me of a song.

runts · Post by **runts** » Sat Mar 03, 2012 23:03

Latest update. I turned off my McAfee Firewall and all came good!. I have now had to list the IPs for both my wizzes in the Firewall exceptions [despite them being within the existing nominated range and seen on the Trusted Network]. Didn't have to do this for either previous OS.

I then re-shared my folders to Guest only and still fine. When I get a chance I'll try a username/password combination to get some semblance of security back and give some more feedback.

Thanks for advice

raymondjpg · Post by **raymondjpg** » Sun Mar 04, 2012 07:49

runts wrote:I have now had to list the IPs for both my wizzes in the Firewall exceptions [despite them being within the existing nominated range and seen on the Trusted Network]. Didn't have to do this for either previous OS.

Similar with Outpost free firewall. NetBIOS and trusted need to be checked for full file sharing functionality with two PVRs (a Beyonwiz and a Topfield) and a media player on the Win 7 network, even if NetBIOS is enabled for the entire network range.

This has so far not been necessary for file sharing with another pc attached to the network running XP and Win 7 64 bit.