windows sharing isn't sharing

brendanjb · Post by **brendanjb** » Tue Oct 20, 2009 20:09

Hi,
I have a dpp2 which i'm trying to 'windows share' with my laptop.

The laptop is wirless connected with a blekin router, and the dpp2 is wired to the router.\

I have no trouble transferring from the dp to the laptop using wiztv, but i've tried everything i can think of/have read here but still can't get the dpp2 to find anything, either through scan or by 'finding pc'. I've followed the steps on the bw site as to how to share folders so i'm confident that the folders are 'shared' corect, but still no luck.

From what i can tell the firewall is off, so I'm wondering if there is something else i need to do in the router?

Does anyone have any tips or suggestions on other things to try?

thanks

tonymy01 · Post by **tonymy01** » Tue Oct 20, 2009 20:52

I just setup a new Vista machine a week ago, and had fun and games also (I didn't follow any guides, I simply used the intuitive and not so intuitive methods for sharing you normally do on a Windows system). In the end, (although I did make 2 changes at once....) enabling guest access on the PC worked (even though the folder I shared has got account and sharing privs only for the Beyonwiz account I setup on the PC and the Wiz). It seems with Vista that the Wiz can't see the fileserver exists unless you have guest access enabled.... well, not 100% sure on this as there is a couple of things you need to do with Vista, it may have been either.... maybe I will read the forum guide

With XP I may have already had the guest account enabled from something else years ago (my XP install was done in about 2003 I think) and it simply worked as expected (perhaps again because the guest account was enabled, or because of the way xp presents the system onto the network when the network polls for shared folders).

peteru · Post by **peteru** » Tue Oct 20, 2009 21:39

I reported a bug which manifests itself in a manner similar to what you describe. Your Windows networking machines must be configured to belong to a workgroup named WORKGROUP. If they use any other workgroup name, you will have to enable guest access on the machine that provides the shares.

tonymy01 · Post by **tonymy01** » Tue Oct 20, 2009 22:27

Workgroup: WORKGROUP (in my control panel system thing that Vista has)... so not entirely sure it is what you describe (but I did have your previous discussion about this matter in my head, so knew it could have been an issue!).

brendanjb · Post by **brendanjb** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 10:17

Thanks for the responses guys. Should probably have mentioned that I'm still running XP pro from about '06.

I originally had a guest account and an admin account, and tried to share the folders under the admin account (entering U/N and P/W in dpp2), but that didn't work, so I disabled the guest account (as I read that somewhere in the manual), but still no luck.

Should I be trying to share the folders under the guest account rather than the admin account?

Is that workgroup suggestion for Vista rather than XP?

peteru · Post by **peteru** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 11:07

brendanjb wrote:Is that workgroup suggestion for Vista rather than XP?

It applies to all operating systems - any version of Windows or even Mac OSX and Linux.

Swordfish805 · Post by **Swordfish805** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 09:12

Wait till you try Windows 7 - no workgroups any more.

peteru · Post by **peteru** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 10:13

It doesn't matter how Windows 7 implements the user interface, the underlying CIFS protocol requires a domain field (which is also used for the workgroup), so it has to come from somewhere.

Rockets · Post by **Rockets** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 14:59

Swordfish805 wrote:Wait till you try Windows 7 - no workgroups any more.

Oh it's still there. Off the Start menu right click computer and select properties. On the new screen there's a section "Computer name, domain and workgroup settings". MS just created the new Home Groups to make networking non domain connected Windows PC's easier - which it definelty does if all the machines are Windows 7. Home Groups aren't going to help much if you have a mix of differnet Windows versions. I smell way of making more money here.

One of the things I recommend is to turn off XP's "Simple File Sharing". It hides all the settings from you. Your better off seeing the NTFS & share level permissions than letting XP manage it with public and private zones. I've been a MCSE for 10 years and I always struggle with the XP simple file sharing.

For workgroup setup's I normally turn off Simple File Sharing. Go to My Computer - Tools - Folder Options - View. At the very bottom of the advanced settings list is "Use simple file sharing". Remove the tick - click OK.

Then create a folder that you want to share on the root of c: or any other drive. Stay away from sharing folders in your profile (eg My Docs, desktop etc) as they have thighter security on them. On the folder you create right click and select properties. Now you should have 2 tabs Sharing and the other security. Go to sharing. Select Share this folder and give it a name. A bit lower on that tab is a permissions button click that. By default it will have Everyone with read only permissions, click in the Full control allow box and click OK. Go to the security tab. The bottom permission should be Users with only Read & Execute allow set. Tick full control and ok. These settings will allow a valid local user account access to that share and do what they like. I'd recommend setting up a user account just for the Beyonwiz called beyonwiz with a reasonsably simple password to use.

The other big problem will be firewall's on XP. If you have XP SP23 or later it will have a firewall on by default. It will block file share access for the Beyonwiz. Go to XP's control Panel and open the firewall settings. If it's on go to the exceptions tab and select file and print sharing. However this is the nasty bit Internet Security software will typically have it's own firewall that you may need to allow access through. For Norton Internet Security I'd add a exception for the local subnet. What Antivirus/Security software do you have?

brendanjb · Post by **brendanjb** » Sat Oct 24, 2009 12:59

Cheers Rockets, I've semi got it working, but turning off my McAfee firewall protection, but would lke to not have to do that. Is there a way I can leave firewall protection and still have it working?

DaveR · Post by **DaveR** » Sat Oct 24, 2009 20:38

Brendan, You need to setup a rule in McAfee to allow the Beyonwiz's IP address to access your PC (or set a rule to allow all local IPs on your subnet to have access).

DaveR · Post by **DaveR** » Sat Oct 24, 2009 20:42

Rockets, your post is almost word for word what I would said. In fact I would like to split it off to it's own topic in the networking section so that I can make it a sticky topic.

Rockets · Post by **Rockets** » Sun Oct 25, 2009 00:28

brendanjb wrote:Cheers Rockets, I've semi got it working, but turning off my McAfee firewall protection, but would lke to not have to do that. Is there a way I can leave firewall protection and still have it working?

try this doc: http://blink.ucsd.edu/technology/securi ... fee-a.html

Can't vouche for it - I've never used McAfee Internet Security but it looks like a simple task.

Rockets · Post by **Rockets** » Sun Oct 25, 2009 00:39

Dave? wrote:Rockets, your post is almost word for word what I would said. In fact I would like to split it off to it's own topic in the networking section so that I can make it a sticky topic.

Go for it. I'm actualy thinking of doing a howto like the Airport Express N bridge I did, but with XP/Vista & Windows 7.

Funny how XP's "Simple File Sharing" is anything but.

brendanjb · Post by **brendanjb** » Mon Oct 26, 2009 19:47

cheers guys, all good now. for some reason, even though the wiz's IP was in a range that was specified as 'trusted', I had to specify and trust the exact IP. oh well...all good now. thanks again.

Rockets · Post by **Rockets** » Mon Oct 26, 2009 20:09

brendanjb wrote:cheers guys, all good now. for some reason, even though the wiz's IP was in a range that was specified as 'trusted', I had to specify and trust the exact IP. oh well...all good now. thanks again.

Good to hear. Was that McAfee link of any use to you?

windows sharing isn't sharing

windows sharing isn't sharing

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