Sharing files while I'm connected to dorm network

1 Nov 2006 11:34 AM

starbreaker85

I live in a college dormatory and get my internet connection from their
"resnet". I recently bought a router so that I could get internet on both my
desktop & laptop, and so I could share files without constantly messing with
a usb flash drive.

I was expecting difficulties getting it up and running, but all I had to do
is clone my mac address. I kept all default settings otherwise. Now I'm
having trouble with file sharing. I have one shared folder on each computer,
and whenever I try to access either it tells me:
\\Computername is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this
network resource. Contact the administrator of this server to find out if
you have access permissions.

I have both computers in the same workgroup. I also tried turning off
zonealarm. What now?

1 Nov 2006 11:38 AM

starbreaker85

Forgot to say that I have WinXP Pro on both computers. (I know filesharing
is a little different on Home Edition)

1 Nov 2006 1:42 PM

Malke

starbreaker85 wrote:

Show quoteHide quote

> I live in a college dormatory and get my internet connection from
> their
> "resnet". I recently bought a router so that I could get internet on
> both my desktop & laptop, and so I could share files without
> constantly messing with a usb flash drive.
>
> I was expecting difficulties getting it up and running, but all I had
> to do
> is clone my mac address. I kept all default settings otherwise. Now
> I'm
> having trouble with file sharing. I have one shared folder on each
> computer, and whenever I try to access either it tells me:
> \\Computername is not accessible. You might not have permission to
> use this
> network resource. Contact the administrator of this server to find
> out if you have access permissions.
>
> I have both computers in the same workgroup. I also tried turning off
> zonealarm. What now?

This is most commonly caused by a misconfigured firewall. Run the
Network Setup Wizard on all computers, making sure to enable File &
Printer Sharing, and reboot. The only "gotcha" is that this will turn
on the XPSP2 Windows Firewall. If you aren't running a third-party
firewall or have an antivirus with "Internet Worm Protection" (like
Norton 2005/06) which acts as a firewall, then you're fine. If you have
third-party firewall software, configure it to allow the Local Area
Network traffic as trusted. I usually do this with my firewalls with an
IP range. Ex. would be 192.168.1.0-192.168.1.254. Obviously you would
substitute your correct subnet.

If one or more of the computers is XP Pro or Media Center:

a. If you need Pro's ability to set fine-grained permissions, turn off
Simple File Sharing (Folder Options>View tab) and create identical user
accounts/passwords on all computers.

b. If you don't care about using Pro's advanced features, leave the
Simple File Sharing enabled.

Simple File Sharing means that Guest (network) is enabled. This means
that anyone without a user account on the target system can use its
resources. This is a security hole but only you can decide if it
matters in your situation.

Then create shares as desired. XP Home does not permit sharing of users'
home directories (My Documents) or Program Files, but you can share
folders inside those directories. A better choice is to simply use the
Shared Documents folder.

If that doesn't work for you, here is an excellent network
troubleshooter by MVP Hans-Georg Michna. Take the time to go through it
and it will usually pinpoint the problem area(s) -
http://winhlp.com/wxnet.htm

Malke

--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

1 Nov 2006 8:37 PM

Doug Sherman [MVP]

Malke covered all the bases. Most likely this is a ZoneAlarm issue and
turning it off generally will not work. Either configure it properly for
file sharing or uninstall it.

Doug Sherman
MCSE, MCSA, MCP+I, MVP

Show quoteHide quote

"starbreaker85" <starbreake***@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:E1C43983-5F1F-45EE-8C1F-CE6446B37B60@microsoft.com...
> I live in a college dormatory and get my internet connection from their
> "resnet". I recently bought a router so that I could get internet on both
my
> desktop & laptop, and so I could share files without constantly messing
with
> a usb flash drive.
>
> I was expecting difficulties getting it up and running, but all I had to
do
> is clone my mac address. I kept all default settings otherwise. Now I'm
> having trouble with file sharing. I have one shared folder on each
computer,
> and whenever I try to access either it tells me:
> \\Computername is not accessible. You might not have permission to use
this
> network resource. Contact the administrator of this server to find out if
> you have access permissions.
>
> I have both computers in the same workgroup. I also tried turning off
> zonealarm. What now?