No access to Shared directories

29 May 2009 8:08 PM

William23

I have 4 computers at home which are networked together in one workgroup. I
have 2 desktops running XP pro, 1 laptop running vista and 1 laptop running
XP home. I am having trouble with the XP home laptop accessing shared
directories from the desktops. the laptop is able to see all the computers in
the workgroup. It is able to see the shared directories on each computer.
However, I can not access the contents of the directories. i get an error
message that says I do not have the authority to access the network resource.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

29 May 2009 9:04 PM

Malke

William23 wrote:

> I have 4 computers at home which are networked together in one workgroup.
> I
> have 2 desktops running XP pro, 1 laptop running vista and 1 laptop
> running XP home. I am having trouble with the XP home laptop accessing
> shared directories from the desktops. the laptop is able to see all the
> computers in the workgroup. It is able to see the shared directories on
> each computer. However, I can not access the contents of the directories.
> i get an error message that says I do not have the authority to access the
> network resource. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Here are general network troubleshooting steps. Not everything may be
applicable to your situation, so just take the bits that are. It may look
daunting, but if you follow the steps at the links and suggestions below
systematically and calmly, you will have no difficulty in setting up your
sharing.

Excellent, thorough, yet easy to understand article about File/Printer
Sharing in Vista. Includes details about sharing printers as well as files
and folders:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb727037.aspx

For XP, start by running the Network Setup Wizard on all machines (see
caveat in Item A below).

Problems sharing files between computers on a network are generally caused
by 1) a misconfigured firewall or overlooked firewall (including a stateful
firewall in a VPN); or 2) inadvertently running two firewalls such as the
built-in Windows Firewall and a third-party firewall; and/or 3) not having
identical user accounts and passwords on all Workgroup machines; 4) trying
to create shares where the operating system does not permit it.

A. Configure firewalls on all machines to allow the Local Area Network (LAN)
traffic as trusted. With Windows Firewall, this means allowing File/Printer
Sharing on the Exceptions tab. Normally running the Network Setup Wizard on
XP will take care of this for those machines.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/security program with its own
firewall component, then you're fine. With third-party firewalls, I
usually configure the LAN allowance with an IP range. Ex. would be
192.168.1.0-192.168.1.254. Obviously you would substitute your correct
subnet. Refer to any third party security program's Help or user forums for
how to properly configure its firewall. Do not run more than one firewall.
DO NOT TURN OFF FIREWALLS; CONFIGURE THEM CORRECTLY.

B. For ease of organization, put all computers in the same Workgroup. This
is done from the System applet in Control Panel, Computer Name tab.

C. Create matching user accounts and passwords on all machines. You do not
need to be logged into the same account on all machines and the passwords
assigned to each user account can be different; the accounts/passwords just
need to exist and match on all machines. DO NOT NEGLECT TO CREATE
PASSWORDS, EVEN IF ONLY SIMPLE ONES. If you wish a machine to boot directly
to the Desktop (into one particular user's account) for convenience, you
can do this:

XP - Configure Windows to Automatically Login (MVP Ramesh) -
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/Autologon.htm

Vista - Start Orb>Search box>type: netplwiz [enter]
Click on Continue (or supply an administrator's password) when prompted by
UAC

Uncheck the option "Users must enter a user name and password to use this
computer". Select a user account to automatically log on by clicking on the
desired account to highlight it and then hit OK. Enter the correct password
for that user account (if there is one) when prompted. Leave it blank if
there is no password (null).

D. If one or more of the computers is XP Pro or Media Center, turn off
Simple File Sharing (Folder Options>View tab).

E. Create shares as desired. XP Home does not permit sharing of users' home
directories or Program Files, but you can share folders inside those
directories. A better choice is to simply use the Shared Documents folder.
See the first link above for details about Vista sharing.

Malke

--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ

30 May 2009 7:48 PM

William23

I followed your instructions. However, the problem has not been resolved. The
XP Home laptop ("A") can access shared folders on the Vista laptop. However
it can not access the shared folders on the XP Pro Machine{"B"). File sharing
exception is turned on in the firewall. There is only one firewall, Windows
firewall. User accounts are set up on both computers per your directions. I
turned off simple file sharing on B . I even added A user account in advanced
permissions for the share folders on A. I still get the following error.
folder not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network
resource. Not enough serve storage is available to process this command

30 May 2009 10:03 PM

Malke

William23 wrote:

> I followed your instructions. However, the problem has not been resolved.
> The XP Home laptop ("A") can access shared folders on the Vista laptop.
> However it can not access the shared folders on the XP Pro Machine{"B").
> File sharing exception is turned on in the firewall. There is only one
> firewall, Windows firewall. User accounts are set up on both computers per
> your directions. I turned off simple file sharing on B . I even added A
> user account in advanced permissions for the share folders on A. I still
> get the following error. folder not accessible. You might not have
> permission to use this network resource. Not enough serve storage is
> available to process this command

Giving the error message is the clue:

(From MVP Ron Lowe) - This error indicates that you are falling foul of the
IRPStackSize bug. The problem is on the machine you are attempting to
connect to, not the machine where you see the error message. On the
computer you are attempting to connect to, check the event viewer for an
event ID 2011.

Usual fix : You need to fix a parameter called IRPStackSize

On the computer you are attempting to connect to, Set the IRPStackSize back
to the default (15 ). Perform the following steps:

1. Start regedit.
2. Navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\lanmanserver\parameters.
3. Double-click IRPStackSize (or if this registry setting doesn't exist,
create it with type DWORD and ensure the case is correct).
4. Change the base to decimal, set the value to 15, and click OK.
5. Reboot the computer.

Norton AV is usual suspect for breaking it. There's a KB article about this,
too:

Antivirus Software May Cause Event ID 2011 (Q177078) -
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;177078

Malke

--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ

1 Jun 2009 5:00 PM

William23

thanks that did the trick

1 Jun 2009 7:55 PM

Malke

William23 wrote:

> thanks that did the trick

Glad to hear it. Thanks for taking the time to let me know.

Malke

--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ