Sharing over a wireless network from Vista desktop to Vista laptop?

[Kadence]

I'm having trouble sharing files from my desktop over a wireless network. The laptop has a wireless connection, while the desktop has a direct connection to the router. The desktop has Vista 64 and the laptop has Vista Home Premium.

I have Windows firewall turned off on both the desktop and the laptop, and have no other firewalls.

On the desktop, in Network and Sharing Center, I have 'Public folder sharing' turned On (read only, password required). Network discovery, File sharing, and Password protected sharing are also turned on. On my C: drive I have a few folders that have sharing on, with network path '\\MY-DESKTOP\foldername'.

On the laptop, under 'Network', 'MY-DESKTOP' does show up. However when I click on it, I get: '\\MY-DESKTOP is not accessible. You might not have permissions to use this network resource. ... Logon failure: user account restriction. Possible reasons are blank passwords not allowed, logon hour restrictions, or a policy restriction has been enforced.'

I'm not sure if I'm sharing the folders on C: correctly - when I go to Properties>Sharing>Share, I have two names listed - my desktop username and '<Unknown Contact>', which is set as co-owner. Don't know what that's supposed to be. And not sure what to do to fix the blank passwords not allowed etc. message.

Also on my desktop's Network folder, I don't see my laptop listed, even though my laptop also has Public folder sharing turned On.

What am I not doing properly? How do I get my desktop folders accessible from my laptop, and vice versa?

 

[nboy22]

Do the same thing you're doing when you go to Properties>Sharing>Share and this time add the username "Everyone"

After adding "Everyone" username, save, maybe restart and see if it works again (it might just work right away without a restart too).

 

[Kadence]

Thanks. I just tried that though and restarted, but nothing changed - still get the same error message.

 

[nboy22]

Are both computers in the same workgroup, for instance MSHOME? Check by using windows key + pause/break key. Maybe also try turning password protected sharing off for the time being.

 

[Kadence]

Turning off password protected sharing did the trick Thanks a lot!

Is there any risk in terms of people on the internet being able to access the shared files and folders?

 

[nboy22]

You're Welcome!

I would say no, as long as you don't have any port fowarding on the ports that are used for file sharing, or as long as you don't have any computers DMZed past your firewall on your router.

If you're using a router, I think you'll be ok because the firewall on that will block any incoming, unauthorized traffic.

If you have a direct connection to the modem, that would be another story. You might want to have windows firewall on and possibly purchase another software firewall, or router (I don't think this is your case, because you have two computers on the same network)

I may be wrong on these recommendations, but I'm just replaying the windows XP days in my head where tons of people would have wide open systems by having a shared C: drive with no Administrator password. Outsiders could literally come in and delete almost all of your hard drive contents if you didn't have enough protection. I'm kinda out of the loop on the whole Vista and Windows 7 thing though, because they have changed a lot of things.

 

[Kadence]

Anyone else have thoughts on how secure Vista is in this situation?

Also, if I did want to set up a password for 'Everyone' and enable Password Protected Sharing, how should I do that? In sharing permissions for a desktop folder I added a user who I've just created, which has a non-blank password set. This folder shows up on the laptop's Network, but when I try to open the folder I still get the error message '\\MY-DESKTOP\foldername is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource. ... Access is denied.' I'm not getting prompted for a login password or anything.

 

[corkyg]

Take ownership of the folder.

 

[Kadence]

Take ownership of the folder.

I added the user as Co-owner, even tried removing my main desktop account as Owner, but that didn't make a difference. 'Everyone' is still the only option that works.

 

[nboy22]

Maybe try to add the same username, with the same password on each computer.

For instance, add the username "Test" to both computers from the control panel -> user accounts/users icon

Go to folder, share it to that username "Test", take "Everyone" off the list, and then see if that works. I think I've heard of someone who had to do that to get it to work. It's worth a shot at this point I think.

 

[Kadence]

Thanks, that did work I created the same account on both computers and after I logged on as that user on my laptop I was able to access the shared folders.

 

[nboy22]

Sweet! You're welcome, glad I could help out on this one!