Windows share problem - Update: I just broke it even worse

[EyeMWing]

I have 6 drives, C, D, E, H, M and N. All of these are shared at the "root"

The host system is named WingCorp-K65DG9

C, D, E do not work. When attempting logon from a remote system using ANY login information, even administrator on the box on which they are hosted, returns an access denied error.

H, M and N do work.

The security settings for H, M and N are as follows:

WingCorp-K65DG9/Administrators - Full Control
Everyone - Read and Execute
System - Full Control
WingCorp-K65DG9/Users - Read and Execute

The settings for C, D, and E are more lax at:
WingCorp - K65DG9/Administrators - Full Control
Everyone - Read and Execute + Modify
System - Full Control
WingCorp-K65DG9/Users - Read and Execute

Under the Sharing tab, the Permissions for C, D and E are set as follows:
Everyone - Change, Read

and for H, M, N:
Everyone - Change, Read

This SHOULD work, but doesn't. This is the absolute most frustrating, recurring problem I've ever seen. Needless to say, it sucks that it doesn't work (and hasn't for all 2 years I've been stubbornly trying to make it happen)

Update: Attempted to fix by replacing the shares for C, D, E.

Now H, M, and N also give the access denied errors, even though I didn't so much as LOOK AT the properties for those drives. My printer share is also damaged now, it won't send the drivers to the remote system to install the printer. I suspect that Windows is begging for a reinstall; which it ISN'T going to get. This install is 2 years old and flawless, with the exception of the ever-broken networking.

It also frightens me that now it isn't even prompting for username and password, even on initial connection. It just goes straight into Access Denied.

 

[mechBgon]

1) What operating system is the server, and also the client system(s)?

2) I take it you don't have a domain, just peer-to-peer?

3) If you haven't already done it 1 million times by now, check your share permissions, not just your security. The share permissions control who can reach the share remotely and what they can do remotely, whereas the security permissions are the next checkpoint controlling what they can touch and do either remotely or locally.

edit: re-reading your post, you looked at #3 already. So that takes me to #4:

4) what antivirus product and firewall(s) are you using, both on this system and on the perimeter?

 

[fuzzynavel]

here is a little program that I have found most useful in diagnosing networking problems..

it is called Look@Lan and here is the home page....LINKY HERE<<<<Clicky clicky

Go to the downloads tab on the left and download it......

basically what the program does is analyse all possible IP addresses in a certain range
such as 192.168.0.0 to 192.168.255.255.....you can specify the addresses and the network adapter to use......have a go it will show you if you are able to see the other computers

have fun

 

[EyeMWing]

Server is XP Pro, client has been everything from NT4 to 98 to 2k to XP to OSX. It just doesn't work 😛

No security software in use internally (incl Windows firewall disabled), all my security is handled at the gateway. Antivirus is AVG, which isn't network aware. Have been meaning to set up a domain, but I lack the patience, so it's just peer to peer for the time being.

 

[manno]

this is going to sound silly but I had a simmilar problem, and it was due to XP's firewall.
1. I had to unshare all the drives
2. go to control panel -> security -> firewall -> exceptions tab, and uncheck the box for file sharing
3. hit apply
4. recheck the box.
5. reshare everything

 

[EyeMWing]

Originally posted by: manno
this is going to sound silly but I had a simmilar problem, and it was due to XP's firewall.
1. I had to unshare all the drives
2. go to control panel -> security -> firewall -> exceptions tab, and uncheck the box for file sharing
3. hit apply
4. recheck the box.
5. reshare everything

XP Firewall is disabled on all the systems in question.

 

[EyeMWing]

Update: Attempted to fix by replacing the shares for C, D, E.

Now H, M, and N also give the access denied errors, even though I didn't so much as LOOK AT the properties for those drives. My printer share is also damaged now, it won't send the drivers to the remote system to install the printer. I suspect that Windows is begging for a reinstall; which it ISN'T going to get. This install is 2 years old and flawless, with the exception of the ever-broken networking.

It also frightens me that now it isn't even prompting for username and password, even on initial connection. It just goes straight into Access Denied.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: EyeMWing
Server is XP Pro, client has been everything from NT4 to 98 to 2k to XP to OSX. It just doesn't work 😛

No security software in use internally (incl Windows firewall disabled), all my security is handled at the gateway. Antivirus is AVG, which isn't network aware. Have been meaning to set up a domain, but I lack the patience, so it's just peer to peer for the time being.

Ok, next question: are you using ANY accounts that have blank passwords? If so, assign passwords to all of them. The WinXP Pro server's actual Administrator account is normally not visible. Right-click My Computer, choose Manage, go down to Users & Groups > Users, right-click each account, and set its password.

Reason: WinXP Pro is designed not to allow remote access by any account that has a blank password.

Good luck, hope it's something simple like that 🙂

 

[EyeMWing]

Originally posted by: mechBgon

Originally posted by: EyeMWing
Server is XP Pro, client has been everything from NT4 to 98 to 2k to XP to OSX. It just doesn't work 😛

No security software in use internally (incl Windows firewall disabled), all my security is handled at the gateway. Antivirus is AVG, which isn't network aware. Have been meaning to set up a domain, but I lack the patience, so it's just peer to peer for the time being.

Ok, next question: are you using ANY accounts that have blank passwords? If so, assign passwords to all of them. The WinXP Pro server's actual Administrator account is normally not visible. Right-click My Computer, choose Manage, go down to Users & Groups > Users, right-click each account, and set its password.

Reason: WinXP Pro is designed not to allow remote access by any account that has a blank password.

Good luck, hope it's something simple like that 🙂

All accounts are passworded EXCEPT *ONE* of the clients. Let me try that... Nope. Changing passwords affects nothing.

It's also worth noting that, on the server, the acccount named Administrator is *DISABLED* (just a little game I play to keep intruders totally clueless).

Actual error is

(IP address may be computer name, based on where in the network topology the client is sitting, in the case of my test system here, system names aren't resolveable because there's a sh!tty wireless router in between the subnets)

\\192.168.2.254\c 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.

Not enough server storage is available to process this command.

... You know, I *JUST* noticed the last part. The C, D, and E drives are critically full, and H, M, N aren't far behind. Well, not anymore. They've now got several gigs free EACH, same error. Gonna try unlocking Administrator. No go on that. I'm now clueless, and not a very happy Microsoft customer at the moment. (Then again, I wasn't happy the last time I tried to sort this crap out with customer service. Their advice to me, since I run a business, was to buy Win2k3 Enterprise Server and use that :roll: )

 

[EyeMWing]

Up. I need this crap resolved.

 

[Fardringle]

Windows XP is limited to a total of 10 concurrent connections from remote users. If your users are mapping to the drives remotely, even one or two users mapped to all six drives could easily be using up all of those 10 connections causing all other attempts to be denied.

Disable all of the drive shares and share the C: drive with a different name so that any users' drive mappings cannot automatically reconnect and then try to connect to the share yourself. If that works using the same settings you had previously, I would suspect a drive mapping/connection limit issue and you will need to have the users disconnect their persistent drive mappings in order to allow other users to connect to the shares.

 

[EyeMWing]

Originally posted by: Fardringle
Windows XP is limited to a total of 10 concurrent connections from remote users. If your users are mapping to the drives remotely, even one or two users mapped to all six drives could easily be using up all of those 10 connections causing all other attempts to be denied.

Disable all of the drive shares and share the C: drive with a different name so that any users' drive mappings cannot automatically reconnect and then try to connect to the share yourself. If that works using the same settings you had previously, I would suspect a drive mapping/connection limit issue and you will need to have the users disconnect their persistent drive mappings in order to allow other users to connect to the shares.

No mappings, and I already tried that.