Cannot access one home network computer

[frankdm]

I have 3 computers, all Win XP Home, all SP2, connected with a Linksys router. One of the computers, a Toshiba Satellite notebook, can copy files from the other two, but none of the other two can get to the files on the notebook. The notebook shows up in network neighborhood but when I click on it I get the message "Logon failure: the user has not been granted the requested logon type at this computer."

I tried it with the notebook on the wireless card and on the network card. Same result. I disabled Windows firewall and Norton AV on both computers. No help. All computers have the guest account enabled. I borrowed a notebook from a friend and it works on the network. I checked the services between the two notebooks, and all the important services have the same settings (usually automatic.)

I can ping the NB from the other 2 and get a reply when I use the IP address or the computer name. I used the troubleshooter in Help, but after running thru all the options, it gave up. I've searched the MS database and tried their home network troubleshooting suggestions. I googled the error message, and I got a good review of all the obvious things to try, but none of the suggestions worked. I have a friend who works for Cisco, and he tried everything he knew about, but no go.

I guess it's some kind of security problem, but I don't know how to look at the security permissions with XP Home. Maybe there's a registry setting that can be changed, but I don't know how to find it.

Can anyone out there help?

[tain]

Thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed question!

I agree with you that it looks like a security problem. This is most commonly by the confusion between the two different types of securty for MS LAN sharing: share permissions and NTFS permissions.

I don't have an XP home machine but here is how to check for these on a Win2k machine...should be similar:

• Open windows explorer and navigate to the folder that is supposed to be shared out from the notebook
  
• Right-click on the folder and select "Sharing" (I think it is "Sharing and Security in XP)
  
• In the dialogue that pops up, look at the tabs across the top: The sharing tab is for network sharing permissions and the security tab is for NTFS permissions
  
• In the sharing tab, ensure that the share is enabled and then check the permissions button about half-way down the dialoge.
  
• Make sure the user/group is listed, maybe just 'everyone' in your case, and that ALLOW is checked for the permission that you want
  
• Be careful with the DENY boxes....they override other permissions even if the user is in two groups and one has permission. Make sure that none of the accounts/groups listed have DENY checked unless you want them to be denied access.
  
• Now we will look at the NTFS permissions
  
• Click OK and go the security tab
  
• The dialogue that appears is quote similar to the sharing one and the same steps/principles apply.
  
• Make sure the user/group is listed, maybe just 'everyone' in your case, and that ALLOW is checked for the permission that you want
  
• Watch out for deny! It will get you every time
  

Hopefully that fixes your problem. If it doesn't, your users/groups may be screwed up...try setting up a new user on the laptop, setting the password, and giving that user permissions to the share (sharing and NTFS).

Remember that with share/NTFS permissions the most restrictive rule will always apply.

[frankdm]

Thanks for the quick reply.

Part of the frustration with using XP home is that it's a little too simple. There is no security tab on the folder. When I right-click, I get 3 tabs. One is sharing. The other two have nothing to do with the network.

I bet MS put the security option in the Registry. I can't find it anywhere in the control panel or anywhere else I've looked.

I tried setting up a new user. It didn't help. Whatever the troublesome security setting is, it seems to apply to all users.

My workaround for copying files from the notebook is to temporarily enable full sharing on the non-notebook computers, and to copy from the NB to the non-NB. I feel a little embarrassed to have to do it that way, but at least I can move files that way.

Any other thoughts?

[tain]

Do you know if you are using the NTFS file system? If so, maybe this page will help.

If you know that you aren't using NTFS then it doesn't matter and your sharing permissions are the only ones that would apply. In which case I have to ask: did you connect to the laptop as the new user you created? You will need the new username/password that you created to connect.

[tbs]

frankdm, to view the security tab in XP Home see here

Afraid I can't help any more, I had so much hassle getting xp Home to network & share with XP Pro I bought an upgrade of pro for my laptop , no wonder Bill G. can retire early!

have fun, tbs

edit: the other way to see the security tab in Home is to boot into Safe Mode and logon as Admin.

Edited July 11, 2006 by tbs

[Phoon]

A shot in the dark here..

You don't by chance have a blank password for the user on the notebook do you? If so, assign a password to the account and try again.