Windows XP Pro shares - HOW!?

tfelmly · 03-07-03, 01:56 PM

Has anyone been able to connect to a Windows XP share via File Explorer? Everytime I try to connect using \\server\share, I am prompted for a username/password which I enter. It always says "The network path was not found", and then "Network resource cannot be found or you do not have permission to access the network. Contact your network administrator."

Now these shares work just fine from my laptop using the same login info that I am using on the Axim. I've seen many posts about this on Google but no answers.

Anyone have luck with this?

Todd

jda5id · 03-07-03, 02:14 PM

I remember having problems with this too. I did a couple of things, but I can't remember exactly what made the difference.

Create a user on your XP box that has the same name as your Axim and no password. I think that was what did it for me. After you do that, double check and make sure that the new user has access to the share you are trying to map to.

Something else I have noticed was that Total Commander (a freeware replacement for File Explorer) handles share mapping and accessing remote files a lot better than File Explorer does.

I will try to see if I can recreate the error message and then make it go away again and post anything I find.

Therigwin · 03-07-03, 02:23 PM

It may have to do with XP's built-in firewall.

Look at the Properties of your Network Connection on the XP box.
There is an Advanced tab. I turn off the Firewall and then you are all set. (Only do this if you are behind a real firewall or have another firewall software you can use)

hkoyuncu · 03-07-03, 02:38 PM

try using the domain name in addition to the username when you are prompted to authanticate. for example is your domain is axim and the user name is user you should enter axim\user instead of just user. that might help...

tfelmly · 03-07-03, 03:38 PM

The computer(s) in question are all located inside of my firewall so everything is open. This is on XP Pro BTW but I am not a member of a domain. I have tried however using workgroup/user and that didn't help.

What is interesting though is I do have a share that is open to everyone. When I connect to that share and am prompted with the username box, using guest (no password) as the login DOES work. So it has to be a username problem. I'll have to look at the logs on XP to see if it has recorded anything.

Todd

TSB8C · 03-07-03, 04:39 PM

When prompted for the logon ID and password, try entering the same ID and password on the Axim that you used to login into the XP machine - and use the XP machine's name as the domain (since it is only a local workgroup). If my XP machine were named "desktop" and my user ID were "scott", I would enter:

"desktop\scott" as the user ID and then enter my password.

LeapinLew · 03-07-03, 05:28 PM

Quote:

The computer(s) in question are all located inside of my firewall so everything is open. This is on XP Pro BTW but I am not a member of a domain. I have tried however using workgroup/user and that didn't help.

I think what Therigwin is saying is make sure the firewall built into XP is turned off. You can access it by selecting network connections in control panel, right click your local area connections, select properties, select advanced and verify that the box is clear.

That little check box has caused me more heartache then I would like to mention. Therigwin sounds like he knows the pain of XP's built in firewall. They should just call it the stops-all-data-wall.

LeapinLew · 03-07-03, 05:29 PM

All I can think of is to make sure you have a local account setup for that machine sharing and make sure it's not setup to change the password on initial logon.

Craenor · 03-07-03, 06:54 PM

Be default windows xp is using "simple file sharing" with access available through the Guest account.

You may have to turn off simple file sharing (double click my computer, tools, folder options, view...it's at the bottom of advanced settings).

Then you have to create ACL's or Access Control Lists and setup user's with passwords who are authorized to log into shared resources.

Try this link for more info

Craenor

tfelmly · 03-08-03, 12:30 AM

Thanks for all the great suggestions so far but unfortunatly I am still not able to connect.

Simple file sharing is off, I have a username in the ACL that works fine when logging into the same share using my laptop that the Axim cannot. I've tried every username combo possible (domain/username, username, etc). The username on the XP machine I am using has administration rights, and even logging in as administrator won't work. Why is this so difficult? I thought editing a sendmail cf file was hard, this is a 100 times more difficult!

The only common thing I have noticed is that any account on my XP box that doesn't have a password CAN connect and browse the shares. So the password has to be causing the problem or there is just some uncompatible encyption happening between XP and PPC2002.

Todd

onebadfish · 03-08-03, 11:06 PM

check out my posts in "file browsing other computers", the sysop helped me work through some basics and now i got the hookup.
it's in the pda/axim newbies section.

tfelmly · 03-09-03, 12:52 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by onebadfish
check out my posts in "file browsing other computers", the sysop helped me work through some basics and now i got the hookup.
it's in the pda/axim newbies section.

Onebadfish,

Thanks for pointing me to your topic. Although the post didn't exactly get me working, it did make me think a little.

Since I am using XP Pro with a NTFS filesystem, there are two levels of security to pass in order to see a share.

1. Share permissions
2. NTFS permissions

The thing to remember here is NTFS security. The Axim doesn't understand this. I proved this to myself by logging in (for future reference, XP wants you to log in as):

machinename\username (machinename=your XP box's name)
your XP password
your workgroup/domain.

If any of these is missing, you will not log in.

Now the interesting part is this login means nothing to XP except to check if you really exist on the machine. What you must do to allow browsing/use of shares under NTFS is to allow the user EVERYONE read access to whatever share you are trying to get to (share level security). Even if your login is in share level security with full access, you cannot enter a share unless everyone has read access. Again it appears that once you login, the Axim/or XP totally ignors your username. Since all the PocketPC os is validating is share level security on NTFS, whatever permissions you have set for yourself under NTFS security is moot.

So, when I added read permission to everyone at the share level, I was able to navigate to that share. However none of the files would list. This is where I found that PPC doesn't pass the username to NTFS security. Once I added read permission to everyone at the NTFS level, all was fine.

This wouldn't work too well in a corporate environment as you probably wouldn't want everyone to have read access to shares. Plus you need to add write permission to everyone also if you plan on saving files across your network.

If anyone can prove me wrong, PLEASE do so as I would love to do this another way.

Todd
:rolling:

onebadfish · 03-09-03, 01:14 AM

i am running xp pro with fat32, and i could not get past just seeing the folders until i changed the device i.d. of my axim one time to a different name. al of a sudden i can browse the files, manipulate them, whatever... maybe try that.

tfelmly · 03-09-03, 01:39 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by onebadfish
i am running xp pro with fat32, and i could not get past just seeing the folders until i changed the device i.d. of my axim one time to a different name. al of a sudden i can browse the files, manipulate them, whatever... maybe try that.

Tried that, no change. I can navigate around the filesystem just fine but every folder is empty since everyone did not have read access. When I gave read access to everyone, all the files appeared.

Since FAT32 doesn't have the extra level of security that NTFS has, once you are past the share level, you are in. You can try this by removing the user 'everyone' from your share level security. If your username isn't there, add it and give yourself full control. See if you can access it then. I bet you wont.

Todd

onebadfish · 03-09-03, 09:11 AM

i'm sure you must be right. at least we both can browse our stuff now. do you know of a video player that actually works well. i've tried pocketdivx, pocketmvp, pockettv, and pocket media player. they all are super limited, and each can only open about 2/10 files i throw at them. does anyone know how to tweak media player so that it will do mpeg ?