Vista/7 file sharing - what am I missing?
Hi all, First off, it's with extreme shame that I'm here asking this question (I'm a reasonably competent systems admin in my day job managing 03/08 servers), but I honestly don't know what I'm doing wrong here -- and why I can't find anyone else having the same trouble. Here's the scenario: At home, I have a desktop and a laptop, and I wish to access files on one when I'm on the other over the network (I'm lazy). My password/login is the same on both computers and they operate in a Workgroup environment. You can describe my home network as 'untrusted' (my other house mates are also sys admins and I'm scared of them). As such, I need to use password sharing, not just using 'Everyone' and 'full control', however convenient it might be. That said, I still run windows on both computers in 'home' network mode - I trust them not to DDoS my machine, but not so much so as to leave my entire Documents directory shared without any security so they can read everything. Back in my XP/2003 days, this was a twenty second job. You'd right click a folder and go properties, select the sharing tab, pick a share name and change the permissions so that your user account had full-control. Hey presto, you can see the folder on your other computer. This assumes I'm using the 'advanced sharing' interface; I wouldn't even know where to begin working out how to use the simple one. This process, for whatever reason, no longer works for me in Vista/7. I follow the same process (again, with advanced sharing) and the share appears if I browse to \\computer-name\ on the other computer, however when I try to open the share I either get a standard Windows authentication box saying 'Access Denied' and asking me to enter my credentials, which it won't accept or the following generic error message: [Window Title] Network Error [Main Instruction] Windows cannot access \\computer-name\shareName [Content] You do not have permission to access \\computer-name\shareName. Contact your network administrator to request access. For more information about permissions, see Windows Help and Support [Close] As I mentioned, the username/password for both computers are the same. What am I doing wrong? I mean, there isn't that much to go wrong -- you've got your sharing permissions, your NTFS permissions, they're all correct (as far as I can tell). I fiddle with the Advanced sharing settings screen in Windows, turning the Public Folder Sharing, File Sharing Connections and HomeGroup connections settings on and off in various configurations on both computers, no joy. Taking a look at the security log, I'm not seeing any Audit Failure events (they're logged by default yeah? I forget). If I set sharing & NTFS permissions to 'Everyone' and 'Full control' it sometimes works, but not other times - I have no idea what I'm doing different those times, but regardless, hostile network, not a real option. The help page it pulls up doesn't help either, the options of which are: You've not created or joined a home group I have actually, but regardless, I want to use windows accounts to manage sharing -- don't trust anyone with a HomeGroup password to browse my private documents You're not using a HomeGroup and the folder isn't shared It is (and appears as an available share when browsing to the computer) Password-protected sharing is on It is, but I already implemented the 'fix' for this issue, using the same account credentials on both PCs Computer is not on the same workgroup They are You don't have permission to access the file/folder Both NTFS and sharing permissions set to 'full control' on my user account Group Policy might be blocking the connection Not using any group policy objects in this workgroup environment Your computer doesn't have the latest updates for your router I actually have no idea what scenario Microsoft is imagining here, but I'm going to guess it's not relevant. So, have any of you guys got any suggestion as to what I'm doing so obviously wrong, the answer to which will no doubt crush my ego for the rest of my natural life?
November 23rd, 2010 4:52am

The reason why it does not work in Windows Vista and Windows 7 is that the default NTLM level in the two systems are changed to NTLMv2. To resolve this issue, please enable NTLMv2 in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 systems. Information Management Systems & Services Important Note: Microsoft provides third-party contact information to help you find technical support. This contact information may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this third-party contact information. Or you can enable NTLMv1 in Windows Vista and Windows 7. TO do so, please open gpedit.msc from Start Search box. Then locate to the following policy. Computer Configuration\Windows Settings\Security Settings\Local Policies\Security Options\Network security: LAN Manager authentication level Please change “Send LM & NTLM - use NTLMv2 session security if negotiated”. For more information regarding NTLM, please refer: NTLM user authentication in Windows Another possible reasons is HomeGroup. HomeGroup works between Windows 7 systems. If all computers have Windows 7 system, you can consider to access shares in HomeGroup. However if any previous systems such as Windows Vista or Windows XP are in the network, you cannot access them via HomeGroup. If your Windows 7 computer is a member of a HomeGroup, when you try to access shares on this Windows 7 computer from another computer via network, the access will login the system with the user $HOMEGROUP. This is a new feature in Windows 7. Therefore if you enable HomeGroup in Windows 7, I suggest you check if the user $HOMEGROUP is permitted to access shared folders in Windows 7.Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.
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November 28th, 2010 10:35pm

June 28 2011 20:38 win vista win 7 There is same problem for share file between vista/win7. Depending your gpedit.msc brought me nowhere to de the setting of given path...? Two pc could see each other, Network Access Protection of MS turn on would impact me to do the share ? Alert me when reply having please.
June 30th, 2011 6:13am

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