Win XP to Win XP security issue

[pokerman]

Simple home network running XP pro on a two different machines (I'll call box A and box B). Internet router, netgear switch. Simple TCP/IP setup with all my IP's in order. I also took all the MS XP pro upgrades - SP1 etc.

Both are intell machines on the same workgroup. My issue is that box A shares all resources just fine, but Box B won't. Box B can use anything from A but not vice versa.


On box b if I do a net view \\"boxb", I can see the resources I am trying to share, but if i do a net view on box a - I get "System error 5. Access is denied"

Just trying to share a printer and some folders. I have done this a 100 times in the past, but can't get this to work. I got no passwords anywhere that I can find. Box B is a new machine I just built, no special software just the basic WIN XP.

Any suggestions on where to look or what to do?

tks

[pokerman]

sorry I should have posted more info

Yes I have gone thru the TCP/IP checklist. Firewall not activited, etc.

These are new XP PRO builds, no funky software or even Norton type security software yet. For setup on both machines, I just ran the network setup wizard and selected the option for a residential gateway.

During the wizard setup, I did not have it select my 1394 Net adapter connection as that seems to build a network bridge I don't need. (but have tried it both ways).

Also now have tried to add the IPX/SPX protocalls and have enabled them over TCP/IP, no luck also.

Both computers plug into a netgear switch. That switch then conects to a Diva brand ISDN gateway/router/modem. The ISDN is also the the DHCP server.

All I am trying to do is to share a printer. As I have the printer and the wife wants to use it. Any help on what to look for next would be great.

[cszeto]

What are the "ping" results between the machines and the router?

[pokerman]

both machines are fine to the gateway and out.

PING gives me round trip tims of 2ms for both machines.

[cszeto]

So ping between the machines is also working too? If you can ping between the machines, then you might want to take a closer look at how the accounts are set up on each machine.

[pokerman]

(posted too fast there again)

Pings between the machine (both ways) are reporting times of <1ms

[cszeto]

So it looks like you have good network connectivity throughout your network. That being the case, it is not a networking issue, but possibly a system functionality issue. Take a close look at how the accounts are setup across the machines.

[pokerman]

thanks for the quick response.

Not sure what you mean by accounts. XP Pro kind of reminds me of the old NT with Users and groups and such. However it takes away a lot of the manual settings I used to just fill in.

Like I said raw install, so I have not changed any of the users or network settings.

The only thing strang I noticed is that one of the "smart" wizards must have disabled the user 'Guest'. But I enabled the account. Guest is also part of group "Guests". No passwords in any of these users or groups.

I used the same exact XP PRO disk (different serial numbers) to build both of these machines. I lost a HD on the one that will not share two weeks ago and rebuilt it fresh again. Both times it will not share resources.

[cszeto]

XP is a lot like NT in the aspects of having accounts and rights assigned to the accounts. If you have been able to change the setting for the Guest Accounts, then you have probably already made your way to the Accounts Manager.

If you have enabled the Guest Account on both machines and both machines are in the same Workgroup, then you might try rebooting both machines. Sometimes the Windows network browsing facilities need to re-synchronize with each other.

[pokerman]

no luck. Rebooted and even waited overnight. I double checked ever setting I could find, and they are the same on both machines.

Anyway, In about two weeks I am going to add a 3rd machine to this network. At that point I'll see if it is machine specific or what.

tks for the help. Think I'll just buy one of those USB remote print servers and give up.

[cszeto]

One last thing to consider... There was some talk about XP not sharing network resources with accounts that had blank passwords. You might fiddle around with that.

As you add more machines, a print server device could be a lot more flexible. Using the printer will no longer require booting up any particular machine that it is connected to. Just keep in mind that some bidirectional printers may not work or have reduced functionality when connected to a print server.

[chopper]

http://forums.practicallynetworked.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=13662#post13662

Could be having the same problem as this guy is.