please help asap

trying to network my desktop (xp pro) and my laptop (xp
home). i'm going thru a hub and all i want is for them
for share files. my desktop is recognizing my laptop's
shared folders but not letting me into them. the icon
next to the shared folders is the default "unassociated
file" icon. had all of this working before until i had
to reformat, now i'm in a rut. can anyone please walk me
thru this? thanks a lot.

mike

On Mon, 5 Jul 2004 09:02:13 -0700, <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>trying to network my desktop (xp pro) and my laptop (xp
>home). i'm going thru a hub and all i want is for them
>for share files. my desktop is recognizing my laptop's
>shared folders but not letting me into them. the icon
>next to the shared folders is the default "unassociated
>file" icon. had all of this working before until i had
>to reformat, now i'm in a rut. can anyone please walk me
>thru this? thanks a lot.
>
>mike

Mike,

On the XP Pro computer, check to see if Simple File Sharing (Control Panel -
Folder Options - View - Advanced settings) is enabled or disabled. With XP Home
and Pro together, you need to have SFS properly set on the XP Pro computer.

With XP Pro, if SFS is disabled, check the Local Security Policy (Control Panel
- Administrative Tools). Under Local Policies - Security Options, look at
"Network access: Sharing and security model", and ensure it's set to "Classic -
local users authenticate as themselves".

With XP Pro, if you set the Local Security Policy to "Guest only", make sure
that the Guest account is enabled, thru Local User Manager (Start - Run -
"lusrmgr.msc"), and has an identical, non-blank, password on all computers. If
"Classic", setup and use a common non-Guest account, with identical, non-blank,
password on all computers.

For XP Home, OR for XP Pro with Simple File Sharing enabled, make sure that the
Guest account is enabled (for XP Pro, thru Local User Manager (Start - Run -
"lusrmgr.msc")), on each computer.

Here is the definitive Microsoft article which may help:
<http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=87c0a6db-aef8-4bef-925e-7ac9be791028&DisplayLang=en>

Do any of the computers have a software firewall (ICF or third party)? If so,
you need to configure them for file sharing, by opening ports TCP 139, 445 and
UDP 137, 138, 445, and / or by identifying the other computers as present in the
Local (Trusted) zone. Firewall configurations are a very common cause of
(network) browser, and file sharing, problems.

Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.