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I have two computers. Lets call them A and B. Both are on the same Workgroup (at least I think they are as far as I can see the workgroup names match). Both are running Windows XP Pro SP3. B is fully up to date, A is in the process of being updated as it's a new installation (the previous incarnation of A died).
A can see B on the network and can browse to B's shared folders. I don't need to enter any user credentials to do this.
B can see A exists but won't browse to A's shared folders or even list them until I enter the credentials of a user on A.
I'm certain it's not the firewall settings I have set it to allow all local network traffic.
I don't think it's anything to do with the way I have shared the folders as I have to enter the credentials before I can even see the shares, let alone browse to them.
Everything I've checked so far indicates that I've enabled File and Printer Sharing on A, but I didn't do this explicitly when I installed the OS.
What else do I need to do on A to allow B to see it's shares without needing a user id and password?
I should add that before I had to rebuild A the two computers could browse each others shared folders just fine. There's clearly something I've forgotten to do this time round.
i presume you've disabled "simple file sharing" on both? frankly i'd finish your updates on A and see what the situation is then. one thing at a time. :) – quack quixote – 2010-03-04T22:19:03.497
@~quack - Yes, simple file sharing is disabled on both. I'm 99% certain I've finished the OS updates on A, it's just updating Visual Studio at the moment. – ChrisF – 2010-03-04T22:20:51.637
1I'm assuming this worked before the previous version of A died? Are the usernames/passwords the same as the were previously? – heavyd – 2010-03-04T22:27:27.767
@heavyd: even if usernames & passwords were the same, A very likely has a different SID?GUID/whatever. machineIDs and userIDs are practically guaranteed not to be the same on the new install. – quack quixote – 2010-03-04T22:32:34.650
@heavyd - Yes it all worked previously. I'm reasonably sure that that the user names and passwords are the same, but I have created extra limited accounts for the kids on the new A so I could have entered different data. Unfortunately B is next to the kids bedrooms and as it's late (UK time) I can't double check right now. – ChrisF – 2010-03-04T22:32:56.957
how have you been "browsing"? via Windows Explorer? have you tried using the net commands on the commandline? eg net view A (run on B).... any interesting output/errors/etc? – quack quixote – 2010-03-04T22:54:55.267
@~quack - Yep browsing via Windows Explorer. I can't test the net commands right now (see comment to heavyd) but I'll add it to the list. – ChrisF – 2010-03-04T23:11:52.963
(what? no RDP?) fair enough. wish i had something more immediately helpful for you. :) – quack quixote – 2010-03-04T23:21:17.420
@~quack, don't worry, you and heavyd have given me a few things to check out. – ChrisF – 2010-03-04T23:43:03.653
@heavyd - It was down to the passwords on the accounts being different (see my answer for a full explanation). If you want to post your comment as an answer I'll accept it as the correct one. – ChrisF – 2010-03-07T16:28:18.057