Why can't I share a folder on Vista?

1

On Windows Vista, I right-click on a folder, Properties, Sharing tab, and either "Advanced Sharing" or "Share"->"Share" causes an error:

Windows File Sharing
This program will not run
Access is denied.
                    Close

My user account is an "administrator" on this machine.

I think this behavior changed since my computer was added to the new domain recently. I have other folders shared (from long ago), and they continue to be shared just fine.

Ken

Posted 2011-01-13T23:08:33.180

Reputation: 2 669

Answers

2

(I've been fighting this all week, and somebody came up with a fix for me just now, so I'm recording it here!)

The hunch is that Windows' access control widget doesn't realize it needs to run, for some reason. Maybe I'm just special? Similar machines with (apparently) the same permissions on the same network don't exhibit this problem.

The workaround:

  • Start Menu, right-click on Computer, Manage
  • (this causes the "Windows needs your permission to continue" warning -> Continue)
  • go to System Tools -> Shared Folders -> Shares
  • right-click in the empty area, New Share..., etc.

This way, it gets elevated permissions out of the way before touching anything related to file sharing ever happens. Problem solved!

Ken

Posted 2011-01-13T23:08:33.180

Reputation: 2 669

1+1, You can accept your own answer as the Solution. This will not work for Windows 7, "new share" is no longer available. – Moab – 2011-01-14T02:13:45.437

Yep, but I have to wait 2 days to accept it. :-) – Ken – 2011-01-14T02:30:38.703

Asked: 2011-01-13T23:08:33.180

Viewed: 2 076 times

Active: 2012-12-12T23:02:44.397