Equipment: Two towers, one laptop, home wireless network behind a linksys router. All computers are running Windows XP Home Ed SP3; all have McAfee installed. I have set up a network (behind the router) and using "View Workgroup Compters" I can see all computers from all computers. I have enabled sharing on at the top (C-drive) level of all computers. I am an adminstrator for all computers.The Problem: When I double click on either of the compter icons for computers other than the one I am on, I get a pop-up window indicating the computer "..is not accessible. You might not have permission...." I searched MS and found and ran "http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;318030", but that didn't fix the problem. What should I try next?1 person needs an answerI do too

Hi mysticskier, What anti-virus software is installed on your computers? I would suggest you to try the steps mentioned in the link given below that will address your issue. Error message when you try to access a Windows XP-based network computer: "You might not have permission to use this network resource"http://support.microsoft.com/kb/913628 Hope this information is helpful and let me know if you need any further assistance.Mouneshwar R – Microsoft Support-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think

Mysticskier,You're fighting a real up-hill battle here. Being that your computers are all XP Home forces "Simple File Sharing" (SFS) to be enabled (by definition). When Simple File Sharing is enabled, every network connection authenticates as the "Guest" user -- even though you may have valid administrator login credentials. A Guest user does not have permissions to many top-level directories (For sure, all directories in the "Documents and Settings" folder, the \Windows folder, and the \Program Files folder. Perhaps disk root level as well (I can't remember). You're much better off sharing a folder at a lower level.With an XP Pro machine, disabling SFS would permit you to authenticate as Administrator and give you ready access to the entire hard drive as if you were local to that machine.The "might not have permission" error covers a lot of different errors. I prefer to attempt the connection with the command prompt because errors then are generally more descriptive. Try bringing up a command prompt (Start -> Run -> "cmd") then enter the command: net use * \\computername\sharenameWhere you replace "computername" with the name of the computer you are connecting to and "sharename" with the name of the share on that machine. The error generated here will tend to be more descriptive.HTH, JW

No joy yet. Let me give you a little more info. As I said I have 3 computers on the network and are all configured pretty much the same. Two of the computers work as I think they should and can share files fine at any folder level. The third computer can look into the other two fine, but the other two can't look into it at all; that's when I get the "access....may not have permissions" window. All computers have passed the 'ping test' in all directions.Tonight I uninstalled McAfee on the effected computer and ran their cleaning tool. Then I restarted in both normal and safe mode with networking - still no joy. I tried the solution you proposed (i.e., setting restrictanonymous = 0) still no joy.Also tonight, as I compared computers, I noticed the 'Shared Documents' folder that is part of the normal Windows set-up (typically there when you explore 'My Computer') was missing from the effected machine. Don't know whether that is important or not, but then when I tried to create a folder that matched the ones on the working computers, the Properties window for the folder I created was different. On the working machines the Properties window had two tabs (General & Sharing), while the Properties window on the folder I created on the effected computer had three tabs (General, Sharing & Customize). Also, even though I created it in the same location (Documents and Settings\All Users) it doesn't come up when I hit my computer. As I said, I not sure if that's important or not, but it is a difference that I noticed between the working computers and the one that isn't working. The last thing I did was run Microsoft Fix It #50135 --> again, no joy.Any ideas?

After a little experimenting, I've determined that the c:\ root directory should be accessible by a networked user (as you've found on your other machines). As I've mentioned, with XP Home, all network access authenticates as the "Guest" user. Two explanations that agree with all your symptoms are 1) The Guest account is not active on your affected machine or 2) A password has been assigned to the Guest account on the affected computer.To handle the first case, on your affected machine bring up a command prompt (Start -> Run -> "cmd") and enter the command: net user guestCheck the output line labeled "Account Active". If it says "No" then you will need to activate it by entering the following command as a user with administrator privilege: net user guest /active:yesTo verify that the Guest user does not have a password, try logging into your computer as the Guest user and verify that you can do this by leaving the password blank. In the past, my son had a machine that I could not connect to and after pulling half my hair out it finally turned out that the problem was that he had assigned a password to the Guest account.HTH, JW

This is getting frustrating. From the test above it looked like I did have Guest user active, but then I did a little reading at MS about Guest and it seemed to indicate that I had to go into Safe Mode to activiate it which I didn't recall ever doing. So I did that on all three computers. So now when Windows reboots, I get a Guest icon along with our personal icons. I can log on as a Guest directly with no password. All three computers are now set up that way. I think this is the configuration you indicated I should achieve. However, after doing that, I lost a ping test from the effected computer to one of the other computers and of course the file sharing with it. Go figure. This is very frustrating and it shouldn't be this hard to do something that seems like it should be simple and very useful. At this point I have no clue what to do next in terms of diagnostics or resolution. Any more advice?

Microsoft makes it confusing. Accounts can be "active / inactive" and/or "enabled / disabled" which are two different things. In order to log in locally, the account must be both active and enabled. If the Guest account is active but disabled, you can use the guest account to connect via the network but not log in locally. Enabled/Disabled is set using the User Accounts Control Panel. Active/Inactive is controlled via the "net user" command at a command prompt. I found a KB article that describes this relationship and I thought it might be your problem -- however it appears not to be:"You receive an "Access is denied" error message when you try to access shares on a Windows XP Home Edition-based computer that is connected to a network" < http://support.microsoft.com/kb/281248 >You can disable the guest account in the control panel if you desire. It should not affect network connectivity.I find that command-prompt errors are more descriptive when solving these problems. You never addressed my suggestion to try the following command from a command window: net use * \\computername\sharenameTry this command to connect from one of the "good" computers to the one that won't connect and relate the error message that you receive. Replace "computername" and "sharename" with appropriate names on the stubborn computer.The Windows Firewall might also be getting in the way. Refer to the following article to ensure that an Exception is present for File and Printer Sharing on the machine that resists connections. Follow the instructions in the "Resolution" section:"The Computer Browser service does not start and event ID 7024 is logged when you restart your Windows XP Service Pack 2-based computer" < http://support.microsoft.com/kb/875362 >HTH, JW

Hi JW - Thanks for hanging in there with this.I can address a couple of items in your reply, but I think I need help with the third.1. Regarding Guest accounts - If I understand you reply correctly, if I can log on as a Guest locally, the Guest account is both active and enabled. If there is no harm, then I plan to leave them that way until we get this figured out. Then I can start undoing things, and see the effects, but for now I am inclined to leave them as they are: active and enabled.2. Regarding firewalls - As I said earlier, I have McAfee on my computer, so I have turned off Windows firewall since many tech notes say that having two firewall programs can sometimes cause problems. I spent 2 hours on the phone the other night with McAfee tier 2 support, and they convinced themselves that McAfee wasn't the problem. After the call I totally cleaned my computer of McAfee and ran their cleaning program and the file sharing still didn't work - so I have pretty much convinced myself it's not McAfee. I have since restored McAfee on my computer, with Windows firewall still off.3. Regarding the use of the 'net use *" command - Even though I did some reading related to this, I am not sure I fully understand how to get the 'computername' and 'sharename' for a particular computer. I tried several variations of what I thought they might be, but when I executed the command in the command line, I got a quick flash of a window (much less than a second), but nothing stayed on the screen anywhere near long enough to get data. So I am not sure I am using the command correctly. When I click My Networks --> View Workgroups, I see all of the computers and there are a couple of names for each, but I am not sure those are what I should be using or which is which. Sorry, but I need a little more help in this area to be sure I am correctly executing the command you want me to.Again, thanks for sticking with this,

With the "net use" command... you cannot enter this command directly in a "Start -> Run" window or it comes and goes so fast you won't see it. You need to bring up a command prompt window first and then type in the "net use" command in that command window. One way to bring up the command prompt window is Start -> Run -> "cmd". On some machines, you can also do this by Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> Command Prompt.The computer name is the name that you gave your computer. Each computer must have a unique computer name on each subnet. (i.e. two computers with the same name on the same subnet may exhibit problems similar to what you're seeing). If you have a command prompt window started, you can enter the following command (exactly as shown) that will return the name of that computer: echo %computername%As an administrator, you can also view or change the computer name by Right-clicking on "My Computer", then "Properties" and then click the "Computer Name" tab at the top and go from there.When you share a folder by right-clicking on it -> Properties -> Sharing tab, you can give that folder a different name for being seen on the network. Usually the default for the name of the folder is left as-is. If you share the entire c: hard drive, then the default "sharename" is usually "c" or "c$". Therefore, if you want to connect to a machine with the name "upstairs" that has shared its C: drive, the "net use" command would likely look like this: net use * \\upstairs\cHope this Helps, JW

Again, thanks for hanging in on this one - I am still with you.Just to be clear, I was using the CMD prompt (black screen, old time white letters), I grew up in that world and am comfortable with it (although I don't know many of the commands and in this case I had the Sharename structure wrong, thanks for the clarification.)Ok, here are a handful of results, I think along the lines of what you were looking for. Windows Yes or No, indicates whether I can do what I want to do through standard Windows interface (i.e., My Network --> View Workgroups then double click on computer icon)I have three computers: upstairs4550, sarahs-dell, and dellbasement.For upstairs4550: connecting to sarahs-dell: System error 53 has occured, network path not found, (Windows: No) connecting to dellbasement: System error 1385 has occured, Logon Failure: the user has not been granted requested log on type (Windows: No)For sarahs-dell: connecting to upstairs4550: Command Completed Succesfully (Windows Yes) connecting to dellbasement: System error 1385... (Windows No)For dellbasement: connecting to upstairs: The command complete successfully.... (Windows: Yes) connecting to sarahs-dell: System error 53... (Windows: No)It looks like the 'upstairs4550' is behaving the way I would like it to. FYI - before I changed the Guest accounts, I would have said 'sarahs-dell' worked the same way, but now it doesn't, it behaves more like 'dellbasement'.I don't know about you, but this is making less sense to me all the time, two more ribbons if you figure this out.Again, thanks for your help

Well, I hope 2 out of three is good enough.Double checked operating system and confirmed Windows XP Home Edition, SP3 is installed on all computers.Time synch is very accurate between all machines (well within a minute)While Restore executed successfully, it didn't restore Sarahs-dell to full file sharing. I was making a lot of changes at the time and while I am pretty sure it was the Guest account change the caused problems with Sarahs-dell, it wasn't clear I had a Restore point associated with just that change. I tried a couple of Restore points, but no joy. Right now, Restore was executed on both Sarahs-dell and Dellbasement and while I didn't check all of the above results, the ones I did check were still the same.FYI - I will be on travel until Wednesday, so you don't have to do all of your research tomorrow.Thanks again.

I should thank you for putting up with me ;-)Actually, I think we're making progress. As for the "sarahs-dell" machine, It worked before we messed with it, so a System Restore should bring it back to as it was. Boot to Safe Mode (press F8 repeatedly at startup) and perform a System Restore to a date/time before we broke it (Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> System Restore).The "dellbasement" machine generates a 1385 logon error. This is highly unusual on a XP Home machine. In a way this is good because it eliminates connectivity problems. Could you check again to verify it is not an XP Pro machine (Right-click "My Computer" -> Properties then examine screen). This problem possibly could arise from an entry that was placed in the registry. I have a file at work that I can reference in this regard. I'll research it and update tomorrow. As a real shot-in-the-dark, verify that the date and time control panel shows all computers in correct time zone and the time is within 5 minutes of each other.-- JW

Thanks for the extra time... I needed it. I'm pretty sure I have a solution for "dellbasement". The error 1385 that it has been generating when other machines attempt connection is because the Guest account has been denied network logon privilege to dellbasement. XP Home has no provision to change this privilege and all solutions I found applied only to XP Pro. Finally, I found the following article:"How to set logon user rights by using the NTRights utility" < http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315276 >So here's what you need to do on dellbasement:Download the Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit Install Resource Kit on your dellbasement machine. This will install a lot of utilities including "ntrights.exe"After installation, bring up a command window ( Start -> Run -> "cmd" ) and enter these commands exactly as shown: net user guest /active:yes ntrights +r SeNetworkLogonRight -u Guest ntrights -r SeDenyNetworkLogonRight -u GuestFingers crossed, Dellbasement should now accept connections. -----------------Moving on to "saras-dell" machine. The Error 53 is a basic connection error. As a first test, bring up a command prompt window on one of the other machines and see if saras-dell responds to a NetBT status "ping". Enter the following command in a command window on one of the other machines and let me know if saras-dell responds: nbtstat -a saras-dellif that doesn't respond, try the command using saras-dell's IP address instead of name and make the "-a" a "-A" instead (case sensitive)... nbtstat -A 192.168.1.100(where 192.168.1.100 is replaced with saras-dell's actual IP address).Let me know, JW

Great news - after performing the above, dellbasement is now filesharing, no problems! Awesome! That was easy. :-)As for Sarahs-dell, the first command line you gave looked like it worked. I am not sure what you were expecting, but I recieved something called a NetBIOS Remote Machine Name Table, it had entries like:Name Type StatusSarahs-dell Unique RegisteredHome Net Group RegisteredMAC Address = 00-13-02-!C-......Hope this help, so far so goodThanks again.

Glad \\dellbasement is working now. (BTW, That was NOT easy.)I would expect that the nbtstat command would result with your computer name (sarahs-dell) listed twice, once with <00> and once with <20>. The group name (home net) would appear twice, once with <00> and once with <1E>. In any event, the positive response indicates a lot -- you are not experiencing firewall problems, NetBT is enabled and functioning, and the computer name is being resolved by other computers on the network.What is left strongly suggests that your administrative shares are not present on Sarahs-dell. On Sarahs-dell, bring up a command prompt window and enter the command: net shareIt should respond with all network shares that are enabled on this machine. One of them should be IPC$. Try reading the following article and see if this is your problem. Note that one of the symptoms is a Error 53 from a "net use" command. If so, it strongly suggests that you are being affected by Malware:"Overview of problems that may occur when administrative shares are missing" < http://support.microsoft.com/kb/842715 >HTH, JW

Yes, I was being sarcastic with the 'That was easy comment'; actually this was one of the most difficult problems I have needed help with. Again thanks much for your time.Re: Sarahs-dell: Yes, your expectations with the nbtstat command were exactly right.net share command did show IPC$I reviewed the article you provided the link to, and ran regedit as indicated in the resolution section and neither AutoShareServer and AutoShareWks were present. There was a note reading "If these values do not exist, you do not have to create them because the default behavior is to automatically create the administrative shares."This weekend I will do as many virus/malware scans as I can, but if you can think of anything else I should try let me know.Thanks again!

This is turning into a marathon thread and, frankly, I am about out of ideas on sarahs-dell. Nbtstat shows the computer responds, indicating that network-wise you are connecting. The full response indicates that "File and Printer sharing" is enabled on your network connection connection, and if IPC$ is present we have administrative shares (and may not have malware problems). My last two thoughts are to try the following command from one of the other machines and see if you still get Error 53: net use \\sarahs-dell\ipc$My second idea is that perhaps sarahs-dell doesn't think anything is shared. Try picking a test folder, right-click on it, select "Sharing and security" and click the box "share this folder on the network". Enter the Share name as: "abcd". Then "OK" your way out then try connecting to this share from one of your other machines by bringing up a command prompt and entering: net use * \\sarahs-dell\abcdIf you still get Error 53, then try substituting Sarahs-dell's actual IP address for "sarahs-dell" in the above line. It will look like this assuming its IP address is 192.168.1.100: net use * \\192.168.1.100\abcdLastly, you might try resetting the IP stack but I don't think that will do much: "How to reset Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)" < http://support.microsoft.com/kb/299357 >Good Luck, JW