I'm currently doing a bit of side-IT work for a company. They have 4 computers and a "server". The "server" is a regular computer with Win MCE on it. All of the computers including the "server" are on the same workgroup and i've installed File and Printer sharing on all of the computers. Every now and then i'll be able to access the workgroup without getting the error message "Unable to access workgroup...", but lately now all of the client computers have to log in to connect to the "server". It was originally setup so there is no login. This just changed today.1 person needs an answerI do too

Here are general network troubleshooting steps. Not everything may be applicable to your situation, so just take the bits that are. It sounds like Item C may be the main culprit. Excellent, thorough, yet easy to understand article about File/Printer Sharing in Vista. Includes details about sharing printers as well as files and folders: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb727037.aspx For XP, start by running the Network Setup Wizard on all machines (see caveat in Item A below). Problems sharing files between computers on a network are generally caused by 1) a misconfigured firewall or overlooked firewall (including a stateful firewall in a VPN); or 2) inadvertently running two firewalls such as the built-in Windows Firewall and a third-party firewall; and/or 3) not having identical user accounts and passwords on all Workgroup machines; 4) trying to create shares where the operating system does not permit it. A. Configure firewalls on all machines to allow the Local Area Network (LAN) traffic as trusted. With Windows Firewall, this means allowing File/Printer Sharing on the Exceptions tab. Normally running the Network Setup Wizard on XP will take care of this for those machines.The only "gotcha" is that this will turn on the XPSP2 Windows Firewall. If you aren't running a third-party firewall or have an antivirus/security program with its own firewall component, then you're fine. With third-party firewalls,I usually configure the LAN allowance with an IP range. Ex. would be 192.168.1.0-192.168.1.254. Obviously you would substitute your correct subnet. Refer to any third party security program's Help or user forums for how to properly configure its firewall. Do not run more than one firewall. DO NOT TURN OFF FIREWALLS; CONFIGURE THEM CORRECTLY. B. For ease of organization, put all computers in the same Workgroup. This is done from the System applet in Control Panel, Computer Name tab. C. In Vista, turn Password Protected Sharing ON . Create matching user accounts and passwords on all machines. You do not need to be logged into the same account on all machines and the passwords assigned to each user account can be different; the accounts/passwords just need to exist and match on all machines. DO NOT NEGLECT TO CREATE PASSWORDS, EVEN IF ONLY SIMPLE ONES . If you wish a machine to boot directly to the Desktop (into one particular user's account) for convenience, you can do this: XP - Configure Windows to Automatically Login (MVP Ramesh) - http://windowsxp.mvps.org/Autologon.htm Vista - Start Orb>Search box>type: netplwiz [enter] Click on Continue (or supply an administrator's password) when prompted by UAC Uncheck the option "Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer". Select a user account to automatically log on by clicking on the desired account to highlight it and then hit OK. Enter the correct password for that user account (if there is one) when prompted. Leave it blank if there is no password (null). D. If one or more of the computers is XP Pro or Media Center, turn off Simple File Sharing (Folder Options>View tab). E. Create shares as desired. XP Home does not permit sharing of users' home directories or Program Files, but you can share folders inside those directories. A better choice is to simply use the Shared Documents folder. See the first link above for details about Vista sharing. F. After you have file sharing working (and have tested this by exchanging a file between all machines), if you want to share a printer connected locally to one of your computers, share it out from that machine. Then go to the printer mftr.'s website and download the latest drivers for the correct operating system(s). Install them on the target machine(s). The printer should be seen during the installation routine. If it is not, install the drivers and then use the Add Printer Wizard. In some instances, certain printers need to be installed as Local printers but that is outside of this response. MS-MVP - Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!

Alright, i've done everything on the list. Now the "server" is more frequently going out and still asking for a logon.

The First Question Of Troubleshooting: If the problem is new, what changed between the time things worked and the time they didn't? You mentioned that something changed. Third-party firewall updates? Cisco VPN? Try and figure out what changed. Try MVP Hans-Georg Michna's Small Network Troubleshooter - http://winhlp.com/wxnet.htm Other than that, maybe you have a buddy who is good with networking who can help you. It's very hard to troubleshoot a network remotely like this. If you are getting "access denied" errors then you've got something set wrong with user accounts, passwords, firewalls, and possibly permissions. I've given you some general steps but without being on-site, I've reached the limit of what I can do in a forum. I'm sorry I wasn't able to help you with this.MS-MVP - Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!

Maybe i'm unclear on part C. You do mean create user accounts on each computer correct? This is what i've done, i've created the same account on every computer. Another thing though, is that does at least one computer have to be on that account? Because how I have it now is every computer has the same little account but no one is logged into it. "You either have to log on to the client computer with a username and password for which an account exists on the server or you have to have Guest access enabled on the server, i.e. the Guest account fully enabled, no password, no counteracting policy. Please see the next subheading for instructions on how to enable the Guest account and reset the password." Since the company needs unique logons for each person, I would guess I need to setup guest account on the server. Is there a preferred guide or should I google how to do it?

No, you don't want Guest enabled on the pseudo-server. You want all the unique logins/passwords that are on the computers to be on the pseudo-server. Example: Computer A - user John, password 1234 Computer B - user Mary, password 5678 Computer C - user Bill, password 8970 Pseudo-server - (in addition to the normal "Tech" and Administrator users, etc.) user John, password 1234; user Mary, password 5678; user Bill, password 8970 If Bill's account and password which matches that on his workstation are not on the pseudo-server, when Bill tries to access a shared resource on the pseudo-server he will get "access denied". Make sure you have disabled Simple File Sharing on the pseudo-server from File Options>View tab. Also be aware that there is an inbound concurrent connections limitation on Windows operating systems. XP MCE has a limit of 10. This doesn't mean 10 computers or 10 users; it means 10 connections and each computer can - and often does - make more than one connection to a "server". With only 4 workstations I doubt this is your issue but I mention it to be thorough. Inbound connections limit - http://support.microsoft.com/?id=314882 5 - XP Home/Vista Home Basic 10 - Vista Home Premium/Vista Ultimate/XP Pro 49 - SBS 2000 74 - SBS 2003 Unlimited for full Server O/SesMS-MVP - Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!

Ah thanks, that might definitely be the problem. I'll get on putting all of the accounts on the server on Monday and let you know how it goes.

Great. Have a nice weekend and don't think about networking. ;-)MS-MVP - Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!

Alright i've put all the accounts on the psuedo-server. "Do not run more than one firewall. DO NOT TURN OFF FIREWALLS; CONFIGURE THEM CORRECTLY." This statement seems contradicting. Either way i've configured the the firewall correctly, put all the computers in the same workgroup, file sharing is on, and simple file sharing is off. It seems to be worse now unfortunately. I just read the link you posted at the top of your original post and inside said: " When you disable password protected sharing, the computer sharing the folder does not require a user account or password. Anyone on your network can access the shared folders of the computer (provided the folder was shared for the Guest or Everyone account). This behavior is equivalent to simple file sharing in Windows XP." It says non-login sharing on xp needs simple file sharing, but then also your list says to disable it. Which is it?

It's actually fluctuating, it'll work sometimes, but then not work other times. I'll have a worker get on it, it works fine, then they leave their desk for a while, come back, and it doesn't work.

The statement "Do not run more than one firewall..." is not contradictory. It assumes that you have more than one computer and each one should only have one firewall active on it. When you disable Simple File Sharing, you connect as Guest. Except in a very simple home network where all computers are Home Editions of XP, Vista, etc. and no advanced sharing is required, you don't want to do this. I don't know why you are having such difficulties at your client's. Re-reading your original post I see that you said that previously no one was using passwords and "this just changed today". Perhaps finding out what changed might be productive in getting their network back.MS-MVP - Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!

Then you have other issues, perhaps with the master browser. Or your client could even be having network hardware issues. Or have infected computers. It's impossible for someone not at the site to tell. In addition to my last suggestion of finding out what changed, MVP Hans-Georg Michna has a very good Small Business Network Troubleshooter that might be useful to you: http://winhlp.com/wxnet.htm MS-MVP - Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!

Well seeing as everything was working fine til one random day where it decided to start doing the log-on thing, I'm going to save everything on the server that needs to be saved and do a roll-back to the point before this started happening. I'm starting to think that it was because of a windows update. I did everything on the link you provided and none of that helped either. This will probably be the last thing I can think of doing since nothing on the client computers has changed either. The only thing that has been changing are windows updates on all the computers. Other than that, every computer has anti-virus and anti-spyware on them. I scheduled a scan of all the computers during a time that no one would be here, and they all came up clean. It only started doing the log-on thing after the power supply burned out on the server. I installed a new one, and left everything as it was, so logic is still pointing towards a windows update messing everything up. The funny thing is, that the person who initially setup the server environment, didn't actually do anything on that list and everything was working fine.

I'm sorry I was unable to help you. I'm sure you'll figure it out.MS-MVP - Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!