[Ham-Computers] RE: XP (PRO) Networking

[Hsu, Aaron (NBC Universal)]

Wow, you must be an "Old Timer" as "OT" generally means "Off Topic" these days!  =)

Anyways, let's try this...


*** WARNING ***
The method shown below gives remote users full access to the local PC's drives.  Be sure this is what you want to do before proceeding!


We'll create a common username used across all the systems and assign "Administrator" rights.  You'll never need to use it to log on locally, but it makes it easier to manage the shares.  Do the following on each system:

  1. Right-click on "My Computer", then "Manage".

  2. Expand "Local Users and Groups", then right-click "Users" -> "New User".

  3. Enter "Share" as the username and leave the rest blank.

  4. Untick "User must change password" and tick "Password never expires".

  5. Click "Create", then "Close".

  6. On the right-hand pane, right-click on the "Share" user and select "Properties".

  7. Click on the "Member Of" tab and click "Add...".

  8. In the "Enter the object names..." box, type in the name "Administrators" and click "OK".  

  9. Close the Computer Management console.


At this point, you should be able to access any remote drive letter from the local system by using the following from a command prompt:

  "start \\computername\c$"   (or d$, e$, etc)

You can also type in \\computername\c$ from the "Run" option on the "Start Menu" - whatever feels best - I like the command prompt.

When prompted, type in "share" as the username and leave the password blank.  This should then open a window at the root level of the remote system.

BTW, The "$" shares are "administratively" shared by WinXP Pro by default and there's one for each physical drive on the system.  The "$" is the root of each drive.


You can create a shortcut to a remote share by doing the following:

  1. Right-click on the Desktop and select "New" -> "Shortcut".

  2. For location, enter "\\computername\c$" (or d$, e$, etc) and click "Next".

  3. Enter a descriptive name for the shortcut such as, "C drive on Computer A" and click "Finish".

You should now have a shortcut you can double-click on to automatically open the remote share.


If you want a drive letter assigned to a share, do the following:

  1. Open "My Computer".

  2. Click on "Tools" -> "Map Network Drive".

  3. Select a drive letter you want to assign.

  4. Enter the remote folder you wish to use (e.g. \\computername\c$)

  5. If you want to make the drive mapping "persistant" across reboots, tick the "Reconnect..." box.

  6. Click "Finish".  The mapping will be created and Windows will open a Window to the newly mapped drive.


To be a bit more secure, assign a password the "Share" UserID.  Make sure the password is set the same on all systems (BTW, this is where network "Domains" come in handy as you only need to create the ID and password once).  Then, when you're prompted for the UserID and Password when opening a share, enter both the ID and password.  It is possible to save the password to each share on the local system, but I generally don't recommend it.  However, if you're not worried about the security (since each system is at home), you can tick the "Remember password" box on the share authentication screen.

To assign a password, do the following:

  1. Open the Computer Management console (Right-click "My Computer" -> Manage).

  2. Expand the "Local Users and Groups and select "Users".

  3. On the right pane, Right-click the "Share" user and select "Set Password".

  4. A warning dialogue will appear.  Since you've never logged in to the machine locally (meaning you've never used the "Share" ID to login to the desktop), click on "Proceed".  Note: hopefully, you also didn't encrypt any files using the "Share" UserID with NTFS encryption...if so decrypt them first before changing the password!

  5. Enter a new password and confirm.  Heed the warnings.

  6. Click "OK".  You should get a confirmation.  If not, type the password(s) again.

  7. Close the Computer Management console.

Now to access the shares you'll need to enter the password as well as the username.  If you previously "Remembered" the password, it will prompt for authentication now that a password is set.  You can "Remember" the new password, if you wish.


Hope this works!  It's possible that one or two steps may be different as I've changed a few default settings on my PC(s).  Let me know if you run into any problems.


73,

  - Aaron Hsu, NN6O


p.s.  If you want to share specific directories/folders, let me know and I'll "append" some instructions.


-----Original Message-----
Sent: Monday, November 21, 2005 9:14 AM
Subject: [Ham-Computers] XP (PRO) Networking


Again, this OT needs to ask for help from the group members.
I have a small home network running four computers with XP PRO and I want to access files/folders on each computer from any other computer. I am not worried about security on my home network. I want to be able to access any file/folder on any computer. I have tried setting 'permissions', etc. but this does not seem to work; I can access files on computer B from computer A but not the other way around. This is not always true with ALL combinations - C/D D/C A/D, etc. Is there a procedure whereby I can set each computer to allow full access? Thanks in advance for the help!

73

Gene, WØQFC
Spring Hill, Florida
WEB SITE:
http://www.w0qfc.com