One way filesharing problem

[CitizenBleys]

For almost a year, I've shared my PC with my grandfather, and had it connected directly to the internet; For that reason, I've spent the whole year constantly going over and improving my security to the point where I can't even remember what security measures I've taken.

Recently, my grandfather inherited a computer of his own, so I got a broadband router and ran network cable out to it in order to share the internet connection. That worked fine, but all of his files are sitting on my hard drive.

His computer is running Windows 98, and I can access any shares on his computer with no problems whatsoever, but he cannot connect to any of my shares; My computer shows up in his Network Places, but when he tries to double-click on it, he's prompted for a password to the IPC$ share. I've tried a blank password, my main user account password, and my Administrator password, and all get access denied. (Isn't Administrator supposed to have full access to *everything*?)

Since I'm now behind a router, I've disabled as much of my security I can find, but I can't seem to allow anonymous users (As a Windows 98 machine must be) to access shared files and folders on this computer.

NetBIOS over TCP/IP is enabled, and I've got all my shares set for Full Control for the Everyone group both at the Share and NTFS level. (I do have key files I wish to have secured via NTFS permissions, therefore enabling simple file sharing is not, at this point, an option)

Ping, of course, works both ways; The connectivity must be good, as I can access the Windows 98 machine from my XP box, and both machines can access the internet.

 

[wolluf]

Old chestnut for access to NT based systems from 9x ones(presume you've got simplified sharing disabled) - you need to create a user account on your XP machine with same username/password that your grandfather uses to log on to his PC with. Or you could enable simplified sharing.

 

[CitizenBleys]

No good; now I just get Unknown Error 31, which means absolutely nothing to me

 

[wolluf]

Have you actually shared anything on your machine (i don't mean the default shares, like C$ for C: drive - you have to explicitly share drive/folder/printer)?

Did you go the set up account or simplified sharing route?

 

[CitizenBleys]

I set up an account with the same username and (blank) password as the account on the Windows 98 machine. As I said in my initial post, using simple file sharing isn't an option, as I do have some things I need secured with NTFS permissions on my computer.

 

[bcastner]

Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Local Security Settings, Local Policy, Security Options, set to disabled "Accounts: Limit local account use of blank passwords to local console only"