What is it with Win7 and shared folders ? 1

[pmonett]

I have three PCs on a home network, one of which I am trying to set up as a data hub with a folder that all others should be able to access.

All PCs are part of the same Homegroup, and Workgroup.

All PCs have Network Discovery on, and password sharing off.

All PCs can "see" each other on the Network panel, and all can "see" the shared folder.

Yet, none of the two other PCs can connect to it, getting a "You do not have permission" error.

I have gone through the Windows Help list as follows :

* You haven't created or joined a homegroup - yes I have, and they're all connected

* You're not using a homegroup, and the folder or printer you're trying to access has not been shared - yes I am, and yes it has

* Network discovery is turned off - no it is not

* Password-protected sharing is turned on - no it is not

* The computers aren't in the same workgroup - yes they are

* Group Policy might be blocking the connection - not a domain

* Your computer doesn't have the latest updates for your router - oh please

So, as far as I can see, everything is set up as it should be, but it is not working.

Can someone point me to something I missed ? The folder is shared, otherwise it wouldn't show up in Network, right ? What can I check and, failing that, what other solution do I have ?

Thank you for any tips,

Pascal.

I've got nothing to hide, and I'd very much like to keep that away from prying eyes.

 

[cdogg]

1. Are all 3 PC's running Win 7? If so, then I assume you've followed all of the steps at the link below for setting up and configuring the Homegroup?

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/...o-finish=windows-7&v1h=win81tab1&v2h=win7tab2

2. Next, I would check to make sure that the network identified on each workstation is set to Home and not Work or Public. The extra security on the Work and Public designation will prevent the Homegroup from working correctly.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/choosing-network-location#1TC=windows-7

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Why-cant-I-access-my-homegroup

3. If any of the workstations have a 3rd-party firewall installed, temporarily disable it as a test.

4. Unshare the folder you're having problems with. Re-share it using the "Share with" option:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/share-files-with-someone#1TC=windows-7

Also, I realize you don't have a domain setup at home, but does the PC sharing the folder belong to a domain at work (for example, you've brought a laptop home from the office and are now trying to share files from it on your home network)? This won't work if that's the case.

-Carl
"The glass is neither half-full nor half-empty: it's twice as big as it needs to be."

[tab][navy]For this site's posting policies, click [/navy]here.

 

[jsteph]

Are you mapping a drive on the other machines to this "hub" machine to provide access, or just trying to drill down in the Network-->Computer-->Share nodes in Windows Explorer?

I ask because I've always found it easier to completely avoid the whole "Homegroup" construct and just map drives. When you map the drive, just click the "connect using different credentials" and for user type in HubMachineName\HubUser (assming that user has rights to that folder).

Alternatively, you can set the permissions on that folder to "Everyone", but that's a last-resort thing.

Anyway, I have run across this before and have tried turning off the firewall and all sorts of things, and it's always ended up being something simple like the folder permissions or not mapping it under a username on the host computer.
--Jim

 

[pmonett]

Thank you for your answers !

Now to answer your questions :

cdogg :
1) All PCs are indeed Windows 7 64-bit SP1, although two are Home Premium and one (the server) is Professional. All are connected to the Homegroup.

2) All network locations are set to Home

3) All PCs are using the Win7 firewall - will try disabling and report results back

4) Need to try unsharing and re-sharing, will report back with results

5) There is no work domain for these PCs, it's all home stuff all the way. Although, once that works, I'll be looking at putting my work laptop in the mix. At least, that is what I was thinking, but with the current state, I might not try that.

jsteph :
Tried mapping the drive, got same answer : no access allowed. Will try again with firewall down and after unsharing/re-sharing.

Pascal.

I've got nothing to hide, and I'd very much like to keep that away from prying eyes.

 

[pmonett]

Okay, tried to down the firewall, and I could no longer connect to the server at all in Network.

So I restarted the firewall and tried unsharing/re-sharing. No change, with the firewall I can click on the server again, but I cannot access anything outside the public folders - which, ironically, I did not set to share.

This ball of nonsense is not making Microsoft networking look good.

Pascal.

I've got nothing to hide, and I'd very much like to keep that away from prying eyes.

 

[cdogg]

pmonett,
I was only referring to 3rd-party firewalls, not the one built into Windows. The built-in firewall wouldn't be an issue.

When you "re-shared" the folder, did you follow the steps in that link I posted setting Homegroup (Read) or Homegroup (Read/Write) for the permissions?

Also, where is the folder located on the C: drive that you're sharing? Try sharing something in one of your personal folders (My Documents for example) and see if that works. The "Share with" option will only appear on folders located under your profile.

-Carl
"The glass is neither half-full nor half-empty: it's twice as big as it needs to be."

[tab][navy]For this site's posting policies, click [/navy]here.

 

[pmonett]

cdogg : the folder is not on the C: drive, but on D: - and the Share button does propose Homegeroup (R/W).

But it doesn't allow the share, even though it displays it in Network.

That is something that I cannot understand - if it not shared, don't show it in Network !

I've got nothing to hide, and I'd very much like to keep that away from prying eyes.

 

[cdogg]

pmonett,

As a test, try to share a folder in your profile under C:\Users\username. If that works, meaning other computers can open files inside the shared folder, then at least we know the Homegroup is working correctly, and that the problem is with the way you are sharing "outside" of your profile. Try that first, and we'll go from there.



-Carl
"The glass is neither half-full nor half-empty: it's twice as big as it needs to be."

[tab][navy]For this site's posting policies, click [/navy]here.

 

[flyboytim]

I always thought that the network implementation in Windows 7 was flakey - and MS fixed it with Windows 8. Apart from being very slow to start up, connections would just drop out, and reconnect without apparent reason, and not having an active flashing network icon as in the XP notification area meant that I was left scratching my head when I could not access web pages, when they had worked minutes before. Local networking was a nightmare, and I disabled homegroups because they were not compatible with networks of other Operating systems I was using at the time.

I had some success with disabling IPv6 and just using TCP/IPv4, which of course cuts all the network discovery, LLDP etc., protocols out too. Still today, nothing I need to do uses IPv6, and can all be done with IPv4. This must reduce overheads due to unnecessary services running all the time.

The Network adapter settings just have:

Client for Microsoft Networks

File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks

Reliable Multicast Protocol

Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)

Also, in the Sharing Settings Control list under File Sharing settings, reduce the encryption level from 128-bit to 40 or 56-bit encryption.

 

[xwb]

What happens when you try the command line options? This should give you a list of computers that your machine can see.

net view

This should tell you what drives are shared on machinename

net view machinename

This should tell you what shared folders others can see

net share

This will tell you all the options available for sharing drives

net share /?

For granting access rights have a look at

icacls /?

Alternatively, the simpler, deprecated version

cacls /?

This should give you a list of compu

 

[pmonett]

Okay, I've done some tests.

cdogg : I can create and delete folders in the public folders of the server from the other computers. Homegroup seems to be working, then.

xwb : I've tried your command list, these are the results :
net view - effectively returns the list of PCs connected to the Homegroup
net view <servername> - returns the actual list of folders and printers shared on the server. Note that the shared folder I'm frustrated with is listed as (UNC) under Used As. Does UNC mean UNCONNECTED ?
net share - tried that on the server PC - lists all disks,printers and shared folders on the server, as well as the printer driver.

So, where do we go from here ?

Pascal.

I've got nothing to hide, and I'd very much like to keep that away from prying eyes.

 

[madonnac]

Try connecting to \\OtherCompterName\c$ - the c$ is an admin share, which will require the Admin user/pass for that computer.

Note that the admin password has to exist - a blank password will refuse connections from other computers using that name
e.g. UN:AdminBlank, Password:<none> - connection will fail
UN:AdminWithPassword, Password:LetMeIn - connection will work

If this works, then sharing is working, it's a permissions issue
- check permissions for the share - Read is a minimum to know that the folder exists - check to see if you can grant "List Folder Contents" (may not be applicable to homegroup)

If it doesn't work then sharing is not working correctly
- check the firewall logs on the other computer to see if it blocked an incoming connection

 

[cdogg]

madonnac,
That is a good test, but we can cross off the firewall possibility from your list. The OP already stated that other computers can properly access the public folder.

pmonett,
It definitely sound like a permissions issue. Sharing folders and files within your profile or within the public folders is what Homegroup sharing is really meant for. You can share folders from outside of these locations, such as on your D: drive, but it takes a little more fiddling around.

1. Right-click the folder you're trying to share on D: and select properties

2. Go to the Sharing tab and click "Advanced Sharing"

3. Make sure "Share this folder" is checked and click "Permissions"

4. The "Everyone" group should be listed. With it highlighted, make sure "Full Control" is selected (Note: This can be revisited later for more secure settings, but we are just trying to get it to work at this point)

5. Click OK twice and go to the Security tab

6. Click Edit

7. Click Add, type "Everyone" (without the quotes), and click OK

8. With "Everyone" highlighted, check "Full Control" and click OK twice (Note: This can be revisited later for more secure settings, but we are just trying to get it to work at this point)

9. Test again from another PC

 

[pmonett]

That did the trick, cdogg.

Thank you so much !

I get that Homegroup sharing is for public or profile sharing, but the approach is confusing when the Share button is available for any folder anywhere - and specifically lists Homegroup as sharing possibilities. MS should fix that, but hey, I can dream of a million dollars too.

Meanwhile, the Everyone trick worked a charm - now I can map that drive and use it as a true shared drive on a terabyte disk. Much better than asking my family to work with a piddling 250GB disk that already has half taken by Windows on it.

Thank you again cdogg, and thanks everyone for your time and your tips !

Pascal.

I've got nothing to hide, and I'd very much like to keep that away from prying eyes.

 

[cdogg]

You're welcome!