when trying to access another computer's shared files on my home network i recieve an error message "[file path name] is not accessable. You might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of this server to find out if you have access permissions. Access denied"

anyone know why I am getting this message?

Have you changed the guest password?
Have you disabled the Guest Account?
Is File & Print Sharing Enabled?
Are the files & folders in a Share able location?

Yup - as Klass pointed out:

1. You have to declare the folder as Shared and assign a share name for it to be used over the network.
2. On the same computer - either have the Guest account enabled (XP) or simply create some random account with a simple login/pass like: share/share
3. From the second machine when you access the first one, you'll be prompted to enter an username/pass - enter the above ones and you'll be connected to that computer and the shared folder will be visible to you immediately...

Have fun
m^e

m^e windows XP home does not allow use of user/pass for sharing.
You must use keep guest enabled and use the password for guest. (I highly suggest setting the guest password to something you know)



when you pull up the share in Windows XP Home you will be prompted for the password of guest as the username is greyed out and defaulted to guest.

i am not able to make a password for a guest account on xp home. the only options are to change the photo or turn that account off...

Ok...i did as you said but it did not work. i am sharing my entire c drive and i am able to access everything except for my personal my documents folder...any other suggestions?

I'm not totally confident that this will work, but here goes.

1. Click Start, right-click My Documents, click Properties
2. Go to the Sharing tab, uncheck "Make this folder private"
3. Hit OK

If that doesn't work, you will probably have to move any documents you want to share into the Shared Documents folder as opposed to keeping them in the My Documents folder. (It just doesn't make sense for a random user connecting to your computer to poke around in your My Documents folder anyway, Windows thinks.)

Well, after looking over what everybody else said inside the forum and it's still not working for you then I would suggest the following:

1. Make sure the computer you are trying to access from your own computer is turned on and connected to the network (duh).

2. Make sure both computers are set up to allow sharing of folders and such.
You can do this by:

A.My network places.
B.Set up a home or small office network.
C.Then just follow the steps. [Also, try to make it so the workgroup fro all computers on the network is the same. It makes things slightly easier.]
D.Restart the computer
E. Repeat those steps for all computers on your home network]

4. Right click the folders you wish to share, then hit properties. Then go to sharing and check "enable this folder on the network".

Now your network should be ready and able for sharing...But if it has decided to be mean I suggest you check the following:

Hardware:

-Make sure you have the right hardware specifications.

-Check the cords

-Try restarting the computer once.

Software:

-If you've selected something to be shared inside....C for example. Sometimes, most times, it won't give you permission to view the subfolders. You therefore have to set each subfolder you want to be viewed individualy. Or better yet, just drag what you want to be shared inside the: My Shared Folder

-If a folder is checkmarked as private, then you won't be able to share it, unless you go to the main folder that was check marked to be private, then uncheckmark and then allow sharing. {Through all of which you may be required to restart your computer}

--------------

These are just the basics and most probably reasons why your network is not working properly.

I have no idea about the guest password option, as I never enable the guest account, and everything seems to work fine for me. However, I intend on trying that out now, as I've always wanted to know of a way to password protect some of my shared files . Thanks M^e.

Oh, and if none of what I said works out for you. I just remembered that some FIREWALLS may block you from being able to access other computers.

To get around that just make sure all firewalls let in connections from ip's like: 127.0.0.1 or 192.168.1.X Just the typical ip's for networks.

Hope I helped.

~SpaceWaste

OR... if Simple File Sharing is disabled, you won't be able to access the computer either. it'll ask for a username and password, but nothing will actually work.

I also was trying to access information from an old computer on my network, to my new computer.

I went thru all the steps on that old computer to set-up those folders for sharing. The darn opperating system (windows XP home) even did the little "hand" under those folders, indicating that it was a shared folder.

The new computer still was receiving the same "error message [file path name] is not accessable. You might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of this server to find out if you have access permissions. Access denied"

I then went on that new computer, and disabled the firewall settings temporarilly.

Then, I had full access to the old computer's "C:" drive... with the exception of the exception of the "Documents and Settings - Individual User" folders.

Soooo... I go into those individual user folders on the old computer, and do the properties - sharing and security thangy... to set those folders to sharing.

Looks good on that old computer... those folders Windows XP home is showing the little hand under again... so I'm thinking they should be shared.

Yet... on the new computer, I'm still unable to access those shared folders.

My best guess... because those are somehow folders keyed to an individual user account, Windows XP isn't allowing someone not signed into that computer as that user to access them????

What I ended up having to do, was copy all of the information from those folders into another folder on the old computer's C: drive... that I just named "Temp Share".

Then, set that "Temp Share" folder's permissions to sharing. Now, the new computer could have access to those files.

From there I was able to transfer the old favorites file to the new computer... and have access to the other pictures and music that was stored on that old computer.

It wasn't the best solution, but worked for me. Hopefully it will help you.

Wanted to express a similar experience, and say the easiest solution with Home, in my experience, is to remap each time, or setup an alternative method for file transfer. I'm about to upgrade to Professional. This, of course, is one of the key differences in the two O.S.'s.

Suggestion: What are you trying to share? If it is large, why not burn? If it is small, why not set up a g-mail account to drop it in and pull it out? If it surpasses these necessities, it sounds business oriented and would justify investment in an upgrade.