Well I hope this question has not been asked too many times but I am having problems getting two XP machines to do file sharing. Actually this might not be the run of the mill question as I have already checked everything I know and I am still dead in the water. Here is my setup.

Setup:
PC1, Win XP, my main computer and the one that most likely has the problem
PC2, WinXP
Both computers are connected via a Linksys firewall/router and then connected to the Net via the router

Problem:
PC1 is able to see files on PC2 but not vice versa. While on PC2 you can type PC1 address in and the username/password box pops up. When you enter the correct credentials, the box goes away for a moment and then just pops back up like a bad username or password has been entered. I have tried at least 100 times so I am sure it is not a bad username or password. As a side note, the second time the box has PC1/username in the username field just as you would suspect.

What I have done:
I have lived with this for about a year now but this week I will need to get a printer working on PC2. As I mentioned earlier, PC1 is the main machine and the one that most likely has the problem. I do a lot of programming so I am constantly changing system settings such as stopping services, playing with the registry, and any number of things the average user would never know existed. Below is just a few of the things I have tried.

1. The problem is one way, PC1 can still see files on PC2, network OK
2. PC1 can ping PC2
3. PC2 can ping PC1
4. Both have Internet access
5. Both have static IP addresses, 192.168.1.100 and .101
6. Both have simple file sharing turned off
7. Both must logon via username/password
8. Created new accounts on both with Admin privilege to rule out account issues
9. Both have File and printer sharing for MS installed
10. No firewall issues as I have disabled them both.
11. I can do a nbtstat and both computers have a record, PC1 being the master browser
12. Everything else seems to be fine except file and print sharing
13. Both are on the same workgroup

Possible causes:
1. Service turned off?, I have enabled everything even close.
2. Netbios problem. PC1 and PC2 have the same settings, don’t know how this could affect it. I thought MS went to a different method via port 443 instead of Netbios anyway.
3. Advanced security setting changed on PC1?

That pretty much describes everything I can think of and if I could think of it I tried it. I still believe it has to do with a service disabled on PC1, possibly the one that is needed to authenticate a remote computer. If you know which service this is let me know.

I hope someone can shed light on this situation as I am lost right now. I have worked network support for years and I have not a clue. If you can give me a solution I would greatly appreciate it and then take you out to dinner (25 mi limit, lol).

How do you do the filesystem and printing sharing ? On hostname or on IP addresses ? Did you try with the addresses ?
for instance, if you want to use the printer which is on the computer 192.168.1.100, on the other computer click on
Run
--> Execute
-------> \\192.168.1.100\

then let the program run, and then you should see a window opening, with all the shared folders and printers, click on the printer, accept thre printer installation, and things should work ok.
Regards
Yordan

I had the same problem before though my uncle came in to help me out. All i know about it is that the reason why the other computer couldn't detect the printer is because the printer uses ITX protocol which is another "supported" protocol of windows rarely used nowadays. Not sure how my uncle fixed the one-way file sharing problem i had at first though, he told me its sorta because the 2 computers have different default network settings altogether so they won't work at all.

Yes I alway do all my references by address. When I type \\192.168.1.100 from run, the password prompt box pops up, so that one is ruled out. Thank anyway. Keep the comments comming!

This password box seems indicating that the user names/passwords are not the same on both computers. Which user is connected on each computer ? If you are connected as Administrator on computer 2, you must give computer 1 Administrator's password when prompted. If you are connected as "James" on computer 2, a user named James must exist on computer 1, if possible with the same password, else give computer 1 Jame's password when prompted.

You have waay more experience than me, if you've been doing this for a good while. This may sound stupid, but when i ran into this problem, i just ran the network setup wizard on both computers, and it started working again. it happened when i had bought new computers and was trying to network them, and when one couldn't file share, i would run the wizard and somehow it cleared up the problem.

Yes I am typing a admin username/password. I have even created new admin accounts on both computers to test out any account problems. As a side note, when I connect I type //192.168.1.100/c$ so there should not be any folder permission problems as long as I use an admin account. Good suggestion, next!

No, no, no, you should not !
If you want to connect to the printer, you should type \\192.168.1.100\ and not with the c$.
first of all, it's with a \\ and not a //, this could be cause of error.
secondly, connecting to c$ is now forbidden. c$ means connecting without any sharing control, so now it's usually not possible except if you shared c:\, which is probably not the case.
So, you should really try to use the following sequence :
Start -->Run --> \\192.168.1.100\
then you should see each shared folder or printer, and choose the printer.
If you see nothing appearing, then the Windows printer is not shared.


Regards

Yordan

Ok I need an answer to this question so I will make things interesting. I said I would take you out to dinner if you answered my networking problem, now I am serious. I can’t actually take you out but I will buy it for you. If you provide a solution that directly solves my problem I will send you $25 USD via PalPay. That should be enough for a semi-nice dinner. I’m guessing that such an offer has never been tried here and therefore does not break any Astahost rules, yet. If it does, let me know and I will resend my offer, otherwise let the games begin.

Grafitti,
I ran the network wizard on both machine and nothing changed. After the wizard the workgroups on both machines is now MSHOME.

Yordan,
OK I goofed in using the wrong slashed in my reply. I actually use \\. If I did not I would get an error and not the username/password prompt. At this point it is just as important to get file sharing going as the printer. File sharing and printing are so closely related that if file sharing does not work then printing will not either. The way the system is setup, you will have to enter in a username and password to get access to the printer anyway and that is where the problem is.

To iterate, my problem is with authentication to PC1. I can ping, FTP, everything else except use the built in windows file/print sharing. After typing \\192.168.1.100\c$ a username/password prompt appears. I type the correct username and password in and the box only reappears.

Now get out there and earn your dinner!

The only thing that I can think of now is the permissions. You didn't mention (unless I missed it) what version XP you are using? If Pro, that might be the problem. I had a similar case like this before when it was stubborn to grant permissions to share files and print to another computer.

You probably did most of these steps already, but download the Word file by Microsoft. Open it up and go to Page 15. Start reading from there and see if those suggestions work. If not, we'll try the permissions (assuming you are using XP Pro) on Page 18.