Loss of File and Printer Sharing   

Hi everyone,

Sometime in the past few days, I lost and then partially recovered file and 
printer sharing capability on one computer of my home network.

The network consists of two MacBooks, an HP Compaq 6510b laptop issued to me 
by my employer, and my home workstation, a Dell Dimension 4700. All of these 
systems are wireless and connect to an AirPort Extreme, set up for NAT, which 
assigns IP addresses to all with DHCP. File sharing was enabled and 
functional among all of the computers, and there were two shared printers, 
also functional: one connected to the USB port on the AirPort Extreme, the 
other connected to my Dell.

The Dell came with XP Home, which I upgraded to XP Professional. The laptop 
came with XP Professional. The laptop also came with Windows Firewall 
disabled and Symantec Client Firewall (SFC) installed and operating. I set up 
an allowed IP address range, covering all of the computers on the network, in 
SCF for file and printer sharing. I had also disabled Windows Firewall on the 
Dell, installed Zone Alarm, and also configured it for file and printer 
sharing. I used Bonjour to configure the shared printers for the PCs with no 
problem.

To save desktop space, I often used Remote Desktop to run the laptop from my 
Dell without any problems. I'd share files between the two and also print 
from the laptop to the Dell's printer, no problem.

Like many others, I lost Internet connectivity when Windows Update 
automatically installed SP3 and KB 951748 recently on the Dell. After 
researching the problem and reading through discussions here and at other 
formums like AumHa, I decided to uninstall Zone Alarm and enable Windows 
Firewall on the Dell. I made sure that the File and Printer Sharing exception 
was enabled when I did so. I also installed SP3 and KB951748 on the laptop.

In addition to switching to Windows Firewall, I also recently purchased and 
installed BitDefender Antivirus 2008 (just the antivirus, not the full 
security suite), and I downloaded and ran Seconfig XP on the HOME setting 
(which, admittedly now in hindsight, I should probably have understood a bit 
better before doing...).

I believe the Seconfig XP caused the initial loss of file and print sharing, 
as it closed a lot of ports and disabled things like NetBIOS, etc. My 
symptoms at this time were:

* Loss of file and printer sharing over the network for the Dell. It was no 
longer able to connect to the shares on the MacBooks or the laptop, nor could 
I print to the network printer connected to the router anymore. 

* The MacBooks and the laptop were unable to even detect the Dell as a 
network computer.

Fortunately, Seconfig XP saved the original configuration, and I was able to 
restore it.

After the Seconfig XP restore, my symptoms now are:

*The Dell can now connect to the shares on the MacBooks and the laptop.

*The MacBooks and the laptop can now detect the Dell as a network computer.

*The MacBooks and the laptop are still unable to access the shared folder on 
the Dell.

*Trying to use the Add Network Place wizard on the laptop  to navigate to 
the shares on the Dell, I get the error message "The folder you entered does 
not to appear to be valid. Please choose another."

I've ensured that

*the shared folder on the Dell is set to Share this folder
*the share name is correct
*the Everyone object has full access in Permissions
*the File and Printer Sharing exception is still enabled in Windows Firewall

I've also followed the procedure in the Troubleshooting File and Printer 
Sharing in Windows XP document located at 
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/thankyou.aspx?familyId=fd7fd48d-6b4a-448e-a632-076f98a351a2&displayLang=en. Still no luck.

I saw on another thread in this forum that some antivirus software can 
interfere with file and printer sharing. Could the BitDefender AV be 
interfering? It does have a feature called real-time scan, which does scan 
network traffic on its default setting.

Any help is appreciated; I'm happy to supply more information as required.

date: Mon, 21 Jul 2008 10:17:02 -0700   author:   Harko

RE: Loss of File and Printer Sharing   

Since my first post, I've made a bit of progress after some more research.

The fellow posting here:

http://forums.practicallynetworked.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=833

has a useful file-sharing checklist; working through it, I found out that 
the Security policies in the checklist:

- Access this computer from the network: add guest
- Deny logon locally: remove guest
- Network access:Sharing and security model... -> Guest only
- Deny access to this computer from the network-> check Guest is not here.

had been changed on the Dell; I pretty much had to set all four of those 
listed above back to the settings recommended. The only problem I had was not 
being able to (or knowing how to) add just "Guest" to the Access this 
computer from the network policy; it forced me to choose a location, which is 
the computer name, so now what's added is ComputerName\Guest.

After a restart, the MacBooks can now access the Dell's shares as they used 
to, connected as "Guest".

However, I still cannot access the Dell from the laptop; the symptoms are 
the same as in the first post.

Below are the result of trying to run "net view \\dellipaddress" from the 
laptop's command line:



c:\Documents and Settings\harko> net view \\10.0.1.197
System error 5 has occurred.

Access is denied.

c:\Documents and Settings\harko> net view \\10.0.1.197



I hope this helps further.

--Harko



"Harko" wrote:

> Hi everyone,
> 
> Sometime in the past few days, I lost and then partially recovered file and 
> printer sharing capability on one computer of my home network.
> 
> The network consists of two MacBooks, an HP Compaq 6510b laptop issued to me 
> by my employer, and my home workstation, a Dell Dimension 4700. All of these 
> systems are wireless and connect to an AirPort Extreme, set up for NAT, which 
> assigns IP addresses to all with DHCP. File sharing was enabled and 
> functional among all of the computers, and there were two shared printers, 
> also functional: one connected to the USB port on the AirPort Extreme, the 
> other connected to my Dell.
> 
> The Dell came with XP Home, which I upgraded to XP Professional. The laptop 
> came with XP Professional. The laptop also came with Windows Firewall 
> disabled and Symantec Client Firewall (SFC) installed and operating. I set up 
> an allowed IP address range, covering all of the computers on the network, in 
> SCF for file and printer sharing. I had also disabled Windows Firewall on the 
> Dell, installed Zone Alarm, and also configured it for file and printer 
> sharing. I used Bonjour to configure the shared printers for the PCs with no 
> problem.
> 
> To save desktop space, I often used Remote Desktop to run the laptop from my 
> Dell without any problems. I'd share files between the two and also print 
> from the laptop to the Dell's printer, no problem.
> 
> Like many others, I lost Internet connectivity when Windows Update 
> automatically installed SP3 and KB 951748 recently on the Dell. After 
> researching the problem and reading through discussions here and at other 
> formums like AumHa, I decided to uninstall Zone Alarm and enable Windows 
> Firewall on the Dell. I made sure that the File and Printer Sharing exception 
> was enabled when I did so. I also installed SP3 and KB951748 on the laptop.
> 
> In addition to switching to Windows Firewall, I also recently purchased and 
> installed BitDefender Antivirus 2008 (just the antivirus, not the full 
> security suite), and I downloaded and ran Seconfig XP on the HOME setting 
> (which, admittedly now in hindsight, I should probably have understood a bit 
> better before doing...).
> 
> I believe the Seconfig XP caused the initial loss of file and print sharing, 
> as it closed a lot of ports and disabled things like NetBIOS, etc. My 
> symptoms at this time were:
> 
> * Loss of file and printer sharing over the network for the Dell. It was no 
> longer able to connect to the shares on the MacBooks or the laptop, nor could 
> I print to the network printer connected to the router anymore. 
> 
> * The MacBooks and the laptop were unable to even detect the Dell as a 
> network computer.
> 
> Fortunately, Seconfig XP saved the original configuration, and I was able to 
> restore it.
> 
> After the Seconfig XP restore, my symptoms now are:
> 
> *The Dell can now connect to the shares on the MacBooks and the laptop.
> 
> *The MacBooks and the laptop can now detect the Dell as a network computer.
> 
> *The MacBooks and the laptop are still unable to access the shared folder on 
> the Dell.
> 
> *Trying to use the Add Network Place wizard on the laptop  to navigate to 
> the shares on the Dell, I get the error message "The folder you entered does 
> not to appear to be valid. Please choose another."
> 
> I've ensured that
> 
> *the shared folder on the Dell is set to Share this folder
> *the share name is correct
> *the Everyone object has full access in Permissions
> *the File and Printer Sharing exception is still enabled in Windows Firewall
> 
> I've also followed the procedure in the Troubleshooting File and Printer 
> Sharing in Windows XP document located at 
> http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/thankyou.aspx?familyId=fd7fd48d-6b4a-448e-a632-076f98a351a2&displayLang=en. Still no luck.
> 
> I saw on another thread in this forum that some antivirus software can 
> interfere with file and printer sharing. Could the BitDefender AV be 
> interfering? It does have a feature called real-time scan, which does scan 
> network traffic on its default setting.
> 
> Any help is appreciated; I'm happy to supply more information as required.
> 
> 
> 
> 
>

date: Mon, 21 Jul 2008 16:19:00 -0700   author:   Harko

RE: Loss of File and Printer Sharing   

Solved. Full file and print sharing restored between all computers on the 
network.

Apparently at some point during my ill-advised fiddlings, the Dell had left 
the workgroup that all the other computers are in and joined its own domain, 
which totally jacked up the sharings. Once I switched the Dell back to the 
workgroup, everything was fine again.

My thanks to a very patient and pleasant Microsoft technical support person 
named Avinash over in India, with whom I spent four hours in a chat session 
this morning, to help figure that out.

--Harko 

"Harko" wrote:

> Since my first post, I've made a bit of progress after some more research.
> 
> The fellow posting here:
> 
> http://forums.practicallynetworked.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=833
> 
> has a useful file-sharing checklist; working through it, I found out that 
> the Security policies in the checklist:
> 
> - Access this computer from the network: add guest
> - Deny logon locally: remove guest
> - Network access:Sharing and security model... -> Guest only
> - Deny access to this computer from the network-> check Guest is not here.
> 
> had been changed on the Dell; I pretty much had to set all four of those 
> listed above back to the settings recommended. The only problem I had was not 
> being able to (or knowing how to) add just "Guest" to the Access this 
> computer from the network policy; it forced me to choose a location, which is 
> the computer name, so now what's added is ComputerName\Guest.
> 
> After a restart, the MacBooks can now access the Dell's shares as they used 
> to, connected as "Guest".
> 
> However, I still cannot access the Dell from the laptop; the symptoms are 
> the same as in the first post.
> 
> Below are the result of trying to run "net view \\dellipaddress" from the 
> laptop's command line:
> 
> 
> 
> c:\Documents and Settings\harko> net view \\10.0.1.197
> System error 5 has occurred.
> 
> Access is denied.
> 
> c:\Documents and Settings\harko> net view \\10.0.1.197
> 
> 
> 
> I hope this helps further.
> 
> --Harko
> 
> 
> 
> "Harko" wrote:
> 
> > Hi everyone,
> > 
> > Sometime in the past few days, I lost and then partially recovered file and 
> > printer sharing capability on one computer of my home network.
> > 
> > The network consists of two MacBooks, an HP Compaq 6510b laptop issued to me 
> > by my employer, and my home workstation, a Dell Dimension 4700. All of these 
> > systems are wireless and connect to an AirPort Extreme, set up for NAT, which 
> > assigns IP addresses to all with DHCP. File sharing was enabled and 
> > functional among all of the computers, and there were two shared printers, 
> > also functional: one connected to the USB port on the AirPort Extreme, the 
> > other connected to my Dell.
> > 
> > The Dell came with XP Home, which I upgraded to XP Professional. The laptop 
> > came with XP Professional. The laptop also came with Windows Firewall 
> > disabled and Symantec Client Firewall (SFC) installed and operating. I set up 
> > an allowed IP address range, covering all of the computers on the network, in 
> > SCF for file and printer sharing. I had also disabled Windows Firewall on the 
> > Dell, installed Zone Alarm, and also configured it for file and printer 
> > sharing. I used Bonjour to configure the shared printers for the PCs with no 
> > problem.
> > 
> > To save desktop space, I often used Remote Desktop to run the laptop from my 
> > Dell without any problems. I'd share files between the two and also print 
> > from the laptop to the Dell's printer, no problem.
> > 
> > Like many others, I lost Internet connectivity when Windows Update 
> > automatically installed SP3 and KB 951748 recently on the Dell. After 
> > researching the problem and reading through discussions here and at other 
> > formums like AumHa, I decided to uninstall Zone Alarm and enable Windows 
> > Firewall on the Dell. I made sure that the File and Printer Sharing exception 
> > was enabled when I did so. I also installed SP3 and KB951748 on the laptop.
> > 
> > In addition to switching to Windows Firewall, I also recently purchased and 
> > installed BitDefender Antivirus 2008 (just the antivirus, not the full 
> > security suite), and I downloaded and ran Seconfig XP on the HOME setting 
> > (which, admittedly now in hindsight, I should probably have understood a bit 
> > better before doing...).
> > 
> > I believe the Seconfig XP caused the initial loss of file and print sharing, 
> > as it closed a lot of ports and disabled things like NetBIOS, etc. My 
> > symptoms at this time were:
> > 
> > * Loss of file and printer sharing over the network for the Dell. It was no 
> > longer able to connect to the shares on the MacBooks or the laptop, nor could 
> > I print to the network printer connected to the router anymore. 
> > 
> > * The MacBooks and the laptop were unable to even detect the Dell as a 
> > network computer.
> > 
> > Fortunately, Seconfig XP saved the original configuration, and I was able to 
> > restore it.
> > 
> > After the Seconfig XP restore, my symptoms now are:
> > 
> > *The Dell can now connect to the shares on the MacBooks and the laptop.
> > 
> > *The MacBooks and the laptop can now detect the Dell as a network computer.
> > 
> > *The MacBooks and the laptop are still unable to access the shared folder on 
> > the Dell.
> > 
> > *Trying to use the Add Network Place wizard on the laptop  to navigate to 
> > the shares on the Dell, I get the error message "The folder you entered does 
> > not to appear to be valid. Please choose another."
> > 
> > I've ensured that
> > 
> > *the shared folder on the Dell is set to Share this folder
> > *the share name is correct
> > *the Everyone object has full access in Permissions
> > *the File and Printer Sharing exception is still enabled in Windows Firewall
> > 
> > I've also followed the procedure in the Troubleshooting File and Printer 
> > Sharing in Windows XP document located at 
> > http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/thankyou.aspx?familyId=fd7fd48d-6b4a-448e-a632-076f98a351a2&displayLang=en. Still no luck.
> > 
> > I saw on another thread in this forum that some antivirus software can 
> > interfere with file and printer sharing. Could the BitDefender AV be 
> > interfering? It does have a feature called real-time scan, which does scan 
> > network traffic on its default setting.
> > 
> > Any help is appreciated; I'm happy to supply more information as required.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> >

date: Tue, 22 Jul 2008 13:01:11 -0700   author:   Harko