RE: Shared folders: Logon display or "Computer is not accessible"

From: Gert (Gert_at_discussions.microsoft.com)
Date: 01/04/05 

Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2005 22:43:01 -0800

Malke,

Thanks for answering. But appearantly it is not the ONLY way workgroups
work. One of the Win2K boxes does provide an unknown user (on the XP box)
with the option to logon to its shared folders with a username and password
defined on the Win2K box. My question is: Why does the other Win2K box
behave differently ?

Gert

"Malke" wrote:

> Gert wrote:
>
> > Kory,
> >
> > I can easily understand that I must provide a valid username and
> > password in
> > order to access the shared folders on the Win2K boxes. The problem is
> > that
> > one of the two boxes doesn't give me any opportunity to do so. File
> > and printer sharing is enabled on both and there is no firewall inside
> > my local
> > network. Also I can see all the shared folders in explorer on the
> > XP-computer but trying to open them fails on one of the two Win2K
> > boxes. Defining identical users/passwords on all 3 computers solves
> > the access problem but the solution is not convenient.
> >
> It may not be convenient, but that is the way a Workgroup works (as
> opposed to a domain). Whenever you are sharing resources among
> computers, the user requesting the resources must be authenticated.
> That is basic computer security. In a domain (which is really
> unnecessary for such a small number of computers) all user
> authentication is done on the server; you don't have a central server
> in a Workgroup - hence the need for the accounts to reside on the local
> computers.
>
> Malke
> --
> MS MVP - Windows Shell/User
> Elephant Boy Computers
> www.elephantboycomputers.com
> "Don't Panic!"
>

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