XP - Files in Subfolders Aren't Accessible

[Joatamon]

Hello,

I created a workgroup with 3 computers several months ago. One computer shares a folder to the other two. The shared folder contains several subfolders. All was well.

Then, today I discovered that files in some (but not all) of the subfolders of the share were not accessible via the network. The folders themselves were accessible, but if I clicked on a file I got "permission denied". There didn't seem to be a pattern to the problem; files in some newer subfolders were accessible, but older ones were not. It was an "all or nothing" problem; either all files in a subfolder were accessible, or none of them were. Rebooting all the computers didn't help.

I fixed the problem by shutting down the two networked computers, and unsharing then sharing the folder again. After I rebooted the networked computers, all was well. This does seem like a heavy-handed fix, however. Does anyone know what is going on, and is there a simpler way to fix (or, preferably, to avoid) the problem in the future?

Thanks.

[sittas87]

networking is always exciting
without you noticing it you might have given/changed permission to that folder back then.Alternatively you/colleague might have copied/moved a subfolder that has kept its permission from where it was copied from.Tricky but always the case, happened to me a number of times

if it happens again:first give everyone full control and from there give desired permissions

[Joatamon]

I've been wrong before, but I don't think that this was a problem with changed permissions (at least I'm sure the users didn't change them).

This is just a workgroup of 3 computers, and the top level folder is shared "write-enabled". There is no Windows domain or domain controller. All the computers are running XP Pro SP2 with the latest updates.

The problem is not with writing, but with reading. The folder and subfolders could be read without problems, but none of the files in some subfolders could be opened. The files were Word, Excel, and PDF. Neither Word nor Excel gave the option of opening read-only.

The subfolders had (as best I can tell) not been changed in months, and there were newer subfolders which were accessible without problems. The subfolders are named "year-month", and the users only make changes in the current month's folder. The others are for archival purposes only.

Just shutting down the networked computers, then unsharing and re-sharing the top level folder fixed the problem. I didn't touch any of the subfolders.

I guess this'll remain a Windows mystery... :(

[sittas87]

I hear what you're saying but I dont think you completely understand what I am trying to tell you,therefore I just want to explain again:
scenario:
say for instance you have a folder in the root of your C drive(witch is shared) named bob that contains a file named bob1 with permissions to [I]read only[I] to the bob folder.And a second folder also in the Root of your C drive called cat that contains a file named cat1 with the change permission to the cat folder.
[so thats two standalone folders-meaning both have its own permissions]
But say now you copy the file cat1 to the folder bob than that means that the file will inherit the read permission

this might or might not be the issue,but is most likely.to conclude your determination you can create a folder outside the folders from where you working with files,give it higher permission, move it to where all you're regular files is and see if the permission limits you without you making that changes

[hope all is clear]