Member Avatar for comguy

I've got four desktop computers in a LAN. Three are running XPPro, one is running Vista Ultimate.

All of the XP machines can fully share with each other and the Vista pc can grab stuff from the XPs. But I just CANNOT get the Vista pc to share files with the others. The only folder that Vista will allow access to is the 'Public' folder, but the C drive, and all its other sub-folders, are off limits, ie, 'Access Denied'.

This in spite of me turning off Vista's UAC and setting its permissions as relaxed as possible.

I'm a tech, but no genius when it comes to difficult LAN problems like this.

Advice would be much appreciated :confused:

  • 4 Contributors
  • 5 Replies
  • 135 Views
  • 6 Days Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by beidou

Dani AI

Generated

This is the classic Vista vs XP sharing trap: can read the Vista Public folder but gets "Access Denied" for other Vista locations. and were right to look at SMB connectivity/firewalls, and correctly got a share visible — the remaining causes are the two-layer permission model and Vista's remote‑UAC behavior. The steps below diagnose and fix the common “can read but not write” and “C:\ access denied” scenarios.

Share vs NTFS permissions — both matter. The effective rights are the intersection of the SMB (share) permissions and the NTFS (Security tab) permissions. If the share allows Change but the NTFS rights deny Write/Modify, uploads will fail. Create a dedicated folder to share (avoid exposing the root C:), then verify the folder’s Advanced Sharing -> Permissions and the Security tab both grant the connecting account Modify/Write rights (or grant a dedicated user account those rights). If you prefer controlled access, create a local Vista user with a password and assign that account the NTFS/share rights.

Remote UAC and admin shares — Vista filters administrative tokens for network logons, which is why attempts to access administrative shares (C$, root of C:) often return Access Denied even for admins. Work arounds: share a subfolder with explicit permissions, or (advanced, less secure) set the registry DWORD LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy = 1 at
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System and reboot to disable the token filter.

Map with explicit credentials from XP. From XP either use Map Network Drive -> Connect using different credentials, or run the command below (replace names):

net use \\VistaPC\ShareName /user:VistaUser Password

Quick checks: use Computer Management -> Shared Folders to view shares and open files, test a small file upload, check Vista Security/Event logs for access failures, and confirm any third‑party firewall allows SMB on the LAN (TCP 445/139, UDP 137/138). For a safe, long‑term setup create a dedicated share folder, a local Vista account for network users, give that account Modify on both share and NTFS, and map drives from XP using that account.

Recommended Answers

All 5 Replies

Member Avatar for Laser

Go to Control Panel, Network and Sharing Center.

Under Sharing and Discovery, leave File Sharing 'On' and turn Public Folder Sharing 'Off'.

Also make sure Windows firewall has an Exception set for File and Printer sharing.

I have UAC on and share successfully with XP machines using the above settings.

Member Avatar for comguy

Laser, thanks for the tips.

How about Password Protected Sharing? I have that currently 'OFF'.

Re the firewall, that's also 'OFF'.

Can you comment please?

Monty007, thanks also. I know that you responded prior to Laser's post because I picked it up earlier on another pc, but I can't see it on this accessing.

(Is there a way of viewing this forum so that ALL posts in a thread are visible? The setup here seems to be the same as the Adobe forum, where all parts of a thread are not always visible. Not a great board structure IMHO)

Your mapping suggestion sounds good. All I need to do is find your response again to pick up the link you provided.

Member Avatar for chris5126

to share a folder for vista to xp create the folder then right click properties then sharing then advanced. Change the permissions for everyone to all ticks make a note of the network path then add it to the xp machines worked for me! your xp machines might not see the vista machine but you can still share files!

Member Avatar for comguy

Thanks for your response. I've actually made some progress with this problem but it still isn't right.

After much fooling about I can finally create a folder on Vista, share it and have it seen by XP. I can even download stuff in that folder from Vista to XP.

But I can't upload from XP to Vista! Sheesh.......

And if I create a second folder on Vista, I can't return to the XP machine and shift files from Vista1 to Vista2. But I can do all this stuff if I stay within the confines of the Vista Public folder:@

It's most annoying. I really don't know what Bill Gates had in mind when he created the Vista\Blister cyber-monster....

Member Avatar for beidou

Go to Control Panel, Network and Sharing Center.

Under Sharing and Discovery, leave File Sharing 'On' and turn Public Folder Sharing 'Off'.

Also make sure Windows firewall has an Exception set for File and Printer sharing.

I have UAC on and share successfully with XP machines using the above settings.

Thank you Laser, it worked for my lan.

The file sharing from vista bugged me for quite a while and the problem for me is I didn't set up firewall correctly. I have vista home premium and with norton internet security firewall preloaded. (windows firewall turnoff). After I set allow TCP/UDP traffic within LAN, I am now able to browser vista folder from any machine in LAN.

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.