Sharing vids from Vista Desktop PC to WinXPMCE2005 PC

[samtgf]

Hi all

I'll give you a quick rundown on what I have for my home LAN to hopefully make it easier for you to assist me here.

I have my desktop PC with Windows Vista Ultimate, my girlfriends desktop PC (running winXP SP2), and my media centre PC running WinXP MCE2005.

I have a stack of videos on my own desktop PC that I want to share so I can watch them on my plasma TV which is hooked up to the media centre PC. I have only just installed Vista on my own desktop PC so I'm still figuring it all out.

As best as I can figure, I've shared the folder as best I can on my desktop PC's hard-drive but the media centre isnt detecting it like when I had winXP SP2 installed on this computer.

Any ideas?

Can someone provide me with an easy to follow, step by step guide on how to setup folder/file sharing on a Vista PC without having to create specific user accounts etc (just like you do on a all-XP network)???

Cheers,
Sam

[FredZ]

Originally Posted by samtgf

Any ideas?

Can someone provide me with an easy to follow, step by step guide on how to setup folder/file sharing on a Vista PC without having to create specific user accounts etc (just like you do on a all-XP network)

Can you check that all the PCs are on the same WORKGROUP name (Right click My Computer, Properties, Computer Name).

How are the IP addresses assigned and are they all in the same range, usually 192.168.1.x or 192.168.0.n.

Also, does every computer have a unique "Computer Name"?

Let me know and then we can go from there.

[logifuse]

Make sure network discovery & file sharing are turned on in the network & sharing centre (control panel) on the vista machine. Make sure password protected sharing is turned off.

When sharing the folder, add everyone at co-owner level.

That should take care of the access - if you can't actually browse to the Vista PC to find the share, then look at the workgroup (as Fredz said).

Justin

[samtgf]

Originally Posted by FredZ

Can you check that all the PCs are on the same WORKGROUP name (Right click My Computer, Properties, Computer Name).
How are the IP addresses assigned and are they all in the same range, usually 192.168.1.x or 192.168.0.n.
Also, does every computer have a unique "Computer Name"?
Let me know and then we can go from there.

All the PC's on my home LAN are by default on the same workgroup called "WORKGROUP".
With regards to IP addresses, they are automatically assigned by the switch/modem/router and are in the range 192.168.0.**
Yes each pc has a unique name. My PC is "tgf" and the media centre PC is creatively named "mediapc". Heh.

Originally Posted by logifuse

Make sure network discovery & file sharing are turned on in the network & sharing centre (control panel) on the vista machine. Make sure password protected sharing is turned off.
When sharing the folder, add everyone at co-owner level.
That should take care of the access - if you can't actually browse to the Vista PC to find the share, then look at the workgroup (as Fredz said).
Justin

I have checked all of that as per your instructions and done as you said. I have a spare winXP SP2 machine sitting beside my Desktop PC (this one's named "sparepc") to use as a more convenient test machine for trying to fix this sharing issue.

I just tested it then from "sparepc" to "tgf" and it asked me for a username and password so I entered my own administrator userID and password and obviously I could login OK.

I spoke to a good mate of mine over email earlier this week and he said I had to enable the Anonymous user. Correct me if I am wrong here but does that mean I simply have to create a user called "Anonymous"? If so, what user type do I need to make it? I'm thiking an administrator.

[logifuse]

Do you have your LAN on the Vista PC set as "Private Network" & not "Public Network"?

Here are my LAN settings & m,y individual share settings.

[samtgf]

Originally Posted by logifuse

Do you have your LAN on the Vista PC set as "Private Network" & not "Public Network"?

Here are my LAN settings & m,y individual share settings.

My network settings are here: http://www.cubicleofdoom.com/sam/Networksharing.jpg

I have added the group "everyone" as a co-owner for permissions on all the folders I want to share.


Very simply put, I want to be able to navigate to any folder I have shared on my vista PC, from any other PC on the network, and not have to enter a username or password at all.

Help?

[logifuse]

Originally Posted by samtgf

My network settings are here: http://www.cubicleofdoom.com/sam/Networksharing.jpg

I have added the group "everyone" as a co-owner for permissions on all the folders I want to share.


Very simply put, I want to be able to navigate to any folder I have shared on my vista PC, from any other PC on the network, and not have to enter a username or password at all.

Help?

Hmm. Maybe try turning off "use sharing wizard" in the folder options then share it using the advanced sharing button.

[logifuse]

Actually, don't do that. When doing the share, make the guest a co-owner & see if that works.

[samtgf]

Originally Posted by logifuse

Actually, don't do that. When doing the share, make the guest a co-owner & see if that works.

I now have the group "everyone" and the user "Guest" listed as co-owners and my own username listed as the owner of the 6 or so folders I've got shared from my Vista desktop PC.

I have enabled the "Guest" account on my Vista PC (obvious from my sentence above).

The Vista PC is in the same workgroup as all the others on my home LAN and the IP format is all the same.

When I load up my "sparepc" running Windows XP and I click START->Run and type "\\tgf" to view all the shares on my Vista machine, I am still asked for a username and password. I can enter "guest" as the user with no password and that gets me in fine so I can then see all the shares on the Vista PC but I want to be able to simply enter in the PC name and not have to use any username or password.

Looking forward to any assistance.

Cheers,
Sam

PS: Thankyou to those who have posted in here so far. I really appreciate your time.

[samtgf]

does anyone think downloading Microsoft Vista Service Pack 1 will help at all?

Is there a way to create a shortcut to a PC on your home network which will automatically enter a username for you just by clicking on the shortcut itself?