Win ME machine not allowed to access my Win2K machine

[huggybear]

I recently upgraded my laptop from Win98 to Win2K and now it won't let any of my other computers have access to it. There are no passwords anywhere and I have allowed full access from every wizard and dialog box I can find.

Can anyone give me suggestions about how to let other computers have access to mine?

Thanks, Bear

 

[butchrecon]

Right click on My Computer and go to Manage. Next go to Local Users and Groups. Then go to the Users folder. On the right side you will see the Guest account with a Red X through it. It is disabled. Right click on it and go to properties. The UNCHECK account is disabled. This will allow all your PCs to access the machine. Also for a small peer ot peer, ensure NetBEUI is installed on all machines. James Collins
Field Service Engineer
A+, MCP

email: butchrecon@skyenet.net

Please let us (Tek-tips members) know if the solutions we provide are helpful to you. Not only do they help you but they may help others.

 

[Tekmazter]

Ummm, I wouldn't enable the 'Guest' account. Rather, create another account on the Win9x client and create a user with the same username and password as a user account on the windows 2000 machine. Enabling the 'Guest' account isn't worth the risk. Not even in a home environment.

To further your understanding of why this happens in a peer to peer (workgroup) network setting, read the following links...

Q258717

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q258/7/17.asp

Q258938

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q258/9/38.ASP

Or just type:
MSKB Q258717
or
MSKB Q258938

...in the address bar while in IE and press enter. You'll be taken straight there.





Systems Administrator
A+, Net+, i-Net+, MOUS
MCP+I, MCSE, MCSA, CIW-A

 

[netwalker1]

It seems that this question was repeated for about 10000 times in this month ,, so please some one make a FAQ talking about this ! Mohamed Farid
Know Me No Pain , No Me Know Pain !!!

 

[butchrecon]

Enabling the guest account on a home network is perfectly acceptable. In a Domain environment where security may be an issue, sure enabling the guest account can cause issues. But for a simple home peer to peer this works out for the best for the users. Creating another account for users to use to connect to a win2k box works, but you must use that account or create a new one for every one you want to connect to the W2K machine. Enabling the guest account allows everyone to have access to the shares on the W2K machine without the need for authentication. James Collins
Field Service Engineer
A+, MCP

email: butchrecon@skyenet.net

Please let us (Tek-tips members) know if the solutions we provide are helpful to you. Not only do they help you but they may help others.

 

[huggybear]

Thanks to you all. I will be using these tips in my network. I agree with Mohamed that there ought to be a FAQ for this question if it is asked all the time. I tried a keyword search but it seems people use different terms to describe their problems and I just couldn't find what I needed.

Again, thanks.

Bear

 

[butchrecon]

If you need help you know where to find us! Good luck huggybear. Let us know the outcome. James Collins
Field Service Engineer
A+, MCP

email: butchrecon@skyenet.net

Please let us (Tek-tips members) know if the solutions we provide are helpful to you. Not only do they help you but they may help others.

 

[Tekmazter]

Again, enabling the 'Guest' account in a home network is assuming that the user doesn't care about security on their personal files. Whether it's for a file they created for college and just want to make sure no one deletes it or they have a machine that is setup to use the web or ICS. In the end, this I fear would be the 'Microsoft' approach.
Yes, enabling the Guest account here does solve the users issue, but so does mine, and my solution doesn't take anything away from the BASIC security in place in Windows 2000. Why would you take away from what M$ is finally pushing? W/O knowing what the user needs for security, I'm skeptical about offering a solution that is opposite of what the 'Industry' says to do as a whole. Even if it's a home network, look at how information is tied together. Should you remove locks already in place, how does enabling the 'Guest' account benefit the user, if you don't make the user aware of what the consequences are? Simply creating another user account isn't difficult to manage. And looking at what the pros and cons of each example in this case are, I would think the user in the end wouldn't mind creating another account.

 

[butchrecon]

Tekmazter,

Your point is valid and I am not trying to take away from it. In a peer to peer network there is no real security when Windows 9x system are involved. Setting the guest account to enable is the easier less secure way. Yes, I based my suggestion on not knowing the real need of the user. However, when reading the initial question on any post you can get a valid idea of the users needs compared to desired security levels. In this case he has allowed full access to everything he could find. that suggests he just wants access and is not worried about security. Enabling the guest account could be a security breach yes. It has been my experience that end users are more worried about accessibility than security. If security is an issue then why run a peer to peer network with windows 9x (ME) machines. As I stated I am not trying to take away from your reply or suggest creating the needed accounts wont work, we know that is probably the best answer. But in a peer to peer with OSes that don't have much in security is it necessary?

This is a debate that has been going on since the days of NT4 workstation and will continue for a long time. You and I can suggest different ways of doing something. This is what these forums are about. Let the user decide what they think the best security level is for them. James Collins
Field Service Engineer
A+, MCP

email: butchrecon@skyenet.net

Please let us (Tek-tips members) know if the solutions we provide are helpful to you. Not only do they help you but they may help others.