Sharing a drive - Win XP Pro SP2

[Taz]

I must be losing it in my old age! I've got two computers running XP pro SP2 and on the same workgroup. They are connected via a router. All I want to do is map the C: drive of one to the other so I can read and write stuff to the C: drive of the other computer without having to go to it physically.

I must be doing something really silly as I do this sort of thing day in, day out for my work. I've enabled file and print sharing on the remote computer I want to access. I've also disabled the SP2 firewall on it temporarily. I then try to run the following command from my local computer:

\\<computer2>\c$

I get a popup box with the username of "Guest" filled in and asking for a password. I don't get the option to change the username. If I enable the Guest account on the remote machine and set a password for it I get an error message saying that this account isn't enabled for that operation.

Any ideas what i'm doing wrong?

[Dougal]

SP2 locks the basic roots down i believe there's a way round it but google it.

[Paul Adams]

Disable "simple file sharing" option:
Explorer - Tools / Folder Options - View - scroll to bottom of list

[Taz]

Disable "simple file sharing" option:
Explorer - Tools / Folder Options - View - scroll to bottom of list

Thanks for this - it might do the trick but I won't be able to try this out until tomorrow. One question though: both machines are simply part of the same Workgroup - they are not part of a Windows Domain. Would disabling Simple File Sharing still work in this scenario?

[Paul Adams]

Thanks for this - it might do the trick but I won't be able to try this out until tomorrow. One question though: both machines are simply part of the same Workgroup - they are not part of a Windows Domain. Would disabling Simple File Sharing still work in this scenario?

Simple File Sharing is automatically ineffective once a machine joins a domain.

All it does is force the guest account to be used for all resource access from another machine (so if the guest account is disabled, nothing will work).

Once you're in a domain, Domain Administrators should always have complete authority on your system so it wouldn't be useful to have enforced guest access enabled.

Here's a KB on it if you are interested:
KB304040

[Taz]

All sorted now. Thanks for everyones help.

Taz