"do not have permission to access XXX" but only non-root folders and files!

[x509]

I hope you guys can help me here. I consider myself an experienced admin for my home LAN including Win 7 and Win XP systems, and a networked HP printer. I have been able to solve many networking-related problems over the years. I keep a record of all my patches and fixes, so if I solve a problem on one system, I have a guide to solving the same problem on other systems.

Until a few weeks ago, everything was hunky-dory. From any system, I could access all the folders and files on any other system. All-of-a-sudden, my wife's system, which is still Win XP, restricts access from all the other systems on the LAN, but not at the drive level. I hadn't done any new software installs, or any hardware upgrades on my wife's system when this problem came up. The system is pretty old but it has been extremely stable.

From any other system, I can still access each of the drive's root folders, e.g. C:\ or D:\. I can see all the files and folders in each drive, but I can't access them, e.g. I can see D:\lists or D:\family,. but if I try to open up one of these folders, I get the typical Windows error message "You do have permission to access ..."

I do not use simple file sharing, and for each drive share, I have full control permissions enable for Everybody. NetBIOS over TCP/IP is enabled, and File and Print Sharing IS enabled on my wife's system. I have already implemented the IRPStackSize fix, with value decimal 50.

I have no idea what to try next, and all my web searches have turned up no new information. Is there anything more I can try, before doing the "nuclear option" of reformatting the hard drive and reinstalling Windows and all the apps?

Upgrading to Win 7 on my wife's system is not an option right now.

This is all very frustrating.

 

[MrWizard6600]

inb4 "yeah not having permission to access porn sucks"

have you tried simply re-asserting the permissions?

you say you havn't use simple file sharing. What do you mean by that and what did you use instead?

 

[x509]

inb4 "yeah not having permission to access porn sucks"

have you tried simply re-asserting the permissions?

you say you havn't use simple file sharing. What do you mean by that and what did you use instead?

No, I haven't tried to re-assert the permissions. Obviously I'm going to try that later today.

"simple file sharing" was introduced with Win XP (?). Me, I use the "older" form of disk sharing, where you right-click on a drive and select PROPERTIES from the drop-down menu, you get up a tabbed menu. One of the tabs is SHARING AND SECURITY.

You can use this approach to share any drive or any folder within any drive, and you can also set access permissions.

 

[x509]

inb4 "yeah not having permission to access porn sucks"

have you tried simply re-asserting the permissions?

Tried that last night. Did NOT solve my problem.

 

[Netwerkz101]

You mentioned share permissions (Everyone, Full Control), but what about any NTFS permissions?
Any anti-virus software ruuning on the machine with the shares?
Any event viewer messages on any of the machines when trying to access shares?
Have you tried testing a new share to see if it is limited to those two mentioned shares?
After testing news shares (and they fail) try to take ownership of the new share and then re-apply
permissions (might want to note the permissions before hand)

 

[tontork]

the new antivirus' tend to allow sharing.

Also, I would add did you install any patches?

 

[x509]

You mentioned share permissions (Everyone, Full Control), but what about any NTFS permissions?

No. Where do I find the control panel for NTFS permissions?

Any anti-virus software ruuning on the machine with the shares?

Yes, NIS 2010. But I turned it off completely, and there was no difference.

Any event viewer messages on any of the machines when trying to access shares?

Oddly enough, no. Not on the "server" (my wife's system) or any client (one of the other machines on the LAN.

Have you tried testing a new share to see if it is limited to those two mentioned shares?

Not as such. But I did delete all the shares, including the "administrative" share which automatically regenerates with a reboot. Then I created new shares at the drive-root level. Still same problem.

What I didn't do, and I probably should, is set up shares on an individual folder level and see what happens. I should probably also set up multiple share names at the drive-root level.

After testing news shares (and they fail) try to take ownership of the new share and then re-apply
permissions (might want to note the permissions before hand)[/QUOTE]

Thanks. Because this is is a home LAN behind a hardware firewall, I set the shares permissions to full control.

 

[sirmonkey1985]

any chance NIS re-enabled the windows firewall? that seems to usually cause my problems between XP/vista/7. though i have a feeling if you just recently installed NIS thats most likely the problem. even disabling it and turning it off doesnt really help since it usually keeps stuff running in the background even though you closed it completely.

 

[x509]

any chance NIS re-enabled the windows firewall? that seems to usually cause my problems between XP/vista/7. though i have a feeling if you just recently installed NIS thats most likely the problem. even disabling it and turning it off doesnt really help since it usually keeps stuff running in the background even though you closed it completely.

NIS was installed months ago.

At this point, I would need to uninstall NIS, verify that Windows firewall is off, and then try the drive shares again. But if that is the problem, THEN what do I do? I've been on the phone for several hours with Symantec support (they are very good), but at this point, they are stumped.

FYI, the problem shows up between two XP desktops, both auto-patched with the latest fixes, etc., and both running NIS.

Frustrated in the USA.

 

[MrWizard6600]

the funny thing about this is that at home I do the same thing but HomeGroup manages all of it, and at work I manage an AD directory, again, with server manager and network group policies editor managing all the nitty-gritties.

I mean, two things that spring to mind from my Linux background are who are you when you log onto another computer remotely in windows, and maybe the umask (that is to say, when windows creates a new file or modifies an existing one such that the user-permissions need to be pushed to the file again, where does it get those permissions from? usually they're "inheritable", meaning it'll take whatever its parent folder is) is messing things up?

 

[x509]

the funny thing about this is that at home I do the same thing but HomeGroup manages all of it, and at work I manage an AD directory, again, with server manager and network group policies editor managing all the nitty-gritties.

I mean, two things that spring to mind from my Linux background are who are you when you log onto another computer remotely in windows, and maybe the umask (that is to say, when windows creates a new file or modifies an existing one such that the user-permissions need to be pushed to the file again, where does it get those permissions from? usually they're "inheritable", meaning it'll take whatever its parent folder is) is messing things up?

Thank you, thank you, MrWizard6600 and Netwerkz.

I ended up reading up on NTFS permissions. My wife's system has separate C: and D: partitions (D is for data, so it isn't affected if/when Windows get hosed). I ended up having to change the Security permission for all the different types of users (except Content Creator). For D: I was able to make the change at the drive root level (I'm an old UNIX guy ...) and then I could access all the various folders and subfolders.

For C:, I had to apply these changes on a folder-by-folder basis for Windows and Program Files, but at the end of the day, I was able to read all of my wife's system's folders from my desktop or my laptop.

So all is good again.