XP Home sends Guest as user name to XP Pro

Thread view:

Enable EMail Alerts

Start New Thread

Thread rating:

Steve Smith - 30 Jun 2004 02:31 GMT

I need to access a shared folder that is on a Windows XP Pro computer from a Windows XP Home computer. Both computers are on a peer to peer network. I have no problem accessing the folder with Simple Networking turned on, on the XP Pro computer. But, for security reasons I want to turn off Simple Networking and disable the Guest account on the XP Pro computer. I've added the XP Home user account to the XP Pro computer and I've given that user permission to access the shared folder.

The problem is everytime I try to access the XP Pro's shared folder, XP Home defaults to try to log in as Guest and not as the user name. The user name field is dimmed out, so I can't change this. Does XP Home only authenticate as Guest when accessing shares on an XP Pro computer? Can I get around this?

Everything I've read on the net has to do with the limitations of XP Home shares, but I haven't found information that describes limitations XP Home has when accessing shares on an XP Pro computer. Can someone here enlighten me?

If the XP Home computer can only log on to the XP Pro as Guest, I have found a way to create a password for the XP Pro's Guest account. But, I'm wondering if there is another way.

Thanks in advance.
Steve Smith

Reply to this Message

Chuck - 30 Jun 2004 08:19 GMT

>I need to access a shared folder that is on a Windows XP Pro computer from a Windows XP Home computer. Both computers are on a peer to peer network. I have no problem accessing the folder with Simple Networking turned on, on the XP Pro computer. But, for security reasons I want to turn off Simple Networking and disable the Guest account on the XP Pro computer. I've added the XP Home user account to the XP Pro computer and I've given that user permission to access the shared folder.
>
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
>Thanks in advance.
>Steve Smith

Steve,

On the XP Pro computer, check to see if Simple File Sharing (Control Panel -
Folder Options - View - Advanced settings) is enabled or disabled.

With XP Pro, if SFS is disabled, check the Local Security Policy (Control Panel
- Administrative Tools). Under Local Policies - Security Options, look at
"Network access: Sharing and security model", and ensure it's set to "Classic -
local users authenticate as themselves".

With XP Pro, if you set the Local Security Policy to "Guest only", make sure
that the Guest account is enabled, thru Local User Manager (Start - Run -
"lusrmgr.msc"), and has an identical, non-blank, password on all computers. If
"Classic", setup and use a common non-Guest account, with identical, non-blank,
password on all computers.

For XP Home, OR for XP Pro with Simple File Sharing enabled, make sure that the
Guest account is enabled (for XP Pro, thru Local User Manager (Start - Run -
"lusrmgr.msc")), on each computer.

I wonder if the answer is with the Sharing and security model setting, even
though the naming of that model, ISTM, implies that it only controls the Pro
computer authenticating to the Home computer. Not vice versa. YMMV.

The answer is in here (but have a large pot of coffee handy):
<http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=87c0a6db-aef8-4bef-925e
-7ac9be791028&DisplayLang=en>

Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.

Reply to this Message

Steve Smith - 30 Jun 2004 19:39 GMT

Thanks for your reply Chuck.

I have done your suggestions and it still doesn't allow the XP Home computer to authenticate as the user. It only sends "Guest" as user name. I'm beginning to think this is just the way XP Home operates and it's another limitation of XP Home. Someone else said I could get around this by using this command:
NET USE x: \\xppro\share [password|*] /USER:username

The shared folder is for Quickbooks and the user needs it to be simple. I wonder if a drive could be mapped or if this command might have to be used in a log in script. Any ideas?

Thanks,
Steve Smith

Chuck wrote

> On the XP Pro computer, check to see if Simple File Sharing (Control Panel -
> Folder Options - View - Advanced settings) is enabled or disabled.
[quoted text clipped - 24 lines]
> Chuck
> Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.

Reply to this Message

Chuck - 30 Jun 2004 22:17 GMT

>Thanks for your reply Chuck.
>
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>Thanks,
>Steve Smith

Steve,

Then that's it. The reason why you're getting the popup (specifying Guest as
the account) is that the Guest account is not enabled on the Pro system (or
password not matching). If enabled, and your password matches the assigned
password, it should connect without the popup.

Connecting When Advanced File Sharing is Being Used
In order to connect to a Windows XP Professional shared folder when advanced
file sharing is being used, you must be:
" Using a set of credentials that Windows XP can validate (it is either a
local computer account or a domain account) and has been granted the Read,
Change, or Full Control access type either explicitly (the account name) or
though group membership, as specified in the permissions of the shared folder.
" Using a set of credentials that Windows XP cannot validate, and either
the domain Guest account or the local Guest account has been enabled and has
been granted the Read, Change, or Full Control access type either explicitly
(the Guest account name) or though group membership, as specified in the
permissions of the shared folder.

IOW, if "the local Guest account has been enabled", it acts as a fallback to
provide access to computers authenticating with the Guest account, when a
non-Guest account is preferred for authentication.

With XP Pro and Advanced File Sharing, you can authenticate using the Guest
account, or a non-Guest account, at your choice, for incoming file sharing. And
you can use Advanced File Sharing, and authenticate by non-Guest accounts with
computers running AFS also, or authenticate by the Guest account with computers
using SFS, for outgoing file sharing.

With XP Home, that uses only the Guest account for incoming sharing, you're
stuck with using the Guest account for outgoing sharing also. That actually
makes sense. In a retarded way.

I'll look forward to hearing what happens when you override the Guest account
authentication (from XP Home) with the "Net Use ..." command. Please do let us
know.

Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.

Reply to this Message

Steve Smith - 01 Jul 2004 00:50 GMT

> .. The reason why you're getting the popup (specifying Guest as
> the account) is that the Guest account is not enabled on the Pro system (or
> password not matching). If enabled, and your password matches the assigned
> password, it should connect without the popup.

Yes, I disabled the Guest account on the Pro system for security reasons. I'd like to keep it disabled if that's possible while still allows access from XP Home.

>...you're stuck with using the Guest account for outgoing sharing....

That's the answer I've been looking for. So, unless I can use the Net Use ... command, XP sends only Guest as the user name, right? So, if the Net Use ... command doesn't work iwht XP Home, I'll have to enable the Guest account on the Pro computer. This won't be too bad because I did read that you can setup a password for the Guest account. You type "net user guest password, reboot and any attempt to log on as Guest will require a password. However, I'd rather diable the Guest account and use the Net Use ... command as long as the connection is persistent. I don't want the user to have to use this command each time they want to access the share.

> ....I'll look forward to hearing what happens when you override the Guest account
> authentication (from XP Home) with the "Net Use ..." command. Please do let us
> know.

I will post back what I find out. It will be tomorrow before I'll be able to test this.

Steve Smith

Reply to this Message