have a dell inspiron laptop and a dell dimension tower desktop. I have a wireless router that allows me to connect either system to the internet. If i do not assign a password to a user on the desktop, I can access the files. I have set up file sharing and set up wirewall to allow ,aptop to talk to desktop. If I assign a password to a user on the desktop, I no longer hass permission to see or connect to that users files. i know what the password is but never have a screen asking for it. Is their any way i can get access?

Put the files you want access to into Shared Folder.

Here's a tutorial for how to set it up:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/n...t_august13.mspx

Keep us posted with your progress.

Doug

Doug:
that was already done but does not solve my original question.

Kevin

Consider trying the same username and password for accounts on both machines.
I realize that is not a complete, nor convenient solution, but may help during further trouble-shooting.
It is also important for both machines to be on the same WorkGroup name.

I will be asking another member to step in to offer further suggestions, as I will be away most of today.

Best Regards
Doug

Hi, If you are not running SP2 on your installation of Windows XP it would be highly desirable to do so.
Many networking issues are resolved with Sp2
Regards
paws

kevin_czarnota,

You need to manipulate the "share" permissions by right-clicking on the shared folders, click "Properties", click the "Sharing" tab at the top, then click the "Permissions" button. This will allow you to control who has access to this share. As has been said before here, both computers need to be members of the SAME workgroup. Windows uses "passthru" authentication when accessing shares on other PCs. This means that it first attempts to connect using the username and password that you're logged into with on your local PC. If THAT username/password combination is wrong, then it should prompt your for a valid username/password on the remote PC whos share you're attempting to access. The best practice in this type of environment is to make sure that the usernames and passwords are identical on all PCs in the workgroup.

Another important thing about sharing in Workgroups. NTFS permissions might be causing the SHARE permissions to NOT work. Check out this MS technote for details about NTFS and Workgroup sharing issues:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290403/en-us

For a detailed explanation of configuring filesharing in a Windows Workgroup environment, check out:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/304040/en-us

One more thing; are you running XP Home or XP Pro on either/both PCs? XP Home and XP Pro have different filesharing defaults which can also be an issue.

Hope this helps.

- John