Can't share Public folder

I have two Vista Ultimate machines: Desktop and Laptop.

On my Desktop, I want to map as a drive Laptop's "Public\Transfer" folder.
How do I do that?

Here's what I have done.

On my Desktop, I created a subfolder under Public called Transfer. Laptop
can "see" Desktop's Public\Transfer folder, and I have mapped it as a drive
on Laptop (Drive Z, and I successfully transfer files between Desktop and
Laptop using Desktop's Public\Transfer folder. I'm trying to set up a
similar sharing folder on Laptop, so Desktop can "see" it.

However, I cannot "see" the Laptop's Public folder from Desktop, nor a
folder I created under Public called Tranfer.

When I right-click on "Properties" for Laptop's Public\Transfer folder,
click on the "Sharing" tab, it reports "Not Shared". So then I click on the
"Share..." button and it says, "This folder is already shared." ???????

On my Desktop, I want to map as a drive Laptop's "Public\Transfer" folder.
How do I do that?

Thanks

Robert M. Lincoln wrote:

> I have two Vista Ultimate machines: Desktop and Laptop.
>
> On my Desktop, I want to map as a drive Laptop's "Public\Transfer" folder.
> How do I do that?
>
> Here's what I have done.
>
> On my Desktop, I created a subfolder under Public called Transfer. Laptop
> can "see" Desktop's Public\Transfer folder, and I have mapped it as a
> drive on Laptop (Drive Z, and I successfully transfer files between
> Desktop and
> Laptop using Desktop's Public\Transfer folder. I'm trying to set up a
> similar sharing folder on Laptop, so Desktop can "see" it.
>
> However, I cannot "see" the Laptop's Public folder from Desktop, nor a
> folder I created under Public called Tranfer.
>
> When I right-click on "Properties" for Laptop's Public\Transfer folder,
> click on the "Sharing" tab, it reports "Not Shared". So then I click on
> the
> "Share..." button and it says, "This folder is already shared." ???????
>
> On my Desktop, I want to map as a drive Laptop's "Public\Transfer" folder.
> How do I do that?

Did you create matching user accounts/passwords on both machines and turn
Password Protected Sharing ON? Did you configure your firewalls correctly?

Problems sharing files between computers on a network are generally caused
by 1) a misconfigured firewall or overlooked firewall (including a stateful
firewall in a VPN); or 2) inadvertently running two firewalls such as the
built-in Windows Firewall and a third-party firewall; and/or 3) not having
identical user accounts and passwords on all Workgroup machines; 4) trying
to create shares where the operating system does not permit it.

A. Configure firewalls on all machines to allow the Local Area Network (LAN)
traffic as trusted. With Windows Firewall, this means allowing File/Printer
Sharing on the Exceptions tab. Normally running the Network Setup Wizard on
XP will take care of this for those machines.The only "gotcha" is that this
will turn on the XPSP2 Windows Firewall. If you aren't running a
third-party firewall or have an antivirus/security program with its own
firewall component, then you're fine. With third-party firewalls, I
usually configure the LAN allowance with an IP range. Ex. would be
192.168.1.0-192.168.1.254. Obviously you would substitute your correct
subnet. Refer to any third party security program's Help or user forums for
how to properly configure its firewall. Do not run more than one firewall.
DO NOT TURN OFF FIREWALLS; CONFIGURE THEM CORRECTLY.

B. For ease of organization, put all computers in the same Workgroup. This
is done from the System applet in Control Panel, Computer Name tab.

C. Create matching user accounts and passwords on all machines. You do not
need to be logged into the same account on all machines and the passwords
assigned to each user account can be different; the accounts/passwords just
need to exist and match on all machines. DO NOT NEGLECT TO CREATE
PASSWORDS, EVEN IF ONLY SIMPLE ONES. If you wish a machine to boot directly
to the Desktop (into one particular user's account) for convenience, you
can do this:

XP - Configure Windows to Automatically Login (MVP Ramesh) -
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/Autologon.htm

Vista - Start Orb>Search box>type: netplwiz [enter]
Click on Continue (or supply an administrator's password) when prompted by
UAC

Uncheck the option "Users must enter a user name and password to use this
computer". Select a user account to automatically log on by clicking on the
desired account to highlight it and then hit OK. Enter the correct password
for that user account (if there is one) when prompted. Leave it blank if
there is no password (null).

D. If one or more of the computers is XP Pro or Media Center, turn off
Simple File Sharing (Folder Options>View tab).

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ