Access Denied Suddenly on Shared Folders

[Guest Zakhary]

I admit that everything was working and that -I- messed it up.

 

To allow "My Documents" to be shared between two computers, I set one of the

computers' (\\zm01) "My Documents" folder to be shared on the Workgroup. I

then redefine the other computer's (\\zm02) "My Documents" target to the

share name of the "My Documents" folder on \\zm01.

 

It recently came to me that I may wat to restict access since a few people

share this home network. So, I tried by disabling "simple sharing" and

setting

permissions, but realized that \\zm02\username could not be given permissions

since a common domain doesn't exist. I then changed the share name to

include a dollar symbol ($) at the end so that it would be hidden and went

back to "simple sharing."

 

After I mapped that hidden folder as a network drive on \\zm02, I tried to

set the network drive as my "My Documents" target on \\zm02, but Windows

wouldn't let me. So, I changed everything back to original settings. But

then, now nothings accessible; \\zm02 isn't able to properly read from

\\zm01. I restart both computers and that seems to fix it. So, I'm now back

at square one with the shared folder being accessible by anyone on the

network and it being set as my "My Documents" target on \\zm02, EXCEPT...

 

1 - ON BOTH COMPUTERS several (though not all) files and folders are not

accessible because Access is Denied. Some are PDF's or Compressed (Zipped)

folders with passwords; but Windows and accessibility shouldn't care about

that.

2 - In Windows Media Player ON BOTH COMPUTERS, several files are suddenly

not able to be played. I get the message "Windows Media Player cannot access

the file. The file might be in use, you might not have access to the computer

where the file is stored, or your proxy settings might not be correct."

3 - Because of this "Access Denied" error, many files are not able to be

made available offline.

 

What has been tried is redefining permissions, but that doesn't matter

anymore (right?) since simple sharing is enabled again. I also did a

system restore on both computers and the problem continues. I even reset

the share settings and that also did not seem to fix the problem. Also,

removing file sharing setting did not allow me to access the files on the

primary computer, \\zm01.

 

So, how do I (a) fix the problems detailed above, and (b) if possible,

create a hidden or permission/password restricted shared folder on a

workgroup (NOT a domain)?

 

NOTE: I did notice that the initial (and returned to) share name was never

able to be unmarked for being made available offline on \\ZM02. As a

result, even when it didn't exist, the folder showed on \\zm02 without any

files and only one

or two subfolders (both with no files).

 

Thanks many to whoever can help on this,

Zakhary