Some directories share, others don't (Win 7 and XP)

I'm running a mixed home network with my main machine being Win 7 64.
From a couple of XP laptops I can see the machine. I can see the "shared" directories.
However some allow me to access that directory (on the Win 7 machine) while others return an error message of:

"You might not have permission to use this network resource...."

Comparing that inaccessible directory to one that shares without issue shows no differences in any of the Share settings (Properties | Sharing | Advanced, etc. (Yes, all these directories are set to "share with Homegroup | Read - Write"

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Sounds to me like you set up a Home group in a mixed Op system network. If so you need to leave the Home group on all the Windows 7 machines and set up a Work group instead.

Make sure that the Work group name is the same on all machines in the Work group.

Home groups is only made for an all Windows 7 Network. :)

Thanks for that suggestion.

The Win 7 Machine is in the same Workgroup as the XP machines.
I did change the network type from Home to "Work Network" in the Network and Sharing Center but that did not fix the issue.

My guess is that the change I made is not the whole solution you suggest.

I can see where to Leave the home group but not where to join the Workgroup (even through the Win 7 machine thinks it is in the same Workgroup

I do notice that the "Network ID" button is grayed out on the System Properties panel on the "computer name" tab. (Where the correct workgroup name does appear). IF that matters.

You would also need to change the permissions to say Everyone instead of Homegroup.

You should be able to set the sharing permissions up on the subfolders as well.

You can still use the Home network for this network. That isn't the same as a Home group.

You can share files with the XP machine by either mapping the drives, link below.
Map a Network Drive from XP to Windows 7 - How-To Geek

Or if you want to share only certain files you can use the public folders for that.
How to make Windows 7 work with older Windows versions for networking and file sharing.

Thanks

"Everyone" wasn't listed in the "specific people" list but to my pleasant surprise I just added a user by that name it seems to have fixed the issue.

Many thanks for this.

backroad said:

Thanks

"Everyone" wasn't listed in the "specific people" list but to my pleasant surprise I just added a user by that name it seems to have fixed the issue.

Many thanks for this.

That's one of the reasons it's best to set up a Workgroup for a mixed Op system Network. When you added "Homegroup" to the shared with list it only allowed access from the machines that were part of the Homegroup which is set by default anyway when you set up a Homegroup. The problem then is that only the Windows 7 machines can be part of the Homegroup so the other machines had no access.

Adding Everyone to the share with list works in most cases on a Workgroup, although you sometimes need to perform that task in both the Sharing tab and also the Security tab using the advanced settings.

Glad it's working now.