Cannot access shares on Windows 7 from XP machines

I have file and printer sharing enabled. I can access these shares from other windows 7 machines on the network, so I know the shares and permissions are correct. I have an active directory and I am logging onto the xp machines with the same account I always do, my own account which is a domain admin. The error I get when trying either \\windows7machinename or windows7machinename\sharename is

windows7machinename is not accessible. you might not have permissions....

the specified server cannot perform the requested operation.

Like I stated above, I know how to create the shares in Windows 7 compared to XP, much different. I can access these shares from other Windows 7 machines, and with different accounts that have the permissions to gain access. I just cannot access these same shares from my XP machines.

Rob

Im assuming the obvious has been taken care of like workgroup not homegroup, windows firewall off, add your win 7 user name pword and xp user name and pword (they are different). Could you tell us more about the networking set up

Ken

Here is a really good short list of things to do to enable sharing from Win 7 to XP. I used this procedure myself for my computers at home:

How to make Windows 7 work with older Windows versions for networking and file sharing.

zigzag3143 said:

Rob

Im assuming the obvious has been taken care of like workgroup not homegroup, windows firewall off, add your win 7 user name pword and xp user name and pword (they are different). Could you tell us more about the networking set up

Ken

Here is from my original message:

I have an active directory and I am logging onto the xp machines with the same account I always do, my own account which is a domain admin. The error I get when trying either \\windows7machinename or windows7machinename\sharename is

windows7machinename is not accessible. you might not have permissions....

the specified server cannot perform the requested operation.

Like I stated above, I know how to create the shares in Windows 7 compared to XP, much different. I can access these shares from other Windows 7 machines, and with different accounts that have the permissions to gain access. I just cannot access these same shares from my XP machines.

So Clearly I dont have to worry about a workgroup because I am in a AD Domain. there is ONE usersname and of course ONE password associated with this account. I use this account to access ALL 7 of my machines on my network. I just found out today that my Windows 2003 server is doing the same thing with the same error, it cannot access any shares on the Windows 7 machine either.

I have turned off the firewall on all machines, that didnt matter, and I dont want to have to turn it off, it was fine in my Windows 2003 AD with XP clients having it on before.

RustyFalcon said:

Here is a really good short list of things to do to enable sharing from Win 7 to XP. I used this procedure myself for my computers at home:

How to make Windows 7 work with older Windows versions for networking and file sharing.

That article is about a workgroup. I am in a domain model

Sorry about the oversight Rob. Not many people asking about AD. I'm not up on how to make things work there either.

Robguad said:

RustyFalcon said:

Here is a really good short list of things to do to enable sharing from Win 7 to XP. I used this procedure myself for my computers at home:

How to make Windows 7 work with older Windows versions for networking and file sharing.

That article is about a workgroup. I am in a domain model

When the w7 machine joined the domain did the domain admins group get added to the local administrators group on the w7 machine?

I can't access my Windows 7 system shared files; here is what I have found:
- Running Windows 7, running workgroups (not AD), sharing C drive
- Standard NTFS permissions on C drive
- Shared C drive, using passwords
- Shared C drive to Administrators only (deleted "everyone")
- Administrators have full permissions

- I can't access Windows 7 C Drive from XP client. Am logged in as the same person, same password, on XP and Windows 7. On both systems I am an administrator.

- If I modify the Windows 7 C drive share to allow access to me (stevejum on both systems), it works. Therefore we know that sharing, firewalls, etc are all fine. I can get into Windows 7 C drive as a person. But I can't get into Windows 7 C drive as an administrator (again, I am the same person, and in the administrators group on both systems).

Here is the clincher ... if I sit on the Windows 7 system, and try to access the shared C drive via the network (browse the network systems, select my own system, and try to access the C drive):
- As an administrator, I cannot get into my own shared C drive, which is set to allow administrators full access
- As a person (stevejum), I can get into my own shared C drive ... if I change the C drive share to allow me (stevejum) full access.

SUMMARY: WINDOWS 7 WILL NOT ALLOW ADMINISTRATORS TO ACCESS SHARED DRIVES/FILES, EVEN THOUGH NTFS FILE PERMISSIONS, AND SHARE PERMISSIONS GIVE THEM FULL ACCESS.

Unless someone can offer a rational explanation, it appears that administrators can only access Windows 7 shares if their personal login accounts are enumerated in the share permissions.

Now that's what I call "Microsoft Enhanced Security" ... locking admins out of their own systems!

Ok, some more to add to this issue:

I've worked in IT (hardware and software) for over a decade and know very well what I'm doing.

I have a network consisting of 4 Windows 7 Machines and 1 XP machine.

When everything starts up, there is no issue accessing any shares from anyother machine, but within 10-15 min (suspect something with a delayed startup?) I loose the ability on the XP machine to see the shares on 1 of the windows 7 machines. I can still access all other windows 7 machines, and can even access the xp machines from all windows 7 machines (including the one that is a problem when viewing in the other direction).

Exact same error message as listed, and I've checked the network settings on all windows 7 machines and permissions on all of the shares, and everything is identical. So why the error with just this one machine?

I'm using workgroups, 2 of the windows 7 machines are in a different workgroup (which I can access fine) and 2 are inside the same workgroup as the XP machine, yet I can only see 1 of them.

The only thing to add that perhaps points to something other then share permissions is when I try to access the computer itself just to list what if any shares are available I get the same exact same error just trying to access the machine (therefore it does FIND the pc on the network otherwise I'd be getting a different error message).

Anyone have any idea's ??

As most of you know, rebooting the Win 7 system fixes the problem. I am wondering if there is a limit to the number of legacy systems that can connect to Win 7 and where that setting is at. My guess is that it is a registry setting but I have not found it yet.