HP Machine on Network refuses to access another machine

[BuckSkin]

I hate to keep flogging a dead horse, but this has about driven me over the hill talking to myself.

I have read about network sharing until my eyes are sore.

I currently have four machines on our private network, all Windows 7, all mine.

I have every username created on each of the four machines.

I have meticulously checked and rechecked sharing, permissions, and such.

I have opted for the "let usernames and passwords control sharing", instead of "allow Windows to handle everything"

I turned OFF Homegroup.

I have paid specific attention to insuring permissions to this HP machine that is being the problem.

Using machines A, B, or C, I can access everything on all four machines including machine D.

Machine D can access everything on machines A and B; however, it can only access Users>Public on machine C; when I click on anything else in machine C, I get the "Windows cannot access ____ You do not have permission to access ___ Contact your network administrator for permission"

It is like it doesn't even try; no matter what I have done, that warning pops up immediately.

I even tried changing C to password protected sharing, in hopes that I would at least be asked for username/password, letting me know that at least there was a chance, but I still got the "Windows cannot access...."

I also changed the machine-D-username password on machine C as well, hoping to be asked for a password; still no go.

What am I missing ?

For what it's worth, the problem machine, D, is all HP; it is hard to tell where Windows 7 stops and HP begins; is there some HP feature that could be causing this behavior ?

Could it be a router problem ?

I am at a loss.

Thanks for reading.

 

[DMHolt57]

Have you tried renaming the Workgroup on all of the machines?

 

[BuckSkin]

Have you tried renaming the Workgroup on all of the machines?

Thanks for the suggestion.

I had high hopes that renaming the workgroup would be just the ticket; alas, it resulted in no change whatsoever.


Is there any way that I can force this stubborn machine to comply, maybe some sort of a command line trick or other ?

 

[DMHolt57]

Let's have a look at ipconfig /all from an admin command prompt. Has to be something specific to that machine. Same AV on all machines? Are all machines wired or is it a mixed network with wired and wireless? Is the problem machine and the others same version of windows? Is the adapter on that machine set to allow the machine to turn it off to save power? Also check in Services, two services in particular should be running, both start with Function Discovery.

 

[BuckSkin]

1. Let's have a look at ipconfig /all from an admin command prompt. Has to be something specific to that machine.I looked, but don't know what I am looking for. On all machines, everything reads pretty much the same except the second paragraph Tunnel adapter is "Teredo Tunneling Psuedo Interface" on the other machines and " Local Area Connection 12" on the problem machine.

2.Same AV on all machines? If AV is Anti-Virus, then yes,


3.Are all machines wired or is it a mixed network with wired and wireless?All machines are WIRED.

4. Is the problem machine and the others same version of windows? Two are 7 Home Premium; two are 7 Pro; the problem machine is Home Premium and the target is Pro --- but it accesses the other identical Pro machine perfectly.

5.Is the adapter on that machine set to allow the machine to turn it off to save power? No.

6. Also check in Services, two services in particular should be running, both start with Function Discovery.Provider Host and Resource Publication; both say "running"

When I look at "shares" "sessions (or whatever)"in Computer Management on machine C (the target), in the instances in which machine D has tried to access C, instead of the username, it refers to machine D as "guest"

Machine D username is most definitely given correct permissions with absolute correct spelling and whatnot on machine C.

I ran the local network troubleshooter under Advanced Administrator "Repair" several times on machine D and every time the result was "you do not have permission to access ____"

I even swapped around where the various cables were plugged into the router.


I really appreciate you helping me as I am totally at a loss.



On EDIT: UPDATE: I just switched user on the problem machine D to a username that has until present remained idle; I was able under this account to access everything everywhere, including everything on machine C.

If push comes to shove, I could just switch everything over and use that account and let the problem account remain idle, but I would never learn anything by taking that route.

There is something haywire about that problem username and I just cannot for the life of me ascertain just what it is.


Another Update: I got to thinking that just maybe the problem might be on machine C instead of D; so, on machine C, I deleted the problem user account, restarted, and created that account anew, being very careful that I got it right, logged into and back out of the new account, shared and permissions again; then, went back to machine D and still no go.

 

[DMHolt57]

...so it seems to be a user permissions problem, are the shares on a drive/partition other than c:\? Is the user listed as the owner in the properties of the shares? Are the shares set to be accessed by Everyone or Specific users and passworded?

 

[BuckSkin]

...so it seems to be a user permissions problem,

1.are the shares on a drive/partition other than c:\? (c:\) drive contains only the system. All shares are on a separate internal HDD under two separate drives/partitions;
A:\ drive is pictures only and B:\ drive is everything else.

2.Is the user listed as the owner in the properties of the shares? There is no "details" tab in the shared folder Properties; I did check a few files in the shared folders and Owner says "Administrators" on every one I looked at.

3.Are the shares set to be accessed by Everyone or Specific users and passworded?I have tried it both ways; at first, I just had all permissions set for "Everyone"; this seemed to be the cause of erratic behavior where what one user/machine could do one time may not work the next.
With the exception of the problem that this discussion is all about, most of my networking problems went away when I set shares for specific users.

One other move that seemed to enhance the dependability of my network sharing was doing away with the Homegroup and setting advanced network sharing to "use specific usernames and passwords" (wording may be a bit different), instead of "Allow Windows ......recommended"

As I already said in an earlier post, I deleted the problem username from machine C, restarted, and then created it as a new user; the only thing I have not yet done is to do likewise on machine D; this might work if I restarted about a hundred times between deleting the account and recreating it. Restarting sometimes is akin to flushing a toilet.


Thanks for all the ideas and suggestions.

 

[DMHolt57]

I know how it feels, some days they all play well together, others it just don't work right...

 

[BuckSkin]

I know how it feels, some days they all play well together, others it just don't work right...

I hate to admit defeat and let a mystery like this escape me figuring it out; I guess I will just move anything crucial over to one of the other usernames that does not have the problem and let this problem user go idle.

This situation is very much like the electronic computer-controlled cars of the last several years; when one starts giving problems, nobody alive can ever really fix them; when they get a couple years old, it is best for everyone and everything concerned to just send them to the crushers and not pass the problem on to someone else.