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We have a machine running 32 bit windows server 2003. It has 4 drives - call them A,B,C,D - with the root shared. Our workstations are all XP Pro - call them 1,2,3,4 - and can connect to all 4 drives. In addition, each machine has shortcuts to a specific drive for quick access. ( 1 has a shortcut to folders on A, 2 has a shortcut to folders on B and so on.) On only a couple of workstations, the desktop shortcuts have quit working and access to that drive is denied. In other words, on machine 1, the shortcuts to drive A and any attempted connection to drive A is denied. The other drives continue to be accessible. Likewise on , say machine 3 , the shortcut to drive C and any attempted connection to drive C is denied, with continued access to any other drive. Any idea about the cause and/or a fix. Thanks

An addition: No domain, just a workgroup. All permissions are correct and identical on all workstations. Some of you seem to miss the point of the problem. At setup, all workstations can see and access all the server drives. On one workstation, a shortcut to a folder on one of the drives is placed on desktop. At some point the shortcut and all access to only that one drive is denied. All other drives are accessible. This has happened on more than one workstation and one drive. Sorry if the original post was hard to follow.

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Have you checked the permissions on your workstations and on the shared folders/drives? Are the workstations even joined to the server as a client in an active directory domain?

You should use mapped drives instead of shortcuts as they allow greater control and the links don't get broken as opposed to shortcuts that may change paths.

Hope this helps :)

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  • 1. How do "permissions" on the workstations relate to accessing shares on the server? 2. The workstations and server don't need to belong to a domain to facilitate file sharing amongst hosts.
    – joeqwerty
    Jan 27, 2011 at 14:44
  • You did not post this relevant information, which is why I was asked. Before you can share a drive/folder, you need to specify who can access it. By default, everyone has read-only permissions on Win2k3. I think on XP it is full control (correct if wrong). So if it's not in a domain and is just using a file share approach, then all you need to do is access the shared folder on your win2k3 box from the winxp workstation with the Admin or proper user credentials...Without the right credentials, your workstation won't be able to access the share. Or just check your shortcuts.
    – Jared
    Jan 27, 2011 at 14:46
  • The mechanics of sharing folders and accessing those folders are no different whether or not the computers belong to a domain. The only difference is from which security accounts database the permissions are granted from: Workgroup = Local Users/Groups; Domain = Domain Users/Groups or Local Users/Groups.
    – joeqwerty
    Jan 27, 2011 at 14:54
  • That's a given. If it's not in a domain, then it obviously is in a workgroup. I'm not sure if this is your experience, but in my experience, when I share a folder on server1 (workgroup), and try to access with client1, I need to input my username/password for server1 in order to gain access to that folder. Either I'm doing something wrong or I just don't know what I'm doing? Now I'm confused!
    – Jared
    Jan 27, 2011 at 15:02
  • Well maybe the OP can post more details about the problem.
    – joeqwerty
    Jan 27, 2011 at 15:05

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