Can't share my folders in XP

Question

I have an XP machine. I have shared folders in my system. When I am accessing my shared folders from other systems I can view the shared folders but when I am trying to access them, it's showing an error message saying it can't access the folder, you might not have permission. Even the c$ share is showing the same error.
I can access shared folders from all other systems.

Answer 1

Maybe the firewall on either machine, or a machine in between, is blocking file sharing.

Answer 2

You're saying that your workstation, A, has shared folders, but another workstation, B, can see the shares but you can't access them, yes?

You might have a permission problem then.

Check in your shares tab that the share has permissions for others to access that share name.

Then check the directory to see if the NTFS permissions allows for others to access that directory.

In other words...

I have a computer where I create a folder called c:\shared. I open its properties and share it, and in the share I set the permissions so "everyone" has access. just because the SHARE has everyone access doesn't mean they can get into it!

Now I open the security tab for the folder c:\shared. If the NTFS permissions are set so only administrator can access the folder, then only Administrator can access the share remotely. I have to set it so "everyone" (or whoever you want to have access) can read the c:\shared folder.

Essentially for shares permissions are an onion. You need both layers of skin to allow proper access. NTFS is finer-grained for permission tuning, so I normally set my share permissions to everyone and control access to the folder using the NTFS filesystem permissions.

Also make sure you are accessing the share from the remote system with a username that matches what you have on the first workstation or you have to enter the proper credentials.