Question Network "denied access" problem

[Peano]

I had a Win 7 Dell XPS desktop and Win 7 (Home) Lenovo laptop connected on a local network. Everything worked fine. The desktop died and I replaced it with a new Win 11 Home desktop (Dell XPS 8960).

Under NETWORK in each computer: The desktop "sees" the laptop, and the laptop "sees" the desktop. But in each case when I try to access the other computer, I get "access denied" because I don't have permission.

On both computers I have given full sharing permission to "Everyone" for the C: drives and subdirectories. But I continue to get "access denied."

I'm a novice at computer stuff, so I really don't understand what I'm doing. I've searched for guidance and tried many suggestions, but with no success.

A couple of examples:

1. The W7 laptop is in a Homegroup, so I followed suggestions to get the W11 desktop to join the Homegroup. Couldn't find an option to do that.

2. I removed the W7 computer from its Homegroup and made sure both computers are on "private" networks. Both computers still "see" each other, but "access denied" both ways.

This appears to be primarily a Permissions issue, and I am at a loss to establish the needed permissions for access.

I will appreciate any suggestions, but please remember that I'm a novice. Most technical jargon will blow right past me.

 

[Grobe]

Have you tried the steps explained here:

Problem in sharing with Windows 11 and Windows7

Respected Sir, I have problem in sharing of data from Windows 11 and Windows 7 with the help of lan cable and windows 7 shows the error to Windows11 that..

techcommunity.microsoft.com

and here:

4 steps to troubleshoot Windows 11 network issues | TechTarget

Desktop administrators who need to fix Windows 11 network issues should follow these four steps to troubleshoot a variety of problems.

www.techtarget.com

 

[Peano]

Have you tried the steps explained here:

Problem in sharing with Windows 11 and Windows7

Respected Sir, I have problem in sharing of data from Windows 11 and Windows 7 with the help of lan cable and windows 7 shows the error to Windows11 that..

techcommunity.microsoft.com

and here:

4 steps to troubleshoot Windows 11 network issues | TechTarget

Desktop administrators who need to fix Windows 11 network issues should follow these four steps to troubleshoot a variety of problems.

www.techtarget.com

Thank you! I tried all of these suggestions with no success.

1. Windows Defender definitely isn't the culprit. It recognizes the network as connected and running, and all of its settings give permission and access to "all users" and "all computers." Just to make sure, I shut the firewall off on both computers. As before, both show up in the Network directory, and both say "access denied" when I try to connect.

2. The network troubleshooter on the Win 11 machine turns up nothing. It just says I'm connected to the Internet, and it finds no problems with the network.

 

[Peano]

Here's the problem/puzzle in pictures. I can't imagine what other permissions are required:

 

[Ralston18]

Case sensitivity

Sometimes case sensitivity does not matter. Other times it does matter.

I suggest a closer look at the paths, the naming conventions, and/or consistency with respect to upper and lower case letters.

Including pathnames.

FYI:

https://www.lifewire.com/what-does-case-sensitive-mean-2625824

https://www.fileside.app/blog/2023-03-17_windows-file-paths/

Check passwords for consistency.

 

[Peano]

I tried to reply, but a filter blocked it as "inappropriate." Here is a screenshots of what I tried to post:

 

[Ralston18]

At the Command Prompt run "net view" (without quotes) on both computers.

What are the results?

 

[Peano]

At the Command Prompt run "net view" (without quotes) on both computers.

What are the results?

EDIT: I turned on SMB 1.0/CIFS File Sharing Support (on the desktop), and net view now completes successfully and shows both computers. But I still get the "access denied" message when I try to access the other computer.

I also notice that under "Remark" it says "Desktop-DKT" on both computers. I don't know what that means, but maybe it's relevant?

 

[Ralston18]

Not sure where net view is getting the "Remark" name of "Desktop-DKT"

On both computers open the Command Prompt as admin.

Run the command "hostname" (without quotes). What is the presented "hostname"?

Then use WIN + I (press Windows key and "I" at the same time) > System. Then scroll down to "About".

What is the Device name?

Check the device names and permissions regarding the required system access to be allowed.

Lenovo provides a summary explanation regarding device names:

https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/glossary/device-name/?orgRef=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

= = = =

That said you can delve deeper into the permissions using a Powershell Get cmdlet.

It is not difficult to do and you are only "getting" information and not making any changes.

FYI:

https://www.computing.net/powershell/get-permissions-on-folder-and-subfolders

https://java2blog.com/powershell-get-permissions-on-folder-and-subfolders/

Start simple and work your way into specific paths and folders. Read carefully and you can use Copy/Paste instead of retyping entire cmdlets.

You only want to run Get cmdlets.

Objective being to determine what permissions have actually been granted to what folders.

 

[Peano]

Thanks very much! This is uncharted territory for me, but I gave it a try. Link to text file with results. I'm not sure what other Get cmdlets to run.

https://ln5.sync.com/dl/c8ef9f6b0/xe47nnm7-hgipzedt-5twn3g6i-wh9sz9t4

Note: Those results are from the desktop. On the laptop, Powershell didn't work properly. When I ran the same cmdlet as above, it sort of went crazy: generated what looked like about a billion results and never stopped running. I think it's buggy on that machine.

 

[Ralston18]

On the laptop where did you start?

And you ran, Get-ACL and then Get-ChildItem on both desktop and laptop correct?

If Recurse was used then the cmdlet will process through through the starting directory and all of its' subdirectories.

Set that aside for the moment - I got ahead of things I think...

Going back a bit and referencing Post #4 - are you able to see into "Advanced Sharing" per the lower image?

If so can you compare desktop and laptop permissions and sharing options via that window?

Two objectives:

1) verify that the computer/device naming is supported and consistent.

2) compare that the permissions granted to the named computer and devices are "Full" etc....

Down through all shares: drives, folder, subfolders.

 

[Peano]

2) compare that the permissions granted to the named computer and devices are "Full" etc....

Down through all shares: drives, folder, subfolders.

At last. That's the key. Drill, baby, drill. On the laptop, for example, the MyDocs folder (where all my business and personal folders are stashed): Under Properties, it shows that directory as "Shared." But the "Share" button below that is active. When I click it, I get another share button, which brings up a progress bar that runs for several minutes. I assume it is cycling through the directory giving access permission to all the sub-folders. And in Advanced Sharing, I click on "permissions" and find that Everyone has read-only permission. I have to tick the change and read/write boxes to add that permission.

In any case, from the desktop, I can now access those newly shared files on the laptop. I tested this by opening the same folder in both computers side by side, and dragging a file from the desktop to an older file of the same name into the same laptop directory. It allowed me to replace (update) the older file.

So, at least now I'll be able to run a backup program (GoodSync) to update directories from the desktop to the laptop.

I still can't access desktop from laptop. "Access denied." Someone on another forum said a Win11 computer can access a Win7 computer, but not the converse. Maybe that's accurate. I don't know. I'll continue to experiment. The main thing is I now have a one-way read/write pipeline Desktop -> Laptop.

Thank you so much for taking time to help me with this. I really do appreciate it. If you have further suggestions, I'll of course be happy to hear them. Thank you!
---
EDIT: On Laptop, the Properties panel for the C: drive shows that drive as shared. But the "Share" button below that is grayed out, so I can't drill down to expand those permissions. Consequently (I assume), from the Desktop I can see the C: drive on the network, but I can't access it. But, as noted above, I can access and change files in C: sub-directories (like MyDocs).

 

[Ralston18]

Keep SMB1 in mind....

FYI:

https://www.spiceworks.com/tech/data-management/articles/server-message-block/

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/w...ct-enable-and-disable-smbv1-v2-v3?tabs=server

https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/c..._on_windows_7_pc_inaccessible_from/?rdt=59124

Take a look at the above links. Then do additional searches based on what you learn and the overall circumstances of your computers and sharing environment.

No need to immediately start changing things. Focus should be to simply discover current configuration settings and determine if those configurations are the problem or perhaps part of the problem.

You are making progress - that is good.

 

[Peano]

Keep SMB1 in mind....

FYI:

https://www.spiceworks.com/tech/data-management/articles/server-message-block/

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/w...ct-enable-and-disable-smbv1-v2-v3?tabs=server

https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/c..._on_windows_7_pc_inaccessible_from/?rdt=59124

Take a look at the above links. Then do additional searches based on what you learn and the overall circumstances of your computers and sharing environment.

No need to immediately start changing things. Focus should be to simply discover current configuration settings and determine if those configurations are the problem or perhaps part of the problem.

You are making progress - that is good.

Many thanks. I will read and study those links today. I'm essentially a blind squirrel searching for acorns.