You cannot access shared files and folders or browse computers in the workgroup with Windows XP

To continue receiving security updates for Windows XP, make sure that you are running Windows XP with Service Pack 3 (SP3). For more information, refer to this Microsoft Web page: Support is ending for some versions of Windows

Symptoms

On Windows XP-based computers that are configured as members of a workgroup in a peer-to-peer network environment, you may experience one or more of the following symptoms:

You cannot access shared folders or files.

You cannot locate other computers in the workgroup.

You receive the following error message when you double-click the workgroup in My Network Places:

Workgroup Name is not accessible. You may not have permission to use this network resource.

Note In a peer-to-peer network, each computer is equal and can initiate communications. In this manner, it differs from a client/server network.

Cause

This behavior may occur if all the following conditions are true:

NetBIOS over TCP/IP is not turned on (enabled) on one or more computers in the workgroup.

The Computer Browser service is not started or is turned off on one or more computers in the workgroup.

This behavior may also occur if File and Print Sharing for Microsoft Networks is not installed or is blocked by Windows Firewall.

Resolution

Method 1: Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP and start the Computer Browser service

To resolve this issue, make sure that NetBIOS over TCP/IP is turned on and that the Computer Browser service is running on each computer in the workgroup. To do this, follow these steps.

Step 1: Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP

Click Start, click Control Panel, and then click Network and Internet Connections.

Click Network Connections.

Right-click Local Area Connection, and then click Properties.

Click Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), and then click Properties.

Click the General tab, and then click Advanced.

Click the WINS tab.

Under NetBIOS setting, click Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP, and then click OK two times.

Click Close to close the Local Area Connection Properties dialog box.

Close the Network Connections window.

Step 2: Start the Computer Browser service

Click Start, right-click My Computer, and then click Manage.

Double-click Services and Applications.

On the right side, right-click Computer Browser, and then click Start.

Close the Computer Management window.

Method 2: Install File and Print Sharing and make sure that it is not blocked by Windows Firewall

Step 1: Install File and Print Sharing for Microsoft Networks

Click Start, click Run, type ncpa.cpl, and then click OK.

Right-click Local Area Connection, and then click Properties.

Click the General tab, and then click Install.

Click Service, and then click Add.

In the Network Service list, click File and Print Sharing for Microsoft Networks, and then click OK.

Step 2: Make sure that File and Printer Sharing is not blocked by Windows Firewall

Click Start, click Run, type firewall.cpl, and then click OK.

On the General tab, make sure that the Don’t allow exceptions check box is not selected.

Click the Exceptions tab.

On the Exceptions tab, make sure that the File and Printer Sharing check box is selected, and then click OK.

Did this fix the problem?

Check whether the problem is fixed. If the problem is fixed, you are finished with this section. If the problem is not fixed, you can contact support .

More Information

The Computer Browser service maintains an updated list of computers on the network, and it supplies this list to computers that are designated as browsers. If this service is stopped, the list is neither updated nor maintained. If this service is turned off, any services that explicitly depend on it do not start.

For more information about the Network Setup Wizard in Windows XP, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

308522 Description of the Network Setup Wizard in Windows XP

For more information about file sharing in Windows XP, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

304040 How to configure file sharing in Windows XP
For more information about how to set up workgroups in Windows XP Home Edition, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

813936 How to set up a small network with Windows XP Home Edition (PART 1)

Windows 10 and Linux Samba Public Share Problem: “Windows cannot access \\hostname”

I was having an issue connecting from Windows 10 to a shared, public folder hosted my Ubuntu 20.04 server. I could access it fine on two other Windows 10 PCs but not on another.

Public Samba Shares Inaccessible

When trying to open a network public Samba share, I kept getting this error:

Network Error: Windows cannot access \\hostname. Check the spelling of the name. Otherwise there might be a problem with your network. To try and identity and resolve network problems, click Diagnose.

0x80070035 the network path was not found

Running net use in Windows Command Prompt brought up another error.

System error 1272 has occurred.
You can’t access this shared folder because your organization’s security policies block unauthenticated guest access. These policies help protect your PC from unsafe or malicious devices on the network.

This error is due to Windows Local Group Policy restrictions not allowing access to “insecure guest logins”. It seems Microsoft decided to disable access by default in new Windows Updates due to security issues.

According to a post from Microsoft, they say:

Guest access in SMB2 disabled by default in Windows
A malicious computer that impersonates a legitimate file server could allow users to connect as guests without their knowledge. Microsoft recommends that you do not change this default setting. If a remote device is configured to use guest credentials, an administrator should disable guest access to that remote device and configure correct authentication and authorization.

If you are aware of the security implications and want to allow guests to access your public Samba shares, you can re-enable it in regedit.

Regedit: Set AllowInsecureGuestAuth to 1

Click the Start Menu, type regedit and open it in administrative mode.

In regedit, press Control + F and search for AllowInsecureGuestAuth . This may take a minute or so to return a result.

When you get a result, change AllowInsecureGuestAuth to 1 .

Press Control + F again and click Find Next.

When you get a result, change AllowInsecureGuestAuth to 1 .

Press Control + F again and click Find Next, and repeat the above steps until you have changed all instances in regedit of AllowInsecureGuestAuth to 1 . In most cases, there are only two entries in regedit.

Regedit: Set RequireSecuritySignature to 1

In regedit, press Control + F and enter RequireSecuritySignature .

Under the Look at checkbox group, uncheck all boxes except for Value and click Find Next.

This may take a minute or so to return a result.

When you get a result, change RequireSecuritySignature to 1 .

Press Control + F again, click Find Next and repeat the above steps until you have changed all instances in of RequireSecuritySignature to 1 . In most cases, there are only two entries in regedit.

That’s it, you’re done. You should now be able to access your network share. You may need to restart the Windows 10 machine for changes to take effect.

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32 replies

I spent a late evening pulling my hair out trying to resolve this issue. I tried everything posted in this thread and many other suggestions without success. I was almost ready to wave the white flag when I figured it out myself. Hopefully this will help some of you who have been unsuccessful so far:

Go to the Windows Control Panel and under Programs select “Turn Windows Features On or Off”. Scroll down to “SMB 1.0/CIFS File Sharing Support” and place a checkmark beside this and click “OK”. It will then Search for the required files and apply the changes. Select “Restart Now” when prompted.

Click the START menu and type “regedit” and select “Run as Administrator”.

Go to the following location:

Double click on “value” and change the value data from 0 to 1 and select “OK”.

You may want to reboot at this point but I was able to access the SAMBA share immediately after changing this value. It is part 2 of my instructions above that seemed to be the special sauce. I had found many suggestions to turn on the SMB 1.0 feature, as well as suggestions to make changes to the Local Group Policy or using regedit to modify parts of the registry, but not the specific registry address referenced above. This is what worked for me and I hope that it makes life easier for someone else.

As an added note, my computers were running Winsows 10 Pro version 2004 and 20H2.

Thanks for the comment. However, my article was written to prevent people from re-enabling the unsecure SMB 1 protocol. I would never advise that users enable SMB 1 in Windows 10 as it opens up the OS to security holes. Microsoft disabled it through Windows Update for a very good reason.

I would point people to this article if you are having issues viewing Samba shares from Windows 10. https://devanswers.co/discover-ubuntu-machines-samba-shares-windows-10-network/

This guide has been updated as per recomedations by commenter MR0002 below.

It appears that gpedit.msc does not update all settings in regedit as required. Also, Windows 10 Home edition does not have gpedit.msc at all, so all updates must be done through regedit.

Hope this helps.

Worked flawlessly. Thank you!

One thing I would add. If you are having this issue and you are using Windows 10 Home, gpedit.msc is disabled by default and you need to use a bash script to enable it. Otherwise windows doesn’t recognize gpedit. Link to instructions below.

Thanks for the link 🙂

Nope not working

wow that worked, thank you so much!

thanks this was a big big help if you have legacy old linux hardware on your network; i became a computer god to these people now:)

Worked.
Thank you

For me, the solution was to update the registry and set both AllowInsecureGuestAuth to 1 and RequireSecuritySignature to 0, all the threads that came up in my searches (and I tried for hours) mentioned setting AllowInsecureGuestAuth to 1 or changing the Enable insecure guest logons in the group policy as this article details, but none of this worked for me until I also set RequireSecuritySignature to 0. I’m running the latest May 2020 Win10 Update build (version 2004), as soon as I set this additional registry setting I was able to connect to my share without issue, no restart needed. I was connecting to a WD MyCloud Home public drive from my work laptop while at home, and the MyCloud Home doesn’t allow you to set creds for the SMB Public drive – below are the registry settings that FINALLY resolved the issue.

One other note, there were additional firewall and network sharing / discovery controls on my machine, within Network and Sharing I had to change my home WiFi network to be marked as a Private Network instead of a Public Network – the additional restrictions were specific to Public networks, changing to Private resolved it.

Windows cannot access shared folder — How to fix it in Windows 8

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Windows cannot access shared folder

As users become more and more mobile, you often have to manage devices that are not members of your Active Directory domain. The remote management of standalone PCs can sometimes be tricky because various security barriers prevent remote access to Windows 8. In this little series about managing workgroup computers, I will cover the most frequent stumbling blocks: sharing files, accessing the Registry remotely, and enabling Remote Desktop. Note that things are similar in Windows 7 and Windows Vista; however, the screenshots are from Windows 8.

Private (Home, Work) and Public (Guest) network ^

If you need access to some files on a remote computer, you only have to enable file sharing. This isn’t as easy as it should be. Whenever you connect to a new network, Windows will ask you this question:

Do you want to turn on sharing between PCs and connect to devices on this network?

If you click “Yes, turn on sharing and connect to devices” Windows will apply the file sharing settings for the Private network location type. If you reply with “No, don’t turn on sharing or connect to devices,” the configuration of your Public network settings will be used.

Do you want to turn on sharing between PCs and connect to devices on this network

Notice that Windows will store the settings for this network. If you want Windows to forget this configuration, right-click the symbol for this network and select “Forget this network.” If sharing is enabled, Windows will automatically open the corresponding Firewall ports.

Forget this network

You can check the settings for Private and Public networks in the Network and Sharing Center. The fastest way to access the Network and Sharing Center is to right-click the network symbol in the systray. To access the sharing settings, click “Change advanced sharing settings” in the left sidebar. Behind the active network profile (Public or Private), you will see “(current profile)”.

Change sharing options for different network profiles

In Windows 7, three location types exist: Home, Work, and Public. In Windows 8, Home and Work were united in a label called Private.

If you play a little with these settings, you will notice that Windows 8 will “lie” to you sometimes when you establish a networking connection. The “Yes, turn on sharing and connect to devices” is only true if “Turn on file and printer sharing” is enabled in the Private network settings and “No, don’t turn on sharing or connect to devices” is only correct if “Turn off file and printer sharing” is enabled in the Guest or Public network settings.

You can switch between the Public and Private settings by right-clicking the symbol of the access point and then selecting “Turn sharing on and off”. Again, this message is incorrect. Correct would be “Switch between Public and Private network location type settings.” Changing the sharing settings works with WiFi and cable connections. For some reason (a bug?), changing the location type only works if the computer is connected to an identified network.

Turn sharing on or off

Private and Public profiles for unidentified networks ^

Sometimes Windows is unable to identify the network switch or router. You will face this problem especially if you play with network location types in a virtual environment (for instance, VirtualBox).

By default, if your computer is connected to an unidentified network, the location type is set to Public. This behavior can be changed through a Local Security Policy. In the Control Panel, type “Admin…” and then click “Administrative Tools.” Open the Local Security Policy editor and navigate to “Network List Manager Policies.” There, you can set the location type for unidentified networks.

Unidentified Networks Policy

You can also configure if users are allowed to change the network type or not. This didn’t work in my test, however.