Sharing files NOT by Workgroup

Question

I have a Dimension 8400 with Windows MCE and a couple of more personal laptops.  I share files (and printer) among these PCs (under the same workgroup name) thru a router (and print server).   Now, I'd like to share files between these home PCs and my work laptop (Toshiba Tecra 8100 with Windows XP + sys pack 2) that I bring home.  My work laptop doesn't use a workgroup name, but uses a specific domain to get connected to my work network and I don't want to mess up with the settings.  (I lost control over the laptop once before by trying to use my home workgroup name - its profile had to be rebulit!). So, may I ask what would be the best (and safe) way to share files between PCs not under the same workgroup? (the home desktop is connected to the router by ethernet cable while the work laptop is connected by a wireless network card.) Thanks for any help.

jwatt · Answer

d8100, See if this article from a Microsoft community columnist helps. Jim

jmwills · Answer

Now that's a good article.

d8100 · Answer

Thank you for the link to the article, which gave me a starting point.

I tried to access a shared folder on the work laptop from home desktop by following the instruction (i.e., network drive mapping) and was prompted a login window. I found that I have to set up a user account on the work laptop, separately from the adminstrative account (to which I have no access). This is because I'm just a user of the work laptop, which is under very strict security restrictions. I also believe that there may be more steps I should take to make this work.

I'll post the results after I try this at home probably tonight.

Message Edited by d8100 on 02-03-2005 11:50 AM

jwatt · Answer

d8100,

The fact that you have no access to the machine's administrator accounts may well prevent you from making all this work. But if the account you're using on the laptop isn't "administrator", you could create an account on the home desktop system that matches the user name and password of the account you're using on the work laptop. You would then probably (unless there are other security measures in place on the laptop) be able to connect to shares on the laptop that are available to the laptop account.

What happened when you supplied the login name and password for the laptop account?

But I'd tread very carefully. If your organization's IT Security group doesn't intend for file sharing between company-owned laptops and employee-owned systems to work, there could be trouble.

Jim

d8100 · Answer

jimw,

I finally got it working. Before it started working, what happened when I supplied the login name and password for the laptop account was access denial due to insufficient permission.

I first realized that I can change the name of my home workgroup to that of my work network name (we don't use a workgroup name at work) without interfering the network setup of my work laptop. (The other way around causes big trouble as I experienced long time ago.) This way, I was able to see and access files on home machines from my work laptop, but I couldn't access my work laptop from home machines.

Next, I tried to create user accounts, but since I don't have access to the administrative account on my work laptop, I couldn't make it.

Then, inspired by your suggestion, I created an account on my main home PC using my work userid and password. I mapped the shared folder of my work laptop from a home machine and entered network_name\userid and the password as if I login at work (and it worked!). So, the solution was simpler than I thought. Perhaps, I could have done this even without changing my home workgroup name to match my work network name.

Anyway, I really appreciate your help, Jim. Now I have a fully functional home network that consists of 2 desktop PCs and 4 laptop PCs including my work laptop. Since I can access my work files thru VPN, I don't need to carry around my flash drive to synchronize between work and home machines manually. My work laptop slides into a docking station under my home monitor (I have another, newer work laptop at work, so the older work laptop will stay home) and I can control my work laptop and main home desktop using a KVM switch with one set of keyboard and mouse. I feel like I'm connected....

Message Edited by d8100 on 02-03-2005 10:35 PM

Message Edited by d8100 on 02-03-2005 10:40 PM

jwatt · Answer

I mapped the shared folder of my work laptop from a home machine and entered network_name\userid and the password as if I login at work (and it worked!). So, the solution was simpler than I thought. Perhaps, I could have done this even without changing my home workgroup name to match my work network name.

d8100,

Welcome to the wonders of Windows Networking resource location! :smileysad: As long as the laptop would admit it was a member of network_name, it would have been located even though the "workgroup" name of the home network didn't match the "domain" name of the work network. Using the network_name\userid syntax, the network name was being overriden from its default value, the "workgroup" name of the home network.

One of the key differences between "workgroups" and "domains" is that in a "domain", there is a machine, called a "domain controller", that's responsible for authenticating all users and machines in the "domain". In a "workgroup", each machine is individually responsible for authenticating users. By specifying the network_name, you were able to coerce the work laptop into authenticating the userid, because it knew it was a member of network_name, and knew about the account named userid. Hence, it worked!!!

Jim

Message Edited by jimw on 02-03-2005 11:33 PM

Networking, Internet, & Bluetooth

Sharing files NOT by Workgroup

Was this post helpful?