Ok, now that I ******* it up...

how do I get it unscrewed?

Living in a somewhat isolated area, I use dial-up to connect to the net, and AOL as my ISP. High-speed cable is rumored to be coming soon, so I shall be jumping on that bandwidth as soon as it arrives. In the meantime....

Prior to the changes I'm about to mention, my system seemed to run smoothly and internet connection was fairly fast. It's a standl-alone system with mulitple user accounts in XP, and I merely wanted to share folders with them without having to drag files into 'shared documents'.

Right clicking on a folder and selecting Sharing and Security... used to allow local sharing, but only by dragging to 'shared documents' folder. After not finding any useful info about simply sharing a folder, my son suggested I allow 'Network sharing and security'. To do so meant running the 'Network Connection Wizard' which seems to have resulted in the following changes:

Right clicking on my AOL connection in Network Connections won't allow me to select properites, and I'm unable to disable the XP firewall which I had enabled earlier. In fact, my dial-up connection shows AOL as disconnected, even though it's not. If I click on my AOL dial-up icon in Network connections, and then select Advanced settings... it shows my adapter and bindings as '[Remote Access connections]'. Prior to my fiddling around it used to show 'AOL'. AOL had to be reinstalled as it had ceased to work.

I tried doing a system restore to the day before my fiddling, but when XP booted it no longer had my administrator account, and was missing four of the 6 user accounts as well. I had to undo the restore, but I'm back to present problems.

I guess what I'm asking is this:

1. How do I disable the Network sharing and security?
2. How do I disable the XP firewall?
3. Can I share folders without setting up system as a networked computer, and without dragging into 'shared documents'?

Any help greatly appreciated.

RayG

 

Ran the Netshell command you suggested, but nothing much seems to be changed.

Network connections still shows AOL as disconnected and still won't allow me to right click on dial-up service and select properties. That means I still can't disable XP firewall.

Right-clicking on a folder and choosing Sharing and security still shows Network sharing and security as allowable option. I'm hoping to get Network sharing and security turned off like it was before.

Argh!

Thanks for trying.

RayG

 

Not really any help, but i would beat your son

 

PeteC,

Pro

Right-clicking on a folder opens a menu that offers Open, Explore, Add to playlist, Search..., Sharing and security..., etc. etc. Clicking on Sharing and security... opens a box with General, Sharing, and Customize tabs. Clicking the Sharing tab shows two choices available - Local sharing and security, and Network sharing and security. In the Local sharing and security section, I'm offered the option of dragging my files into 'shared documents' if I wish to share them.

In the Network sharing and security section, I'm offered a checkbox labled 'Share this folder on the network'. If I check the box, I'm then allowed to also check 'Allow network users to change my files', which now becomes available.

I reinstalled AOL already and it's working fine, even though in network connections it's shown as disconnected, even when in use. It shows an icon, set as default, labeled as AOL , disconnected, and firewalled. It also shows the type of modem I have. Right clicking will not allow me to select 'Properties', even though it's given as an option. Selecting it has no effect.

It was doubly frustrating as a system restore didn't actually restore the old settings as far as I could tell. (After the restore, no administrator account was even shown)

I'm pretty sure running the network wizard was a big part of the problem, but I can't find any instructions on how to reverse the network wizard changes.

RayG

 

Andrew,

lol...I'm tempted.

Sad thing is, I was trying to set up some shared folders so I could more easily administer the system. Instead, it's turned into a big ole can of worms.

RayG

 

PeteC,

That doesn't appear as an option for me.

Yeah, I had already tried that route, but it didn't work for me.

I noticed no difference after running netsh. I stayed up til the wee hours fiddling with the system, and finally got an earlier system restore to work. Desktop is back the way I wanted it, and clicking on Sharing and security... no longer shows 'Share this folder on the network' under the Network sharing part. Bad news is, I still can't view properties of my dial-up connection; it still shows AOL as disconnected, even though I using it right now; and, I can't change the settings of that connection under Network Connections.

I'm still left with no way to easily share files with users of this system unless I drag them into 'Shared documents', which I'd rather not have to do.

RayG

I've no idea what is wrong with your DUN and suggest you make a separate post on this subject.

 

PeteC,

File sharing by right-clicking on the folder (without dragging into 'shared documents') now works and you had pointed out the problem a long time ago.

I had gone that route earlier but had made sure the box was checked and not UNCHECKED. Sheesh, you'd think a box titled 'Use simple file sharing (Recommended)' would ALLOW simple file sharing, without having to move the folder to the C: drive. Unchecking the box cleared up the shared folder problem I was having.

I managed to get the System Restore to work for an earlier date, so that has cleared up the Network Wizard problem. My AOL connection no longer shows it as firewalled, but I'm still unable to view the properties of my network connection, which has me puzzled.

It's very nice being able to share folders with local users again, thanks!!

RayG