3

I've had mixed results with using Windows Explorer to browse remote file shares.

The setup:

  • I'm at work on Windows XP SP3
  • Files are at home on Windows XP SP3
  • Two separate VPNs are available to access my PC at home
  • corporate OpenVPN (10.1.2.3)
  • a Hamachi/LogMeIn connection (5.1.2.3)

With respect to my problem, it doesn't matter which IP I use. They both perform exactly the same way:

I expect that if I open Windows Explorer and type in \\10.1.2.3\Shared I should be interrupted with a challenge for credentials, and then be able to interact with the files in the share. However, I just get that annoying dialog, "Windows cannot find '\10.1.2.3\Shared' Check the spelling and try again, or try searching for the item ..."

However, I can take that exact same computername/sharename and with net use I can:

net use * \\10.1.2.3\Shared * /user:homecomputername\username

with this result:

Type the password for \\10.1.2.3\Shared:
Drive Z: is now connected to \\10.1.2.3\Shared.

The command completed successfully.

I can then access the files in Z: in Windows Explorer which was my original intent.

Even after Z: is already mapped and the credentials are cached I still cannot bring up \\10.1.2.3\Shared in Windows Explorer.

Why does the latter work, but not the former?

Edit: Other services work fine, such as RDP. (I have a problem in which I can't SSH home, but I'll consider that separately.)

JMD
  • 4,837

3 Answers3

3

You're trying to access the share (in the first case) with your Windows credentials. Try 'connecting network drive' with a specific username/password in Windows Explorer.

lorenzog
  • 2,312
1

You likely have bad credentials stored with that network resources (Windows maintains a list of this) -- or none and therefore are trying to authenticate with your own credentials instead of the ones you need.

Please see this Microsoft article:

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/usercpl_manage_passwords.mspx?mfr=true

There, you can manage what credentials Windows should use with which network resources.

psouza4
  • 469
0

Use \\Username@10.1.2.3\Shared, this works with my Windows XP

Thomas
  • 282