Windows 8 Workgroup connection problem

[Zoronto7]

I have a workgroup (versus homegroup) network through a linksys router. There are two mobile wifi clients


Lapdog is an HP, Vista Home


Surface is a MS Surface, RT 8.1


Two desktops are connected via Ethernet


Office is Dell, Windows 8.1 and serves as a file server to the portables.


Server is an older HP with Linux/Zorin-os9 and is a backup to office and repository for media played on the attached LCD TV.


This was all working fine for about a year, but suddenly became disconnected. I updated Server from Zorin os8 to 9 and re-installed Samba.


The current state is that Surface can access the shares on Office, but Lapdog cannot; error message 0x80070005 Access is denied.


Server can sometimes access shares on Office and Lapdog (and incidentally Mac devises not part of this problem). Lapdog and Office can sometimes see Server icon, but not connect to shares. When the icon is visible, there are dialog boxes for username and password, but no combinations are acceptable to Windows Security. I am concentrating on getting the windows machines in sync.


In my attempts to solve this I have changed all usernames and passwords to be the same, purged all legacy usernames and passwords, reset permissions on shares and tried various settings and workarounds. I am thinking a windows update may have closed a vulnerability and because I do not have windows pro versions, I must not have ability to turn switches off. Could someone confirm that windows changed something or suggest a workaround that I have not already tried? Thanks

 

[Mike]

A quick workaround may be found here:

1 . Open registry editor ( Start search - regedit)
2 . Browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa
3. Create a new DWORD value with the following properties: NAME: LmCompatibilityLevel
VALUE: 1
4. Restart
5. If this doesn't work, go back and delete the DWORD you created. -- ME (I don't know why you would leave it there if it does nothing to improve the situation)

Source: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...s-7-home/cc7adcd8-5380-4a48-89ed-bde1125c5f2f

Also check out the idea of doing the following:

Make sure every system has the same username/password to access the workgroup share without requiring authentication.

Because you're not running Windows 7 Pro, you may have to always enter the username/password, or do so from time to time, especially if you have more than your allotted concurrent connections or the username/password authentication is not working or the usernames and passwords do not match up (Windows)

Remember that the limit for Windows Home Premium on workgroups is related to the number of active concurrent connections and not the number of systems connected to the workgroup. This means you can probably have 10 concurrent connections, whereas Windows 7 Pro will support 20. Run an elevated command prompt and type in: "net config server" (no apostrophes) to find out yours.

Here is an old trick. Can you access the root drive? \\yourshare\c$\ should give you access to the C drive on any system of a workgroup if you are logged in under an administrator account.

Sorry I don't have more for you, but I hope this helps.

 

[Zoronto7]

Thanks Mike. On the last trick I entered \\Workgroup\c$\ at the c prompt and got a network path was not found. After editing the registries, I got usual error message. What is puzzling to me is that I can see the computers and the share folders but not open them. There must be a path to see them??

 

[Zoronto7]

When I changed all user names/passwords to be the same. I changed the owner username on the Vista to match the others. I have an old computer\user name stuck in the user profiles that I do not seem to have authority to alter or delete. I have combed the registry to update to the new username...pretty tedious task, but have not found the profile yet.

 

[ussnorway]

Could someone confirm that windows changed something or suggest a workaround that I have not already tried? Thanks

Try this workaround;
Home Group between Win 8, win 10 and Win 7
Basic networks work best and this takes windows control issues out of the loop.