Trouble accessing network share

Tea

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I'm a bit fearful that working this one out myself will take some ridiculous amount of time. Maybe someone can tell me where to start looking.

I have two machines, both running Windows 8 Pro and one running XP. Both Win8 machines have Explorer replacements - one uses Explorer++, the other one Xplorer2. When I try to access a folder on M2 across a network share by going computer -> network -> M2 -> SharedDrive -> SomeFolder it kacks out at that last point. Nothing seems to happen but, in fact, Explorer++ is opening in the background, failing to get a read on the folder and and winds up showing some innocuous default folder on the local machine. BUT if I right-click the folder and select "open" or "open in new window" it opens in Explorer and works normally.

Now I have had broadly similar troubles with quite a few other things (both over the network and locally) during the past couple of months while I test out Windows 8 (I skipped both Vista and Win 7 remember) and very often the issue is administrator rights. Edit a few shortcuts, adjust the properties of the actual .exe file I'm using to open whatever it is, and away we go. But not this time.

A quick reverse test gives me different problems, though seemingly related. If I create a share on M1 and try to access it from M2, I can apparently access that normally. I can look around at the files and folders using Xplorer2, can select and copy files to a local drive, BUT I cannot open files on that remote machine. Double-click on a JPG, for example, and PMView shows a blank screen. Hit File->open and (where it is supposed to default to the location of the file last accessed) it opens in Windows/system32 - i.e., it is hitting some damn filesystem security rule and bouncing hard.

Networking never used to be this hard! Every time I solve one problem, another one crops up. I had to spend ages the other week resetting ownership rights on a folder with aTB of data in it just because I'd formatted the drive nd copied files onto it using a different machine. (Which even had the same Windows username and password!)

Anyway, is there a simple way to deal with all this security-mad nonsense? Clearly, all the things I learned to do in the past no longer apply. I just want to be able to access my files over the network in the normal way. Three or four machines, no domain just a plain workgroup, no fancy VPNs or remote access or special user rights: if you have physical access to any one of the machines, you are entitled to copy stuff, delete stuff, whatever you want. How hard can it be?

Not a happy monkey.
 

Mercutio

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Is it possible that your shell replacements are running with a different set of credentials than Windows Explorer? Do things work with Windows Explorer?
 

Tea

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Entirely possible, I'd have thought, Merc. It certainly acts that way. In general, yes, things do work with Explorer. I'm mainly having trouble with applications - the shell replacements, graphics viewer, various utility programs such as Fast Copy. Often, I need to set them to run as administrator but it appears that even that does not always work. I usually only have one log in on any one machine.
 

Tea

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OK, here is an example. (I'll make up machine names for clarity.) I'm looking at a folder of JPGs on T530, from Desk. I can see the folder in Explorer or Xplorer2. I can copy files to it and from it, delete files in it, and so on. I can open the files in it using Paint, Opera, Windows Photo Viewer, and the Metro photo thing, but NOT in PMView, which is the default photo viewer. PMView works normally in all other respects; I can open pictures on T400 (Win XP) with it just fine. I just checked going the other way: it's the same. I can't open files on Desk from T530 using PMView.

Note that I can access T530 and Desk perfectly from T400 (which runs XP), This problem ONLY applies when accessing a Win8 share from a Win8 machine. I get a fairly similar problem (presumably the same cause) when I try to access Desk from T530 using Explorer++. Where there are two, there will be others. Clearly, permissions are the screwed somewhere, but it is interesting that it only happens with two Win 8 machines, never (so far as I know) between Win8 and Win XP.

Does that make things any clearer?
 

Stereodude

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How are the shares restricted? Is it possible your 3rd party shells need to be running as administrator?
 

Tea

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Thanks Stereodude.

I'm not sure what you mean by "how are the shares restricted"? So far as I know, they are not - user rights for the share are unrestricted - Full Control for Everyone.

For your second question, yes, the three 3rd party programs I've struck trouble with (probably because these are programs I use a lot - where there are three there will doubtless be others) do generally need to be running as administrator.

1: They run fine on XP machines, and can access Win8 shares fine too without explicit administrator rights. (But my XP user is an administrator, so maybe that's why.)
2: They run on Win 8 machines without administrator rights but are not fully functional - you cannot (e.g.) move a file and you cannot see drives on network shares.
3: Because of (2), all three are explicitly set to run as administrator (properties of the EXE file). They work fine except accessing a Win8 share from a Win8 machine.
4: I cannot find any record of known Win8 compatibility problems for them, and all three programs are maintained and updated with new versions regularly. All three say they are Win8 compatible and, this issue aside, work just fine. They come from three unconnected publishers, so I don't suspect a common bug in them. I reckon it's going to come down to something to do with networking and/or NTFS permissions, but I have no idea what.
 

Tea

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Fixed! Thankyou for your help gentlemen. The process of explaining the problem and setting it out in detail can be good for the brain cell, and in this case prompted me to try a search phrase I'd not thought of before. It turns out that the problem dates right back to Vista, is still not fixed, and it's a consequence of some incredibly asinine Microsoft double-think design stupidity. (Are we surprised?)

With the introduction of User Account Control, Microsoft demoted the normal user and required extra confirmation for things that need administrator rights. The same applies to programs, of course, and you can elevate any program to administrator status. But when you do this Miicrosoft demotes that program's networking rights. Make sense of that stupidity if you can.

To fix it you have to resort to Regedit. Go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Policies/System

make a new dword entry called EnableLinkedConnections

set it to 1

Reboot.

More detail here: http://www.winability.com/how-to-make-elevated-programs-recognize-network-drives/
 

mubs

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MS is being kind to you. They understand that if you don't use your grey cells, they'll atrophy and die. So they build these little tricks in their OSes so you'll have to exercise the grey cells and keep them fit. Sorta like Easter Eggs.

Or, you'll have to drink lots of beer. Look up those theories that say beer makes us smarter by killing off the weak brain cells.

:)
 

Tea

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Putting this here because this thread contains another bit of vital Windows 8 need-to-know stuff:

The incredibly annoying shotgun "upgrade" to Windows 8.1, go to the store system hijack that comes up every week can be fixed.

Simply go to programs and features and uninstall Windows Update KB2885699
 
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