If I want to turn off simple file sharing and use more complex permissions, and I also want to allow users from other machines on my LAN to access folders on my machine by using password security do I have to be on a domain as opposed to a workgroup? At the moment all 3 machines on my LAN are members of the same workgroup. When I try to grant access to folders on my machine to users on another machine, I am presented with a box where I am supposed to specify the location of these users (i.e. which machine they are on, and who they are) but when I search for their machine I can only ever see the local machine. Is this because I am on a workgroup and not a domain? If not, how do I do this? Thanks, Roger.

there a really good guide here, http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/xp_filesharing/index.htm Also the main problem with outside computers not being able to acess a network share is because they log into their local machine using an account that doesn't have a password or they press cancel on the welcome screen when the prompt comes up.

if info is shared on different machines, you'll have to setup the same user accounts info for all machines. Thats the reason why they created domains, since it simplify things.

Vince, thanks for your comments and the link (I'll follow that up). I forgot to mention that all 3 machines have XP Pro on them, and all 3 have the same set of accounts/passwords on them. Cheers, Roger.