Don't you just love it when something that was working, all of a sudden doesn't work the next time you go to use it. Let me start off with: I've never had any, none self-inflicted, problems TCP/IP networking my machines. AND, I already have the SAME workgroup, protocol, subnet, IP range and userIDs/PWs. XP to W2k to NT4 to Win98/95b, back and forth, accessing the shares and printers no problem. Via Explorer, Net Hood or net use, no problem. I vary the machines, the OS they boot and the users, no problems. Not that I use it for much more than testing now, but I had recently found that my Win98 Administrator account could no longer access my XP shares. Came up with the login window for the IPC$ share password (to which there is no PW - and no it is not the Admin PW). That same Win98 Admin account can access my W2k/NT4 box shares no problem. In that Win98, without a reboot, I can log off and then on, with a different account and access the XP shares no problem. A reboot of either machine didn't help. I changed the W98 Admin PW back and forth and also tried deleting the Administrator pwl file (it rebuilds when you logon again), no joy. Rebooting that PC into W2k or NT4, no problem accessing any shares on the network. So it didn't appear to be a NIC, Hub (tried a 10Mb and a 100Mb) or cabling issue. I spent Saturday googling. The best I came up with was MS KB Q262916. The problem I have with that article is that workstation versions cannot run the Netlogon service unless they are in a Domain. A sniff of the traffic only showed one difference, (besides the "error 5 access denied"). When accessing the XP shares worked, the SMB packet to "C session setup & C tree connect" shows \\PCname\IPC$...IPC When accessing didn't work, it is missing that second IPC. Yes, I have played in gpedit.msc on the XP box. But no matter which account I logon with (on the XP box), the Win98 Admin account still could not access the shares, any other account can (including a newly made JOFU account). I even went as far (on the XP box) as enabling the Guest account (horrors!) and adding the Everyone/Authenticated Users groups (so shoot me) to the shares and Network Access. Still no joy. So it would appear to be an authentication problem, but which machine is causing the problem? This was going to be a "Please Help" post, but as I was writing about this problem being an authentication issue, I realized I hadn't tried changing the XP Admin PW back and forth. Yeah, that did the trick. Changed the Admin's PW on both OSs, the Win98 Admin account can now access the shares. Changed back to the old PW, still works. The old XP Admin PW allowed for the W2k and NT boxes to access the shares. Go figure. FYI: a network trace showed that the 2nd IPC is now there in the SMB connect packet. Also, Win98 authenticated with NTLM 0.12 dialect #5. I know Win9x's TCP/IP stack is deficient in its SMB handling capablity, but was this a Win98 or XP problem? How could it be a XP SAM corruption problem when NT/W2k could still access the XP shares? Comments? Thoughts?

i faced this prob with win NT ...na simple thing removed teh prob.....just go to comp admin in control panel and enable guest accounts without passwd thsi worked for me

I tried that, " I even went as far (on the XP box) as enabling the Guest account (horrors!) " , didn't help. Maybe because I don't bother with the Network Wizard setup floppy. That shouldn't be needed in a straight TCP/IP network.