Vista Network Folder Sharing Woes

[Jason Dunn]

There are a lot of things I like about Vista, but there are some things that make me scratch my head in puzzlement. Case in point: Vista has a new tool called the Network and Sharing Center. It's a great tool, because it very clearly illustrates your state of network connectivity and offers controls for sharing and discover. My problem is that they don't seem to work worth a damn. I have all the computers configured on my network to allow the Public folder to be shared and accessed without requiring a password. Here's what my configuration looks like:

http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/vista-networking-screwed-up.gif

The problem? Despite the straight-forward configuration above, when I try to access several of my machines configured that way, I'm prompted for a password, but it never remembers the password even if I check the box. Only one of my machines seems to work properly in this regard, letting anyone on the network access the Public folder. I right-clicked and checked the properties of the Public folder on the problematic computers, looking specifically at the Security tab, and the permissions are set to EVERYONE with all the check marks in the ALLOW column. I drilled down several layers into the deep permission settings, but everything looks fine. I also tried turning every setting off, then back on again - no dice.

So why can't I share the Public folder out without having to authenticate with a password? Why is such a simple scenario so broken?

[Kris Kumar]

I don't have solution. But I agree with the frustration. The right-click folder sharing is also equally weird. I don't know how this is supposed to make life easy for my dad. XP may be outdated now, but XP was definitely better designed than Vista at launch time.

Another frustration is the lack of true hibernate, I know I have to enable it manually but why. The stupid sleep which is the preferred one eats battery.

[David Horn]

Same thing happens here. Mind you, I experienced a very strange experience today with folder sharing.

My laptop is set up so that in order to access any shared resources you need to provide my username and password. When I tried to access it from a fresh Vista install on another computer, I was suprised to be allowed straight in and shown a directory listing. When I tried to copy a file, the transfer timed out and I went upstairs to discover that my laptop had completely crashed.

Weird, eh?