Lost ability to access Win10 from WinXP machine

I just started having the same problem that I had 8/24/18. When I’m on my Win10 machine, I can copy files between them (both ways) & access my WinXP machine’s documents & desktop. However, I can no longer access Win10 files & desktop from my WinXP machine.

I have 2 computers, Win10 Pro (Version 21H1, Build 19043) & WinXP Pro (SP3), that are connected through a router by an ethernet cable. Both computers are also connected to a home network by Wi-Fi. When I click on a shortcut on my XP machine (that used to work), I now get this error message:


When I try to access Drive V (from XP), which is my connection to Win10, I see this:



This is my Ethernet connection properties:



& this is what shows up under Network & Sharing Center



1. I’ve gone through all the steps I can think of. I recently (5 days ago), turned on Controlled Access Folders, but I turned that off, rebooted Win10, & there was no change.

2. I have the SMB 1.0/CIFS Server enabled in Windows Features.

3. I have Function Discovery Provider Host running in Windows 10 & set to Automatic. I also have Function Discovery Resource Publication running & set to Automatic (trigger start). There is no such service in WinXP, but I have DNS Client started in XP & Win10.

4. I have both Network discovery & File & printer sharing turned on as described at Turn On or Off Password Protected Sharing in Windows 10.


5. I have advanced sharing settings as follows:



6. On XP, I have the correct computer name & workgroup name is MSHOME. I notice that under System Properties in Win10, it’s called WORKGROUP. I’m not sure this is a problem because I haven’t changed anything & it’s been working for a long time.
If I click Network ID…, I see this:



I’ve spent a day & 1/2 on this already. Any suggestions?

Thank you in advance.

That network entry "Unidentified public network" bothers me. I don't think it should be there at all.

I think your symptoms are consistent with the XP system's file accesses going out over its "public" network connection while the Win10's file accesses are coming in to the XP computer over its "private" network. If that's what's happening, it would cause the XP's accesses to be rejected by the Win10 server, while the Win10's accesses would be accepted.

Also, having an XP computer exposed to the public internet like that (assuming it really is) is just asking for hackers to compromise it.

selden said:

That network entry "Unidentified public network" bothers me. I don't think it should be there at all.

I think your symptoms are consistent with the XP system's file accesses going out over its "public" network connection while the Win10's file accesses are coming in to the XP computer over its "private" network. If that's what's happening, it would cause the XP's accesses to be rejected by the Win10 server, while the Win10's accesses would be accepted.

Also, having an XP computer exposed to the public internet like that (assuming it really is) is just asking for hackers to compromise it.

Thank you for your response. The thing is, this was working just 5 or 6 days ago & I didn't change anything. When I originally set up the network, I got advice here to share files & folders (the ones I wanted to share) with Everyone. I honestly don't know what the "Public" Network is. It says that all people on the Network can read & write files, which is what I want.

If I turn off Public folder sharing, I won't be able to access Win10 files from my XP machine.

It's been ages since I did anything with XP, but under Windows "public network" usually means "this computer is connected to the public internet. Don't allow any accesses to this computer from other devices by way of this connection. They're dangerous." In contrast "private network" usually means "this computer is connected to my private work or home network and is protected from the wilds of the internet. Allow connections to this computer to be initiated from other devices which are on this network." Whether or not those connections actually work depends on what services are running on the local computer.

"Public services" are those which make a computer's internal resources available to other computers -- those are the services referenced in the last sentence of the paragraph above as having to be running. The word "public" means something different in those two different environments (networks vs resources).

- - - Updated - - -

Trying to be a little more helpful rather than pedantic:

You might consider installing nmap on both computers. You can tell it to scan all of the network "ports" of the other computer, telling you which ones are open (accessible). You might find that the network file sharing ports are not responding. This might mean either that Windows Firewall is blocking them or the file sharing service isn't running. I believe nmap should show exactly the same ports as being "open" on both computers. If it doesn't, you'll have to find out why the missing ones are not available.

I discovered the need to do this when I was trying to get ssh to work. I had to manually configure the firewall to open the ssh port before it would work.

And in the "for what it's worth" category, one of the YouTube "influencers" that I follow (careyholzman) sells a network configuration utility which goes through all the steps necessary to make sure that all of the network services are configured correctly. It's relatively inexpensive and usually is listed in the Notes under his livestreams.

selden said:

It's been ages since I did anything with XP, but under Windows "public network" usually means "this computer is connected to the public internet. Don't allow any accesses to this computer from other devices by way of this connection. They're dangerous." In contrast "private network" usually means "this computer is connected to my private work or home network and is protected from the wilds of the internet. Allow connections to this computer to be initiated from other devices which are on this network." Whether or not those connections actually work depends on what services are running on the local computer.

"Public services" are those which make a computer's internal resources available to other computers -- those are the services referenced in the last sentence of the paragraph above as having to be running. The word "public" means something different in those two different environments (networks vs resources).

- - - Updated - - -

Trying to be a little more helpful rather than pedantic:

You might consider installing nmap on both computers. You can tell it to scan all of the network "ports" of the other computer, telling you which ones are open (accessible). You might find that the network file sharing ports are not responding. This might mean either that Windows Firewall is blocking them or the file sharing service isn't running. I believe nmap should show exactly the same ports as being "open" on both computers. If it doesn't, you'll have to find out why the missing ones are not available.

I discovered the need to do this when I was trying to get ssh to work. I had to manually configure the firewall to open the ssh port before it would work.

And in the "for what it's worth" category, one of the YouTube "influencers" that I follow (careyholzman) sells a network configuration utility which goes through all the steps necessary to make sure that all of the network services are configured correctly. It's relatively inexpensive and usually is listed in the Notes under his livestreams.

Thank you. I will give that a try & let you know what happens.

selden said:

And in the "for what it's worth" category, one of the YouTube "influencers" that I follow (careyholzman) sells a network configuration utility which goes through all the steps necessary to make sure that all of the network services are configured correctly. It's relatively inexpensive and usually is listed in the Notes under his livestreams.

I've tried to find the network configuration utility that you mention, but can't find a link for it. I looked on Amazon too. Do you have a link for it?

Thanks.

Here's the link to his "Netfix" tool:

Uncle Carey’s Windows 10 NetFix – d7xTech.com (formerly Foolish IT)

selden said:

Here's the link to his "Netfix" tool:

Uncle Carey’s Windows 10 NetFix – d7xTech.com (formerly Foolish IT)

Thank you. I appreciate your help. I've contacted them to see if their utility works with XP.

selden said:

Here's the link to his "Netfix" tool:

Uncle Carey’s Windows 10 NetFix – d7xTech.com (formerly Foolish IT)

It took awhile to try everything but, unfortunately, it didn't work. I used the Uncle Carey's Windows 10 NetFix on both machines & also downloaded & tried nmap. I don't think I quite new how to use it, because I wasn't sure what target to specify.

I also tried restoring Win10 to 10 days ago to see if that made any difference, but it didn't. Each time I tried something I used Acronis Try & Decide, which is part of their Acronis True Image program. It allows you to make all sorts of changes & then either keep or remove them. I ended up removing all the changes any program made.

Thank you again for trying. If you have any other ideas, please let me know. (I think tomorrow, I'll try restoring my WinXP machine & see if there's a difference.)