Can't open mapped network drive.

I have three computers networked together via a Linksys Wireless Router. One Dell running XP Pro, and two HP laptops (wireless) one running Vista Ultimate x64 and the other running Vista Home Premium x32. I have all issues resolved (that I've discovered so far anyway) except one. There is a shared external hard drive conneced via USB to the XP, which I have mapped to both Vistas. I can see it when I open 'My Computer' but when I click on it I get an error that says "Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file. You may not have appropriate permissions to view the item." The odd thing about it is that I can access the contents of the drive by right-clicking on it and choosing either 'explore' or 'open.' I can access drives mapped from the Vista(s) to the XP on the XP just fine, just not the other way around. Any ideas?

joshua.queen said:

I have three computers networked together via a Linksys Wireless Router. One Dell running XP Pro, and two HP laptops (wireless) one running Vista Ultimate x64 and the other running Vista Home Premium x32. I have all issues resolved (that I've discovered so far anyway) except one. There is a shared external hard drive conneced via USB to the XP, which I have mapped to both Vistas. I can see it when I open 'My Computer' but when I click on it I get an error that says "Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file. You may not have appropriate permissions to view the item." The odd thing about it is that I can access the contents of the drive by right-clicking on it and choosing either 'explore' or 'open.' I can access drives mapped from the Vista(s) to the XP on the XP just fine, just not the other way around. Any ideas?

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i have a problem very simalar to this i have a wireless network and my laptop is running vista basic and my desktop XP home SP2 and i can see the desktop when i go to the whole network map on my vista but i can't click on it or access any of the files does anyone have a fix for this?

jef713 said:

i can't click on it or access any of the files does anyone have a fix for this?

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When you try to click on it does it give you an error or is it completely unresponsive?

thats the thing is that i can't click on it at all like i can click on my laptop and it will open it up and show me my files but with the xp i can see it in the map but that is it i can't click on it or anything

So...unresponsive then? You didn't answer me you just repeated yourself.

yeah unresponsive sorry

Check three things, Firewalls off, file sharing enabled on both computers, permissions set appropriately.

how do i set permissions appropriately?

I think you may have the same thing as the question I have posted. If you type \\computername in the "start search" box, does an explorer window come up that has all the shares visible and working? (computername should be the name of the computer you are trying to view over the network)

Look at the post I have up and see if it sounds like your situation. Unfortunately, I haven't figured out the issue yet -- still hoping someone out there knows.

Anyway, if it is like mine, you CAN access the computer via the network, but you have to do it by using the "start search" box.

Dave

i cant access the xp at all i have tried everything i can think of