problem A desktop drive is on the desktop's network, but not on either laptop's network!

[apairofpcs]

I've been working on this problem for about a week, unable to solve it. I have a desktop pc with three 250 GB SATA drives and one 250 GB PATA hard drive. I have a local network using a ActionTec/Verizon FiOS modem/wireless router. The many folders I've chosen to be shared on the network, are from each of the three SATA drives and from each of my two laptops. All are visible and accessible on the desktop and two laptops. But I can't seem to share the entire PATA drive with the two laptops. I go through the proper steps to share it. The PATA's drive letter shows up on the network page of each of the three pcs.. But when I click on it on either of the laptops, the message box in the attached file appears. Every other network component in each pc is visible and accessible when I click on it.

To solve this dilemma, I returned to the Security pull down of the drive's properties box.. Each user in the list of users, Everyone, SYSTEM, Administrators and Users, has a check in each of the Allow boxes, but the Special Permissions box on the bottom of each user's Allow box, is grayed out. I'm not familiar with the security aspect of my pcs because I'm the only user, but it looks like I don't have permission to make the drive accessible except for the desktop. What puzzles me is when I go to the Permissions tab in the Advanced Security Settings box, each user has a check in each Allow box. But when I go to the Effective Permissions tab and add a user, all boxes are grayed out. By the way, the desktop's OS is Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit, and both laptops use Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64 bit.

I hope that I'm not confusing all of you more than I'm confusing myself. By the way, I was able to add another desktop drive to the network, and it was visible and accessible in all three pcs. So why is the PATA drive not responding the same way? Other than this network glitch, it works perfectly.

 

[apairofpcs]

I've been working on this problem for about a week, unable to solve it. I have a desktop pc with three 250 GB SATA drives and one 250 GB PATA hard drive. I have a local network using a ActionTec/Verizon FiOS modem/wireless router. The many folders I've chosen to be shared on the network, are from each of the three SATA drives and from each of my two laptops. All are visible and accessible on the desktop and two laptops. But I can't seem to share the entire PATA drive with the two laptops. I go through the proper steps to share it. The PATA's drive letter shows up on the network page of each of the three pcs.. But when I click on it on either of the laptops, the message box in the attached file appears. Every other network component in each pc is visible and accessible when I click on it.

To solve this dilemma, I returned to the Security pull down of the drive's properties box.. Each user in the list of users, Everyone, SYSTEM, Administrators and Users, has a check in each of the Allow boxes, but the Special Permissions box on the bottom of each user's Allow box, is grayed out. I'm not familiar with the security aspect of my pcs because I'm the only user, but it looks like I don't have permission to make the drive accessible except for the desktop. What puzzles me is when I go to the Permissions tab in the Advanced Security Settings box, each user has a check in each Allow box. But when I go to the Effective Permissions tab and add a user, all boxes are grayed out. By the way, the desktop's OS is Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit, and both laptops use Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64 bit.

I hope that I'm not confusing all of you more than I'm confusing myself. By the way, I was able to add another desktop drive to the network, and it was visible and accessible in all three pcs. So why is the PATA drive not responding the same way? Other than this network glitch, it works perfectly.

Note:
The title of this thread is misleading. It should read "A desktop drive is visible and accessible on the desktop's network, but only "visible" on each laptop's network!"

 

[ddrueding]

Assuming the PATA drive the one with the OS on it?

 

[apairofpcs]

Assuming the PATA drive the one with the OS on it?

You're just too observant for your own good! No, the PATA drive has no OS on it. But it has a System Volume Information folder. I use it just for data backup. It's the only drive that I tried to add to the network as a whole drive, not as individual folders. The other network items are folders, also from drive partitions without an OS on it.

Going with your "lead", I just added an entire drive partition with an OS, to the network. It's visible and accessible on all pcs. While checking it, I clicked on the PATA drive letter in both laptops. Lo and behold, it's suddenly accessible. Just before I wrote this thread, I had tried a few things with security/permissions and didn't restart as instructed. Bad me!

Please hold off on attending to my problem, until I write a post stating that the problem is still unsolved.

 

[Mercutio]

For what it's worth, both Sharing and Security permission changes take effect immediately, but authentication tokens are not refreshed until either a shutdown or logout/login has occurred. I just spent 45 today tearing my hair out because a remote user didn't understand the difference between "Switch User" and "Log Out."

 

[apairofpcs]

For what it's worth, both Sharing and Security permission changes take effect immediately, but authentication tokens are not refreshed until either a shutdown or logout/login has occurred. I just spent 45 today tearing my hair out, because a remote user didn't understand the difference between "Switch User" and "Log Out."

Yes, now I know this. But if you asked me what I finally did to make the drive visible and accessible on all three pcs....I COULDN'T TELL YOU DEFINITIVELY!

Sorry to hear about your hair loss, though! Don't worry, it'll grow back.....! Even I know the difference. Log Out keeps my desktop shortcuts where I left them, while Switch User places them at the left side of the desktop, aligned with the grid. I'm so happy I'm the ONLY user here.

 

[Tannin]

Merc is the networking guru, I'm just a muddle-through-and-blunder type, but in my experience most problems of this nature turn out to be caused by missing or mangled NTFS permissions, not by the actual networking permissions. Start looking there.

 

[apairofpcs]

Merc is the networking guru, I'm just a muddle-through-and-blunder type, but in my experience most problems of this nature turn out to be caused by missing or mangled NTFS permissions, not by the actual networking permissions. Start looking there.

I got the feeling that "His Excellency" knew his stuff, a long time ago. Muddling and blundering is the reason I know what I know about pcs. With every struggle to fix a problem, comes a slew of lessons about what makes a pc tick. I got the impression early in the game that my dilemma was a locally based security matter. But where is "there?"