Unable to access DVD drive while sharing with a Netbook

I have recently purchased a netbook, so it is pretty obvious that it does not have an implicit DVD drive on it. I have a dell Dimension 8400 as well which has an implicit DVD writer installed to it. Both my machines have Windows xp home editions and fall in same workgroup. I want to burn the contents of files and folders stored in the netbook in a blank DVD without copying in my desktop. My friend suggested me to share the DVD writer of the Dell with my netbook through a network. I even tried it but it shows some error message as Access denied. Does anybody have any suggestion for this question? Please give your inputs.

Yes you can definitely share the drives if systems are connected with a common network. You said you tried to burn the data stored in your netbook through the Dell system but you failed to do so. I think the Access denied message occurs because indirectly it is prompting you that you do not posses any right to access the folder you are trying to burn right now. Well I think you should not access and write those files if you are not authorized to do so. But if you really are the sole owner of those files and folders then there might by some settings need to be changed including the firewall settings. You will have to disable the firewall.

When you share a CD-ROM (IDE or SCSI) or floppy disk drive but then try to access it over the network (either remotely or locally through UNC or NET USE) the following error message is displayed as "Access Denied ". Additionally, the directory \\<machinename>\<sharename> remotely or locally will cause the following error message to appear as "File Not Found".Sharing and accessing a hard drive remotely or locally in the same manner will work fine.

I had read somewhere and collected some of the idea why such denials of drives occur. If you are aware of these registry files in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\ WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon subkey, you will find two entries in it. They are AllocateCDRoms:REG_SZ and AllocateFloppies:REG_SZ. either the first or the second is set to 1. It means it does not allow or disables the access to every one except to the user who has currently logged in. There are certain default values i.e default 0 and default 1, but I do not have much idea about how these default values set.

You can refer to the microsoft official site if you want to go in depth. The default value 0 means that the CDROM or the DVD writer is accessible to all the other users. All these value must satisfy the C2 requirement if the value satisfies and the removable disk must be a secure media . O compact discs states that only administrators are authorized to access the drive and 1 means those users who are currently logged in can access the drive and its contents stored on the remote computer over a network.

But I would suggest that you should not meddle with all these things. If you think you do not have much knowledge about all these registry files, then better leave it as it is. Because incorrect usage of registry files can cause a lot of damage and you cannot even imagine at what extent. If something in these registry files goes wrong you will lose your data and you will have to reinstall the Windows NT. Not even Microsoft gives any assurance that these registry errors can be solved.