Share a folder with no authentication

[Paul Pedersen]

I need to share a folder on a server (2003) which anyone on the network can
access, regardless of domain or workgroup membership, with no password or
login required.

It seems like such a simple task, yet I can't find a way to do it, and
server people I've asked don't know how to do it either. (Apparently it's
not as common a request as I thought.)

Anyone know how to do this?


PS. I tried giving "Everyone" read/write access, but no dice - any attempt
to connect still asks for login info. I also tried creating a special group
for this, adding "Everyone" to it, and giving that group access. Still
didn't work.

[Danny Sanders]

Have you tried giving "guest" access to the share?

[Paul Pedersen]

I don't have the server near me at the moment, but I tried it on XP.

1. It still gave me the login prompt, although Guest with no password let me
in.

2. The entire disk was accessible, not just the subject folder. Not good.




"Danny Sanders" <dsandersNOSPAM@ciber.com> wrote in message
news:86C9BB4D-A84D-4BBC-B423-A6D233484B44@microsoft.com...
> Have you tried giving "guest" access to the share?
>
>
> hth
> DDS
>
> "Paul Pedersen" <nospam@no.spam> wrote in message
> news:uYiZg8ZfJHA.1288@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>>I need to share a folder on a server (2003) which anyone on the network
>>can access, regardless of domain or workgroup membership, with no password
>>or login required.
>>
>> It seems like such a simple task, yet I can't find a way to do it, and
>> server people I've asked don't know how to do it either. (Apparently it's
>> not as common a request as I thought.)
>>
>> Anyone know how to do this?
>>
>>
>> PS. I tried giving "Everyone" read/write access, but no dice - any
>> attempt to connect still asks for login info. I also tried creating a
>> special group for this, adding "Everyone" to it, and giving that group
>> access. Still didn't work.
>>
>>
>>
>

[Paul Pedersen]

"kj [SBS MVP]" <KevinJ.SBS@SPAMFREE.gmail.com> wrote in message
news:OBqQ0JafJHA.4168@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> Paul Pedersen wrote:
>> I need to share a folder on a server (2003) which anyone on the
>> network can access, regardless of domain or workgroup membership,
>> with no password or login required.
>>
>> It seems like such a simple task, yet I can't find a way to do it, and
>> server people I've asked don't know how to do it either. (Apparently
>> it's not as common a request as I thought.)
>>
>> Anyone know how to do this?
>>
>>
>> PS. I tried giving "Everyone" read/write access, but no dice - any
>> attempt to connect still asks for login info. I also tried creating a
>> special group for this, adding "Everyone" to it, and giving that
>> group access. Still didn't work.
>
> See the following and add "anonyomous" as appropriate
>
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/278259
>
>
> --
> /kj


I'm not near the server at present, so I tried it with XP.

Thanks, that's progress. If I give sharing and security permissions to both
user Everyone and group ANONYMOUS LOGON (either one alone does not seem to
suffice), it almost works!

What I mean is that it works, IF the client computer is XP. If it's Vista,
it still presents a login dialog.

Can you help me get over the last obstacle?

[kj [SBS MVP]]

It should work fine with a Server 2003 share.

--
/kj

[Paul Pedersen]

Thanks, but that was even worse. Even the XP client was asking for logon
info in that case.

I set up the share in Server 2003, giving both Everyone and ANONYMOUS LOGON
read & write access. With an XP client, the server showed in the network,
but I couldn't see any shares without providing a logon. A Vista client, in
the same workgroup as the XP client, could not see the server at all. (FWIW,
both clients are able to use SQL Server data on that same server.)

I worked around the problem by moving the files to a network "disk
appliance". I'd really rather keep them on the server, but that just doesn't
seem to be possible. I'm surprised that such a simple and obvious function
cannot be provided by Windows Server.

[kj [SBS MVP]]

"Seeing them" from browsing is different. You should be able to just do a
"net use * \\server\sharename"

If Server doesn't resolve you could do "net use * \\x.x.x.x\sharename" with
x.x.x.x the IP address of the server.

[Paul Pedersen]

When I do that, I am presented with a login box. The OK button is grayed out
until I enter a name.

[kj [SBS MVP]]

Are you sure you correctly and compltetly implemented the
EveryoneIncludesAnonymous change? Which methode did you choose?

[Paul Pedersen]

No, I did not set EveryoneIncludesAnonymous on. That would affect all shares
on the server, and I'm concerned only with this one. I don't want to change
things that other people might have set up, or might set up in the future,
especially since they won't know that I have done it.

What I did was to explicitly give user Everyone and group ANONYMOUS LOGON
read/write/execute rights to that folder. That should have worked, but it
didn't - the results were as I described.

[Isaac Oben -MCSE, MCITP]

Hello Paul,

Try this:
On the share permissions, add users or everyone or athenticated users (Most
prefered if all users are using domain) and check full control.
Then select security, add users or everyone or athenticated users (Most
prefered if all users are using domain) and check full control.

Hope this helps

Isaac

"viv" <viv@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:9FFE6FCA-1A83-44B3-B595-9AA5BDB60E50@microsoft.com...
>
>
> "Danny Sanders" wrote:
>
>> Have you tried giving "guest" access to the share?
>>
>>
>> hth
>> DDS
>>
>> "Paul Pedersen" <nospam@no.spam> wrote in message
>> news:uYiZg8ZfJHA.1288@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>> >I need to share a folder on a server (2003) which anyone on the network
>> >can
>> >access, regardless of domain or workgroup membership, with no password
>> >or
>> >login required.
>> >
>> > It seems like such a simple task, yet I can't find a way to do it, and
>> > server people I've asked don't know how to do it either. (Apparently
>> > it's
>> > not as common a request as I thought.)
>> >
>> > Anyone know how to do this?
>> >
>> >
>> > PS. I tried giving "Everyone" read/write access, but no dice - any
>> > attempt
>> > to connect still asks for login info. I also tried creating a special
>> > group for this, adding "Everyone" to it, and giving that group access.
>> > Still didn't work.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>>