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I recently ran into a problem where I was setting up a 5 person LAN. I enabled filesharing on the main computer and wanted to allow the other 4 computers to have access. 2 computers were able to access \expample without any issues. 1 computer would only connect if I uses the ip address \x.x.x.x\data. The third computer was able to access \example but required the user to login every time they tried to access the share. Why is there such inconsistency in these connections?

All 5 computers are Windows XP Professional.

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This is dumb to ask but are they all in the same work group? –  BullDozier1337 May 6 '10 at 21:29

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For your first problem is this computer on the same workgroup? If it isn't, then you won't see UNC's. You can still connect via IP.

For your second problem - how did you share - simple sharing or normal sharing? If normal sharing, then when you try to connect, it requests login/password info. The name/password must exist on the server for it to authenticate the workstation. When you try to connect and it requests login info, are you putting in the same login/password that you used to start this computer or another?

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I did advanced sharing but enabled the guest account on all 5 computers and add the Guest account to both the sharing permissions and the security permissions. They shouldn't need a password. –  Juice May 7 '10 at 20:04

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