Firewall issue, cant access network from client

[hiiq32]

Hello,

I have SBS 2003 and 15 client PC's (Win XP Pro), on a domain.

All can access the internet fine.

I can ping all pc's fine

I log on as the administrator.

I shared a few print drivers on the server but when I try to go through network places, MS network, entire network, the server shows up but when I attempt to open it it says I may not have permission to access the network and some other irritating stuff.

Same thing when I try the Add Printer, in the printers window.

I turned off Win firewall and was able to access all fine for about 5 minutes, then got the same warning again cant access.

Do I need to do a simple reboot of the server to get the settings to stick?

or is it some related service that is now off that won't allow access through my network places now that I turned off win firewall.

I tried putting firewall back on and set the exceptions for file and print sharing, and then, not only couldn't I access my network, but it also stopped the internet sharing on all clients.

Even tried turning off firewall 3 different ways, through control pannel, and through run: services.msc, and firewall.cpl

I even turned off win firewall on the client, still no go.

Only time all works perfect is for the 2 to 5 minutes following my turning off firewall, then goes right back to access denied.

Not sure what other exceptions I may need to checkmark, or how firewall can be configured to do its job and still let me access my own network and internet.

Pretty frustrating.

I should say, some client pc's have the print share drivers installed from long ago and work fine, but I can't use the network to get to these shared print drivers, or anything else, at this time.

I figure it's something I need to do to my server, what do you think?

Thanks for the help.

 

[DelJo63]

see this vista tip: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb727037.aspx

it is mostly germane (just ignore the Public vs Private settings)

For background
Sharing uses ports

• 138: Name services: this controls the visibility of system names in View Entire Network --> Ms Windows Network -->Workgroup
• 139,445: these are the actual data ports used for access (Samba and CIFS support). Printers will show up here too.
• 631: this is the print spooling port for CUPS support

the default Windows FW sets these on the exceptions tab: Print/File sharing,
but SBS 2003 doesn't run that -- WHAT FW are you running?

Check me out here: Does SBS 2003 support the GPO features? If so, be sure that
Enumerate Shares is still allowed, otherwise, you can only get access using
\\systemname\sharename

Once you get to this point, user/passwords become the issue in two ways:

1. network authentication
2. NFTS Permissions