I have a Windows XP Media Center 2005 computer, a MacBook Pro and a few other Windows and Mac computers stroll through my network from time to time. I have my Media Center PC streaming media to the XBOX 360, file server, printer etc. I had the Media Center machine before the MacBook Pro. So when I got my MacBook Pro, and hooked it into my network I was suprised that all my file shares were automatically picked up and I could read my movies and print, all as a Guest. Which is exactly how I wanted it. Login to change, but anyone can view a movie, listen to music, and print.

Then the Media Center PC mother board failed! So I got a new AMD Athlon 64 LE (45w cool-and-quiet, and yeah, it runs very cool and very quiet) and reinstalled. I setup my shares again, but this time I turned OFF simple file sharing.

I go to my MBP and connect to the MC PC. I try as guest. But I got this message:

“The file server does not allow Guest access.”

Huh? So I enable the guest account, which I do not remember having to enable before. Reboot. Try to connect again. Same error message: “The file server does not allow Guest access.” WTF?! And the other Windows machine (Windows Vista) could not print without loging in. Gah!

So I googled around, played with my Mac samba settings. Deleted my networking settings on my Mac. Tripple checked my shared settings on my PC. So I went back to the basics. Reading one Microsoft KB how to setup Windows XP file sharing. There it was, simple file sharing. A light bulb came on. So I re-enabled simple file sharing (My Computer->Tools->Folder Options…->View->Advanced settings:->User simple file sharing (Recommended)).

And it all worked!  Reading my media shares, printing as guest! Even from the Vista machine! I know there is some security risks leaving it so open, but I keep my private data separate.