How to setup a public share on a local network?

I want to share a folder on my local network so all other computers on the network have read only access to the folder.

I've setup the share and given read only permission to "everyone". However, when I look at the computer sharing the folder from another computer using "\\computer-name" in Windows Explorer, I'm always asked for a user name and password.

How do I share the folder so the user name and password are not required when viewing from a different computer?

Both computers are running Windows XP.

Thanks,
David

 

XP home or pro?

 

Both computers are XP Pro and both have Simple File Sharing disabled.

 

Hi David67,

On the shared folder computer, go to...

1. control panel/admin tools/computer management/users & groups and enabled the guest account.
2. return to admin tools and open the local security policy/local policies/user rights assignment.
3. add the guest account to the Access this computer from the network.
4. Remove the guest account fron the Deny access to this computer from the network.
5. Return to the share and add the guest account.
6. reboot all machines.

Techsent

 

Great! That got me access to the share! However, I didn't need to perform the last step of adding Guest to the share.

In the past, for other systems, I've always just been able to add "Everyone" to the share and it worked without any problems. Do you know what requires me to use the Guest account now?

Finally, does this introduce any security holes? I think the Guest account is normally disabled by default. Do I need to be more concerned now that it's enabled?