Share Windows system folders on LAN

Did you try to map the drive in My computer.  right click on my computer and select map drive.  the location would be as advised above \\comutername\c$.  click the hyperlink that says "differnet username" and put in the password.  Is this a domain or workgroup?  if domain you will need to put the domain name before the username follower by a backslash like this:  domain\username.  If workgroup that account you use will need to be created on the remote system and be in the admin group.  The remote drive will then show up as if it were a local drive in my computer.

ok. this is a workgroup. I would expect that you can't map to a drive unless you could connect to the share in the first place.
therefore if   '\\laptop\c$\program files'   works then you would get the points anyway. I'll test it later and get back to you.

\\computername\c$\Program Files

works

you're right, bbrunning. I did get the guest account, and no matter how many different passwords i tried (after resetting the Guest account password on my PC and laptop, could not connect. After that the guest login came up just to visit \\laptop

Both OSs are XP Pro SP2 with Windows Firewall disabled. Using Zone Alarm 6 Pro as my firewall.

Using the map drive function didn't work at the time of me trying it, however playing around with a few settings in the right order seems to have solved my problem for me.

For those wanting to know how to do it, i'll type my actions below:
-----
Firstly, goto Control Panel, Folder Options, View Settings
The bottom option needs to be de-selected ("Using simple file sharing (recommended)")
Right/click the program files folder and click properties. Goto security tab and ensure that the "Everyone" user group has full control priveleges.
On the sharing tab, share the folder as Program Files, and ensure that "Everyone" has Full Control privleges.
    ( Whilst using the sharing folder function sort of goes against my original question, i think there is no way
     around it.)

Restart the PC's if you can't immediately access the shared folder.
-----

I think the emphisis of this was on the first step, as without this the Sharing tab on the Program Files will have the sharing options disabled as it is a system folder.

I've only done this with one PC between crossover cable. Will try it with another one running Win 200 Pro before i close this Question.

So now that there are still 75 points up for grabs, i thought i might ask your opinion about this:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few months ago, I connected to mainly 2 other PC's one at a time using a crossover cable. On all of the PCs i manually set IP addresses to 169.254.105.xx and had no problems connecting to other PCs on an on/off basis (not permanently connected). Recently, i purchased an 8 port switch to share our broadband access (also as an on/off basis) so i decided to change all of the network settings to Auto-get IP address. This has ultimately resulted in IP addresses changing to something like 192.168.0.xxx

There are a few PCs that are connecting to this switch on an on/off basis. They are:
Port 1:           Broadband Modem (always connected)
Port 2:           \\Home  (always connected)
Port 3:           \\Toshiba  (dad's laptop), off/on basis
Port 4:           \\Ryan  (my desktop, off/on basis between this network (switch) and crossover cable to brother's PC)
Port 5:           \\Laptop (mine, off on basis between the switch and my desktop and another LAN at school)
Port 6:           \\Todd  (brother's desktop, off/on basis between switch and my PC)
Port 7 & 8 not used

Problem is we only have one 25 metre cable to reach from the switch to where my PC, Laptop, and Todd's PC usually reside. This means that i can't have these 3 PC's connected to switch at the same time so thast they all get relevant IP addresses which the switch can then remember.
Every time i change which network i'm connected to my IP address changes to a new one an I have limited connectivity when connected to \\Todd but can still connect, and the opposite when connecting to my laptop (100mbps, but no access)

What can i do to fix up this network?

Ryan, you did exactly what I was talking about in my post.

>>Other than that you can use \\computername and go to the shared folders without a pass depending on the OS and permissions."Either you have to map the drive or create a shortcut. Depends completely on the OS and the Share permissions."<<

Close this question and repost the new question with the correct title.

you can be assured of getting points here. but your comment was very general and only after i started mucking around with other settings did i find the solution to the problem.
assuming i did nothing alse besides what you said i would not be able to share the program files folder to begin with. That's why i outlined step by step what i did to fix it.

>>Depends completely on the OS and the Share permissions.<< doesn't really answer the question the same as >>Firstly, blah blah blah<<

i am not asking a second question in this post rather i am seeking the opinion of you guys on my current network setup.

Ryan

just to clear up any OS confusions, \\Ryan, \\Todd, \\Home, and \\Toshiba all run XP Pro SP2.
\\Laptop runs Win2k (no SP's installed)
other PC runs Win98se/Win2k but is pretty much never connected to any network

bbruning - so close to the 10000 point mark
just got there myself
hope this answer got you over the line

Almost....9950, thanks!