A common theme: cannot get PBO to access files on my Win 7 machine

[Badaxe]

I've been through the posts here, and I've tried the help provided (notably making sure that the correct folders are shared - although I had no luck with the regedit or the other advise that doesn't work with Win 7 Premium since i have that), but the behavior of the PBO has stayed the same from the start.

It sees my computer when I enter the NET option in browse, but when I try to explore it, it asks for a username and password. I've tried my username on the computer (normally I don't have a pw - but I even gave myself one to see if it worked, so I tried both blank and with a made up pw), I've tried the 'guest' un with a blank for a pw, I've tried my un with the password for the home group (which I added for this excercise as well). Nothing works. I keep getting 'Logon failed.'

What is going wrong? What should I try? The only reason I purchased the PBO is to stream movies from my HD.

Thanks!

[GuyllFyre]

Go get a NAS.
Problem solved.

All these problems with Windows. Well, Windows sucks.

[aasoror]

I had no luck with the regedit

Can you elaborate more ? you couldn't find the reg keys or you found them and changing the values didn't make a difference ?

Have you tried creating a user account with a pass or adding a pass to your existing account and using that to access the folders from the PBO (homegroup password wont work).

Also can you list which hacks you attempted and how did it fail ?

[Badaxe]

I couldn't actually find the values in regedit to change. I tried searching on what was provided, but that found nothing. I changed the '\' characters to '/' and I did find the string, but no values to change. It may be that I'm just not experienced enough to know what I'm doing wrong there.

I did add a password to my existing account and I enabled the guest account (which does not allow a password); neither worked.

The hacks I tried:


Firstly, configure Sharing and Discovery:

1. Navigate to the Network and Sharing Center via the Control Panel
2. Click on the down arrow icons and select ON/OFF as follows:
Network Discovery - ON
File Sharing - ON
Public Folder Sharing - OFF
Printer Sharing - ON
Password Protected Sharing - OFF
Media Sharing - OFF


Next, configure the folder you want to share:

1. Select the folder
2. Right-click and choose 'Share' from the menu
3. From the drop-down box select the Everyone (All users in this list) account, making sure permissions are set to 'Reader'
4. Click the buttons Add, Share and Done.



Basically everything but the regedit changes.

Any ideas?

[Badaxe]

The more time I spend with the PBO, the more frustrated I get. While I'm sure Win 7 is a nightmare, it's not like it's an unpopular operating system. My guess is most of the general public is using this (even the Premium version I have). And just for comparison, I'm using AirVideo to do pretty much exactly what I want to do with the PBO only I'm streaming onto the iPad, and it doesn't bother with logons, sharing, permissions, etc.; it just sets up a server on my Win machine and uses that to stream the data. It's invisible to the user, and works out of the box. The PBO doesn't work for me at all, and based on forum posts here, it seems like even if you get it to work, the networking is so fiddly that it could stop functioning at any moment.

I don't mind a little bit of tinkering (probably less than the casual consumer), but it seems like you need to be an IT expert to get this running. My biggest complaint is the lack of feedback. I've read through all the posts. I've tried all kinds of things to get it to work. And I have no more information about why it is failing than when I started. "Logon failed." Why? Did it not recognize the user name? Is the password incorrect? Did both of those work but the permissions aren't set up correctly? I need more info to debug this process than I'm getting. It feels like I'm slamming my head against a wall, hoping for a crack.

I'm not saying that overall the PBO isn't a good product; I'm saying that I have no idea if it's a good product because it won't do the one thing I bought it to do. I'm sure if I figure this out (or if someone provides some key advice), I'll be good to go and fine with this, but I don't see a way to get there right now and that makes me crazy. I'm worried that, pretty soon, I'll be forced to return it and purchase something else that doesn't have these problems.

[Edit: I was able to get it working once I had figured out the issues I was having with the regedit hack. While messing with the registry definitely takes it out of the casual consumer's capabilities, I don't care--as long as my POB works!]

[jakir]

using the regedits I've managed to see my C: and J: drives, but can't get into them. It wants some logon and password (defaults with some realtek thing) and no matter what I do it won't let me go farther. I'm closer than I've been in two months, but this thing still doesn't work right. Someone please help us :)

[scboley]

using the regedits I've managed to see my C: and J: drives, but can't get into them. It wants some logon and password (defaults with some realtek thing) and no matter what I do it won't let me go farther. I'm closer than I've been in two months, but this thing still doesn't work right. Someone please help us :)
There's a setting in win7 for the level of encryption for the networking portion and by default is the highest version and this needs to be reduced. Can't remember quite where it is but it has been posted on here before and you need to allow shares to have blank passwords as well on the win7.

[Badaxe]

Well, I managed to muddle through the regedit process and, as promised, that was the key. My POB is now logging on and can access the shared folders on my Win 7 system.

Thanks to those who provided the advice. I'm looking forward to putting the POB to work!

[Badaxe]

using the regedits I've managed to see my C: and J: drives, but can't get into them. It wants some logon and password (defaults with some realtek thing) and no matter what I do it won't let me go farther. I'm closer than I've been in two months, but this thing still doesn't work right. Someone please help us :)

Make sure you follow the instructions in the sticky for sharing the folder you want to use. Without the shared folder, you'll likely run into the problems you mention.

[catherinek]

Hi there, I just bought a PBO and I'm experiencing the same problem as described.
Could you please explain more on how to fix this using the registry entries?
Thanks in advance.

[aasoror]

Hi there, I just bought a PBO and I'm experiencing the same problem as described.
Could you please explain more on how to fix this using the registry entries?
Thanks in advance.

read the Windows 7 sticky in this section, everything you need to know is there.