Windows to Mac Catch 22

[MidnightJava]

I previously set up file sharing from my WIndows XP (Pro SP2) system to my Mac (OS 10.3.8), using a non-root user on the Mac. But now I want to create a file share connection to the root user on the Mac, so I can see all the files and not just a certain user's files from the PC.

I disconnected all network drives on the PC and rebooted. Then I tried to map a drive to the Mac's root share (i.e. \\My_Mac\root), while giving the root login credentials via the "Login as another user" option. The PC accepts the credentials, but then tells me that since I am trying to log in as a different user, I have to first disconnect all other connections to the same share, and then do what I'm trying to do.

The problem is there ARE no other connections. I've tried "Disconnect Network Drive" from the tools menu, and it says that there are no network drives connected. I've tried "net use * /delete" in the command window, and it says "There are no entries in the list"

I've beat my head against the wall on this for hours. There's just no way to satisfy this condition. I can't delete what doesn't exist. Somehow Windows is holding on to that erstwhile connection, and I have no idea how to release it. It's curious that in the window for mapping a network drive, the old connection (the one with the non-root user) shows up in the dropdown list for "Folder". I can't make it go away. And when I navigate to the Mac's icon under My Network Places, I see two folders under it, one for the non-root user, and one for root.

I have two accounts on the Windows machine, and I created the old share to the Mac from a different XP account than I'm using now. But I logged in as the old XP user and disconnected the network drive from that account, and I made sure I unchekced the "reconnect at login" box.

Is this a bug in Windows, or am I missing something?

 

[MidnightJava]

I ran ccleaner (aptly named, if you know what the c stands for) on the PC, and now I can connect to the Mac file share as root. However, I now have a different sort of problem.

My entire objective here is to be able to connect to the Mac file system at the root level (i.e. pathname="/") so I can get to any Mac user's files (it's just me and my wife) or to the system library directory (i.e. /library). Let's call the two accounts "me" and "wife". Here's what happens, which makes perfect sense, but leaves the question of how I can get in at the root directory.

Log in as "me": I end up at /Users/me
Login as "wife": I end up at /Users/wife
Login as "root": I end up at /var/root

So how do I fix it so I end up at / ?

Should I create another mac account whose home directory is root? Could I change the root account so its home diectory is / ? How would I do either of these? (I'm new to UNIX). Is it a bad idea to do either of these? I understand the risk of entering at the root directory from a privacy standpoint- I'd just like to know if there's an issue wrt how UNIX will work if I create or move user home directories as I've suggested.

 

[bobw]

Use SharePoints

 

[The Ghost]

Amen to what bobw said.

 

[MidnightJava]

Thanks! That's a great app. Just what I needed, and it works pefectly. Now I have a related problem with IP addressing, but I'm going to post it separately since it's a different issue.