I loved XP. I could do anything I wanted with it, and it would not put up a fight. I'm no newbie to Windows, and I've been using it since version 3, and.. well, I thought I was very adept at it. I was, though.. But I bought a new computer and now I'm stuck with Vista. If I can't figure this OS out, I may as well go with Mac.

I just want to share a USB hard drive where my family stores all of our pictures, music, video, software downloads, etc. The problem is, Vista seems to be inherently incapable of network file sharing, without resorting to buying 3rd party sharing software.

My user account is set as administrator, and I do have a password set. Vista will STILL not allow me to access certain files or delete them, citing that I need to be an administrator. Go figure.

When I go into the Network and Sharing Center and attempt to turn on file sharing, it will accept the button click but beside the green light reads "custom." I have no sharing options in any menus. I cannot share a single file.

When I try to turn on Public Folder Sharing, I get the message, "The RPC Server is unavailable."

I have combed the internet for answers. I have found none.

I am just so exhausted from fighting with Vista. I don't even want to turn my computer on anymore. It just seems that everything I need to do with this machine is like going uphill on rollerskates. If Vista doesn't put it's fists down and just start doing what I tell it to do, I'm going to upgrade to a Mac.

Anyone interested in buying a Gateway FX gaming laptop?

Right!

Workstation seems to always be on. As for Server, whenever I try to turn that on, I get "Windows could not start the Server service on Local Computer. Error 1068: Dependency service or group failed to start."

It doesn't get into specifics about what dependencies that Server has. So, I turned on *everything* - and it still will not work.

So far, the only thing that Vista seems to be good at doing is denying me. I would have better luck propositioning a supermodel.

--Did notice that it does get into a few specifics, as well as a few non-specifics in the dependencies tab. However, some of the dependencies will not turn on, and their dependencies will not turn on, and the dependencies of those dependencies either cannot be recognized by their cryptic names or will not turn on. It's like a giant rock, paper, scissors game where everyone has all 3, and I'm playing with a sponge.

This is a very new Gateway laptop, out of the box from Best buy.

The system is only about a month and a half old.

I cannot run SFC, because while my account is set as Administrator, Windows Vista insists that I am NOT an administrator despite all settings to the contrary. I did perform a recovery from the disks that came with the computer, and nothing has changed except that I now need to reinstall all my software.

Do you think I should just take this computer back to Best Buy for my money back? I'm sick of fighting with it. I'm ready to go Mac.

Given the level of frustration I am sensing from you, I think you should take it back to Best Buy. Get them to fix it, replace it with a working version, or just return it. If you return it, you could then move on to shopping for a new system and find a place that will let you play around with Vista on another systems or Mac OS. It would be even better if someone could *show* you what each OS can do.

Toddyinc, please start a new topic for your problem. From the forum front page, click on the new topic button. Describe your problem exactly. Although it may seem to be identical to this one, we don't really know that yet.