System Advice

The Mysterious "Error = 5" aka "Access Denied"

Next to an "error = 53" ("name not found"), I don't know of too many diagnostic messages that can cause so much confusion or uncertainty in the heart of your desktop / network support tech.

An error = 5 ("0x80070005" in Windows Vista) message comes in a number of circumstances.

In a "browstat status" log.
In a Network Neighborhood display.
In Windows Explorer.

Unlike the "error = 53", however, the "error = 5" message can come from predictable situations. If you see "access denied" in these scenarios, your system is working as it's supposed to (or at least, as it's configured).

Look at the complete error message. Some well known, yet obscure, problems can be easily diagnosed, and resolved.
If your server is using Guest authentication, you'll get "access denied" for any activity that requires administrative access. This might be a registry retrieval in "browstat status", or any attempt to access a protected folder or share, such as (but not limited to) "C$", "C:\", "C:\Program Files", or "C:\Windows".
If your firewall is setup to block file sharing, you'll get "access denied".
If you just haven't configured file sharing to allow access to the account in question, you'll get "access denied".

The "error = 5" message can, alternatively, come from unpredictable situations.

One of the symptoms of a browser conflict, as seen when trying to access a share from Network Neighborhood, is "access denied".
A misconfigured or overlooked firewall can cause "access denied".
The restrictanonymous setting can cause "access denied".

Looking at the complete and exact text of the message may provide a clue. There are several variations on "...access denied".

If the name of a resource can't be translated to an address, for any reason, you'll see "...name not found...".
If the resource in question is setup to block you from accessing it, whether you agree with that or not, you'll see "...insufficient authority..." or the like.

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