In a windows domain network, suppose there's one machine which is used most often to share files in the network. My question is: if this machine boots up and no user logs on - i.e. it is stuck on the logon screen...can other machines access the shared resources on this machine?
I'm guessing on a user getting locked out - this must be possible, but does it hold when no one has ever logged ons since the machine booted?
Yes, windows 2000, XP and Windows 7 (I assume Vista, but not really used it), all allow you to access a shared folder, even if no one has logged into the machine yet. Any version of Windows Server will also work.
It does not matter if the machine is part of a domain or not.
There may be some Active Directory Policies to prevent share access, and there may be security issues... ie, user not having permission to access either the Share (Share permissions) or the actual folder on the disk (Security permissions). You must check both of these.