Passwords now required to access shared LAN drives

[Perryg114]

I have in the past been able to access drives on other computers on my LAN without passwords. This is on drives where sharing is enabled on the host computers. Since the computers have no password to start, with then nothing I put in will work. I tried a trial version of Server 2012 Essentials and that screwed up a bunch of stuff. I think it may have something to do with the connector software putting some of my computers on a Domain. However, it seems that computers that were never on the Domain can't even talk to each other's drives without a non- existent password. If I have enabled sharing on the drives how come it even wants a password?

Perry

 

[dave_the_nerd]

All computers have a password, even if you don't know what it is and never need to type it in. You probably should double-check your users and groups settings and make a list of which user accounts exist on which computer:

http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch001094.htm

Your other computers may need to be removed from the old domain, if they aren't already:

https://social.technet.microsoft.co...indows-7-home-network?forum=w7itpronetworking

If the username and password on your computer also exist on the others, then you won't be prompted for a password. If, however, the usernames or password don't match, you'll be prompted.

 

[JackMDS]

Maybe this can Help.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/network_password_recovery.html

 

[Perryg114]

The problems all started with the 2012 Essentials Trial. This put my main computer on a Domain and moved my user profile to the Domain account deleting the local account. The connector install completely nuked my laptop because I did not have it hooked to the LAN by Ethernet and it could not find the WiFi under the new Domain account and it failed the install after deleting the local user account. I just ran one of the Win 7 wizards for setting up a work network and it deleted the Domain account and everything in the old Domain user account which was the one I have been using for the last 2 yrs and it has all my settings in it and everything that was on my desktop. Nice how it does not ask before deleting accounts. Copying and backing up users accounts is a problem it seems. I guess that is why IT guys in corporations just fresh install everything and start over. Here spend a week putting all your software back on. I think I have a backup from about a year ago I can install to get me back where I was. I have all the data backed up.

My old WHS died and I could not get it to work on my old motherboard. I installed 2012 Essentials and it was a nightmare. I eventually got WHS running with a new motherboard that could handle the newer SATA drives. 2012 Essentials was like the Borg taking over my computers and network.

I guess I need to learn more about Domains. The user accounts issue is a problem. What sort of stuff other than settings is locked up in the user account? What will be lost? I try to put everything in folders outside of user accounts so I can get to my stuff. I think the only stuff I may have trouble getting to are the files that were on the desktop in the old user account. I think I can get that from a recent backup.

Perry

 

[Perryg114]

Yeah but which password is it asking for and why all of a sudden does it require a password to access any drive on another computer? Is this a local password on that machine and if so how do I know the right user and password for each and every computer even if I have not assigned a password to that particular computer? Is this something Essentials 2012 did to my network or a recent security patch that MS did? I want to be able to pull data or add data to any drive on any computer that I have enabled sharing.

Perry

Maybe this can Help.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/network_password_recovery.html

 

[dave_the_nerd]

When you enable sharing, you choose which user accounts on that computer can access which drives/folders from other computers.

Example:

Computer A and B.
Computer A has users 1 and 2.
Computer B has users 3 and 4.
Computer A is configured to share D: with user 1 but not 2.
Computer B is configured to share E: with user 4 but not 3.

If I am sitting in front of computer A, signed in as user 2, and want to access E: on Computer B, I have to use user 4's username and password.

The setup is done on the computer sharing the drive, through both the "users and groups" control panel as well as the drive sharing properties panel.

That's as simple as I can think to explain it conceptually. (Which seems to be where the problem is.) If you're having trouble because your computers' network settings are all mucked up, maybe hire geek squad or something?