Password Needed, though it should not be.

I have 4 computers on one network. All 4 are running XP. 2 are laptops and 2 are desktops with one connected by wire and the other 3 connected wirelessly. That's my situation.

The problem: Laptop one can see all 4 computers and can be accessed by all computers, laptop 2 is the same way except I have found that now it cannot be found by any computer.

Desktop one can see all but not access any and none can access it with the error of 'you do not have permission, contact your supervisor' I am the network supervisor.

Desktop two used to be able to be accessed by all but now, once clicked it requires a username and password that should not be required. I know that I changed something but I don't know what I have changed. Desktop 2 can access all others except desktop 1 that no one can access and laptop 2 which it used to be able to find.

Can anyone help me with this perplexing issue? I've already run the network set-up on each computer and the firewall has enabled file and printer sharing and is to the point of almost off and totally lenient. I'll be around for the next week or so, please some help!

 

Lets sort the machine asking for a username and password first.

For Windows to automatically log on a user account during the startup process, the following four conditions must all be met:

• The Welcome screen must be available
• Guest account access must be turned off
• There must be only one user account on the computer
• The user account must not have a password

To change this behavior back to what you want:

Start, Run, control userpasswords2

Uncheck the box at the top: 'Users must enter a username and password...' and click Apply. You will be prompted for the autologon username and password.

 

The computer only requires a password and username when you try to access it from another computer to see its files.

That box was unchecked so I'm guessing that I have different problems...

 

I believe that they are all XP Pro.

 

Try installing the program Network Magic to set up your network.

link: http://www.networkmagic.com/download/

 

Hundreds of millions of people run Windows Networking daily without needing any third-party magic.

Laptop 1 -- seen and accessible by all
Laptop 2 -- Not seen, but can access all others
Desktop 1 -- Seen by all, but receives an error 5 or an error 53: '...not accessible...' from remote users
Desktop 2 -- Sees itself, L1 & D1. Access to D1 generates a password response.

Prescription: (some of this is unecessary, frankly, but lets put all computers on the "same page ":

(You have to promise me you will never run the "Network Setup" Wizard ever again.)

For all computers:

• Start, Control Panel, Folder Options View
  Scroll to the bottom and make sure "Use simple file sharing (recommended)" is checkmarked
• Start, Control Panel, Security Center, Windows Firewall, Advanced tab.
  Click the bottom button to reset the firewall settings to their defaults.
  Click the Exceptions tab and make sure that an exception still exists for File and Printer Sharing.
• Start, Run, and type:
  net user Guest /Active:yes
• Start, Run, and type:
  net localgroups Users Guest /add
• Start, Run, and type:
  net localgroups Everyone Guest /add
• Start, Run, Control Panel, User Accounts
  Make sure that the Guest account is enabled, and has no password.
• Start, Network Connections. If you show an entry as "Bridged" we need to remove that bridge. The Network Setup Wizard loves to create problematic bridging. See: http://www.microsoft.com/resources/.../xp/all/proddocs/en-us/hnw_bridge_delete.mspx
• Start, Network Connections
  Right click 'Local area connection' and choose "Properties. "
  Make certain that File and Printer sharing is checkmarked.
  Scroll down and highlight "Internet protocol (TCP/IP)" and click the Properties button.
  Click the WINS tab.
  Under the section 'Enable netbios over TCP/IP' choose the middle of the three radio buttons.
• Start, run, and type: secpol.msc
  Click "User rights assignments "
  Double click: "Access this computer from the network "
  Hopefully you can make sure that Guest, Users, and Everyone are in the list. There maybe entries there, but I want those three entries if possible to be there along with any existing entries. You use the "Add user or group" button. You will do this three times if needed. Once you click the Add..." button, click the "Advanced" button, then the "Find now" button. Highlight the user or group, and click OK. OK yourself back to see that the new user or group has been added.
• Under the entry: "Deny access to this computer from the network" you can safely remove all entries. If there is only one with a cryptic name, you can safely leave it alone. But "Guest" cannot be in this table.
• Click the category: "Local Security Settings" on the left.
• For the entry: "Accounts - limit local account use of blank passwords to console logon only" to DISABLED
• For the entry: "Network access: Sharing and security model for local accounts" set the entry to "Guest only - local users authenticate as Guest "
  Save your changes and exit secpol.msc
• Start, Run, regedit
  
  Navigate just as you do with Windows Explorer to find the entry:
  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
  \SYSTEM
  \CurrentControlSet
  \Control
  \Lsa
  Value name: RestrictAnonymous
  Value type: DWORD
  
  If the value is anything other than zero (0), right click on the entry, Modify, and set it to zero (0). Exit regedit.
  
  If this is laptop #1, reboot. All other machines should be shutdown after completing the above.

When you have done your walkthrough of all four machines, you can restart the shutdown workstations. Wait fifteen minutes. Test.

Beware of now "stale" entries in Network Places. Right click and delete all of them and then hit the F5 function key to ask for a Refresh.

For any Share on a computer that was demanding usernames and passwords, remove the Share and recreate it.

 

More of:

Laptop 1 -- seen and accessible by all
Laptop 2 -- sees all but can only get to L1
Desktop 1 -- Seen by all, but receives an error 5 or an error 53: '...not accessible...' from all remote users
Desktop 2 -- Sees itself, L1 & D1 no one can get to it as it says that it requires a password.


I ran that line of things on Laptop 1, laptop 2, and Desktop 2. Laptop one is now running 2000 wirelessly instead of XP but that it the only change.

The network now stands:

Laptop 1: Everyone sees it and all except D1 can get to it.
Laptop 2: Everyone sees it but D2 cannot get it with an error like D1 from before. Strange thing is it can get into D2....
Desktop 1: No change here- seen by all but generating an error by all.
Desktop 2: Sees everyone but cannot get to D1 or L2 because of error.

When running those steps, L2 didn't have that check mark on the folder options view thing. t didn't have a box for it. I'm working on running it on D1 so I'll tell you what I found tomorrow or so.