Connect to PW-protected Share with no User Name?

I have an old WD NetCenter network drive (drive is not shared thru a computer - but directly connected to the network via ethernet) which has two shares that are password protected. But, there is no user name and no way to add a user name to the shares - just a password.

Under WinXP, it's possible to map those shares as drives or to just connect using Windows Explorer - in either case, by entering only the password for the share, leaving the user name blank in the login prompt.

Win7 (Home Premium 64bit) seems to REQUIRE the entry of a user name in addition to the password and since there's no user name associated with the shares, I'm not being allowed access. I can remove the password for the share and then connect easily from Win7 - but, I do not want to remove the password.

Is there a way to get Win7 to allow me to leave the user name blank in the login prompt?

nycfonephreak said:

I have an old WD NetCenter network drive (drive is not shared thru a computer - but directly connected to the network via ethernet) which has two shares that are password protected. But, there is no user name and no way to add a user name to the shares - just a password.

Under WinXP, it's possible to map those shares as drives or to just connect using Windows Explorer - in either case, by entering only the password for the share, leaving the user name blank in the login prompt.

Win7 (Home Premium 64bit) seems to REQUIRE the entry of a user name in addition to the password and since there's no user name associated with the shares, I'm not being allowed access. I can remove the password for the share and then connect easily from Win7 - but, I do not want to remove the password.

Is there a way to get Win7 to allow me to leave the user name blank in the login prompt?

Homegroup and IPv6, or Workgroup and IPv4, or something else?

zigzag3143 said:

Homegroup and IPv6, or Workgroup and IPv4, or something else?

I don't understand your question but I'm not using a Homegroup. I started to set one up (thinking I needed to) then backed out before completing its setup.

WindowsStar said:

Does this work from the Command Prompt?

Net Use * \\Device\Share /u:"" <enter>

It's still requiring a username and password.

"invalid user name.
examples of valid user names are "username@domain" and "domain\username"

Is there some way to turn off the "domain" feature in Win7? When I try to connect to the share normally, I get the windows security ENTER NETWORK PASSWORD dialog box and below the fields for User Name and Password, it says "Domain:xyz" (xyz is the computer name).

FWIW, I can access both shares if I remove the password. But, I'm concerned that some family member will accidentally send something to the trash - and I might not know for months.

WindowsStar said:

Does this work from the Command Prompt?

Net Use * \\Device\Share /u:"" <enter>

Update - after making the following addition to the registry...

1 . Open registry editor ( Start search - regedit)
2 . Browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa
3. Create a new DWORD value with the following properties:
NAME: LmCompatibilityLevel
VALUE: 1
4. Restart your PC and try the connection again...


...I can now use your Net Use method to connect to the shares using my Win7 user name as the user name and the share password as the password.

If I just try to connect by clicking on the drive in Computer, there's a 50/50 chance the connection will be made. Net Use seems to be 100% reliable after about 20 restarts to test.

thanks!