Turn Off Password Protected Shares

VSCurtis · 12 Feb 2017

Hi Guys,

This post is related to another post I have concerning my inability to access a shared drive from other computers on my home network. I recently tried to access the same shared drive from two other computers in my home. Both of these computers prompted for a user name and password when I selected my computer Curtis-Home-PC. I did not establish a user name and password and do not wish to have one. I see no option to disable this Additionally, the third PC which is a laptop does not ask for a user name and password. It simply produces an error message stating that Curtis-Home-PC is inaccessible, I assume because of the lack of the user name and password. All computers are running Win 7 Pro Service Pack 1 with all current updates applied. I'm guessing the password issue is the root cause of all my problems. How do I turn off the user name password protection and simply access the share directly? I have the option of connecting the drive to a USB port located on my modem/router combo but I would prefer for the drive to be connected directly to my PC because data transfer speeds are higher using this method. About 40 mps compared to about 20 mps when the drive is connected to the USB found on the modem/router combo. Your assistance would be appreciated.

Barman58 · 18 Feb 2017

If you use the public folders to perform the shares you should not need to enter any password or user. passwords are there to protect the system against malware so should not be disabled

VSCurtis · 18 Feb 2017

The folders exist on my external USB hard drive which is being used as my media library. The computers have antivirus software installed to help protect against viruses and malware. I am a software engineer and I am aware of the issues you mention and I am happy with my solution. Thank you for your assistance.

Barman58 · 18 Feb 2017

Not sure if Windows 7 allows sharing of USB devices, (I recall that there were some restrictions to the sharing ), If it does allow sharing of the USB drive then set the sharing permissions to everyone and also set the NTFS permissions on the folders/ files you wish to share to Everyone also. This will then have the same protection level as the public areas and should be accessible without credentials . Also check that sharing is set correctly in network and Sharing Centre in all devices, it needs to have file and printer sharing and network discovery both enabled - there is also an option to use password protection on/off for Home, Public, or All networks. You may also have to set this to off (for at least private networks), after you change the permissions - you can try this switch without the other changes but seem to recall that it needed the permissions set to work, just working as a final switch

EDIT

Have checked and although there are some restrictions on what USB devices you can share Hard drives should work, (USB Sticks, DVD ETC will not normally)

VSCurtis · 18 Feb 2017

Thanks Mate, the problem is sorted. Have had it sorted for several days now using the basic info that you've provided. Authentication has been turned off and share security settings modified to allow Everyone instead of Authenticated Users. And yes, you can share external USB drives. everything is working like a champ! Thanks for the assist. Cheers!