Enter Network Password

[s660117]

Hi,
I currently have two pcs running Windows 7 Home Premium at Service Pack 1. The two pcs - one a laptop and the other a desktop - are connected through a Netgear router. From the desktop, I can access the laptop from the desktop directly, without a prompt for user id and password, but when I try to access the desktop from the laptop I am prompted for a network user id and password and have no idea what to enter.
Because I just recently had a Vista pc in the mix, I am using workgroup rather than homegroup. The workgroup on both pcs is set equal to WORKGROUP.
I have turned on Network Discovery, File and Printer Sharing, Public Folder Sharing, and 128 bit encryption. Password Protected Sharing is turned off.
I have deleted all credentials from both machines, so Windows Credentials, Certificate-Based Credentials, and Generic Credentials are set to No Windows credentials, No certificates, and No generic credentials respectively.
The guest user is defined on the desktop without a password, but is not defined on the laptop.
I realize that this problem has been addressed before, but none of the suggested fixes work in my case.
I should mention that until last night I was able to access the desktop from the laptop without being prompted for user id and password.
s660117

 

[s660117]

Actually, I found that entering any string as userid and password gets you past the prompt and allows you to access shared drives on the desktop. Once entered, the prompt disappears for the duration of the current boot, re-appearing only when the laptop is restarted.
s660117