Why are credentials not accepted via dialog?

[mmo]

One thing about Windows Networking that annoys me without end and since years (i.e. since XP via Vista and now Win7) is, that whenever I try to access a share on one of my other systems and I am prompted to enter my credentials then this never works. I always have to fire up a command line and issue "net use <pwd> /user:<domain>\<user>" and then I need to click the shortcut to that share again.

If I enter the very same info, namely <domain>\<user> and <pwd> directly into the "Enter Network Password" dialog that pops up, when I click my local shortcut to that share, this NEVER works.

Why is that so? What can one possibly do, to make that dialog accept the (domain\)uid and pwd directly?

Michael

 

[ultraplanet]

I don't have an answer why it doesn't work but... If you put your user account on the other machine and give it permissions to the share you wont have to enter anything at all.

 

[mmo]

Not true! I *have* the same account (I guess you mean username) on both machines and both accounts use the same password, but that's obviously not sufficient to obtain automatic access.

As I said, on systemA, the only way to obtain access to a share on systemB is to issue a

net use <commonpwd> /user:<systemB>\mmo
​

to obtain access.

In a dialog that pops up when clicking a link pointing e.g. to

\\systemB\somesharename
​

I can enter whatever I want, like:

uid: mmo
pwd: <commonpwd>
​

or

uid: systemB\mmo
pwd: <commonpwd>
​

or

uid: systemA\mmo
pwd: <commonpwd>
​

but NONE of these will be accepted!

Michael

 

[kegobeer]

I've never had problems sharing when a workgroup is properly configured. First - in XP, have you disabled simple file sharing? Second - how have you configured your workgroup? Third - do you have any firewall apps running?

 

[SandersOnSite]

I also have this same problem and I haven't yet tested a solution I just found on another network.....

But I figured I would post it here "just in case" it works (since if it works I probably wont get a chance to come back here and let you know.....)

I read somewhere that by mapping it while elevated will make it work even if the account your using to map the share is already an administrator....

Not sure if this will work but I am going to give it a go later and see.


Oh and just to confirm for anyone else reading this.....
1. Previously mapping this share worked fine.
2. The same account exists on both machines
3. I have reset the password on both machines so they definitely match.
4. Other PCs can access this share (ie my Vista laptop has no issues) using the same username.


I have had this problem before and the only way I have found to "fix" it was to delete the account on the machine that was having the problem and make a new account of the same name with the same password.

I wish to avoid that again if at all possible as I ended up with "left overs" from the old account that wouldn't delete properly so my "user folder" had
JoeBloggs
joebloggs.000

etc etc afterward and moving all the documents and music between the accounts was tedious, painful and time consuming.

 

[mmo]

... First - in XP, have you disabled simple file sharing?...

I'm not on XP but Win 7 (would I else post in this forum?).

Second - how have you configured your workgroup?

I haven't configured much. When installing and naming my two computers I accepted the default workgroup name "WORKGROUP" for both, that's it.

Third - do you have any firewall apps running?

Yes, Windows 7 built-in firewall.

M.

 

[kegobeer]

If both computers have the same user id/password, both are part of the same workgroup, and both are configured to be part of the "home" network, then you should never be prompted to provide any login information when you access a share. Can you explain what shares you've set up and what permissions you've given them?

 

[mmo]

If both computers have the same user id/password, both are part of the same workgroup, and both are configured to be part of the "home" network, then you should never be prompted to provide any login information when you access a share. ...

(Sigh...) Yes, I read that "theory" elsewhere, too, but in fact - even though *all* the listed conditions are met - that's not the case here!

... Can you explain what shares you've set up and what permissions you've given them?

I have defined several shares to misc. directories, one to C (i.e. the drive's root), another to a folder C:\Download (where I keep all kind of stuff that I downloaded from the net) and another one to C:\Users\mmo (i.e. my home directory).

Share-permissions on all these are set to grant user mmo (i.e. myself) all permissions (i.e. Full, Change and Read).

M.

 

[kegobeer]

I have two Windows 7 Ultimate machines. One is x64 and the other is x86. I went to the x86 machine and created another user, kegobeer, and gave it the same password I have on my x64 machine. Then, I went to the D drive and did advanced sharing on a folder that already existed. I removed the everyone group and added the user kegobeer, giving him full access. I went to my x64 machine, navigated to the x86 machine though the network, saw the share, and had immediate access. I did this again, this time with a folder on the C drive, and immediately had success. Next, I created a limited user account on my x64 machine that matched my son's account on the x86 machine, shared a folder on the x64 D drive, and immediately had access from the x86 machine.

I have no idea why you are having such difficulties. The only time I've ever had a user/password required was when the user/password didn't match. Maybe you could change the workgroup name to something more unique.

 

[ultraplanet]

Is there any chance that the user account on one of the machines was renamed? It is possible (depending how it was done) that renaming an account only changes the display name and not the actual account name. If this is the case you may not actually be using the same account on both machines.

 

[towncobbler]

I think ultraplanet may be on the right track. If you log into both machines and open a command window type in 'SET' [enter], it will show you the actual name of the current user account. When dealing with laptop user's in our organization with permissions issues in a workgroup configuration, I'll use the 'SET' command to verify the credentials before I explore further. In most cases, 'username' will match the one you see at a Windows Login, but if the user account has ever been renamed, Windows will reflect the new name, but all the permissions will remain associated with the original username no matter how many times the account is renamed. The only way I know of to reveal the username that Windows security associates permissions with, is by using 'SET' in a command window.

 

[SandersOnSite]

I went to my x64 machine, navigated to the x86 machine though the network, saw the share, and had immediate access. I did this again, this time with a folder on the C drive, and immediately had success.

I think the issue here is a bug rather than a fault in the setup.

For my own setup - I had it all humming away nicely for quite a few months - used it in the morning to access a movie on the share (Movie is stored on a desktop PC - wanted to watch it in bed on my laptop)......went to work......came home and was prompted for a password when I went to finish watching the same movie.

No passwords or accounts had changed - nor had the share changed.

I went to the other computer and checked the user account - its still there, still got the same username it did before. I reset the password just to make sure and did the same on the PC I was trying to watch the movie on.....I also checked to make sure the account wasn't locked out or anything so simple. It all "looks" like it should work fine.

It just doesn't

This is not the first time this has happened to me either. Last time I had to go through the motions of deleting the user account on the laptop and then creating the account again before it would work - this time I am being stubborn and trying to figure out why its happening rather than just dumping the account and starting again.

 

[kegobeer]

I wonder if disabling the guest account and also choosing "user user accounts and passwords to connect to other computers" in the advanced sharing options will make a difference.

 

[SandersOnSite]

Found my fix....

Ok - well I have found the issue on my own setup. I am not sure which particular step fixed my own problem as I kinda did it all at once and don't have the patience to go back through and change them back 1 by 1 to see which fixed it.


1. Change the time/date on one machine to match as close as you can get it to the time on the other.

2. Remove the password on the account for the machine on which the share is stored on.

3. Reboot.

4. Set the password on the machine again to match the original password.

5. Map the share using ip address rather than machine name.

Personally I have a sneaky suspicion that it was the time / date thing but as I said I can't be bothered to put it all back the way it was.

 

[ultraplanet]

5. Map the share using ip address rather than machine name.

I've also found if you are having problems mapping by machine name in a workgroup environment using a standard kind of home router it is helpful to "Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP" on the WINS tab under advanced TCP/IP settings. This is not the Default setting. Needs to be done on all the machines in the workgroup.