Password required to access peer computer

In a Windows XP SP2 peer to peer configuration, I am prompted to enter a
password to access other computers in the workgroup unless I have the Guest
Account enabled. Any ideas?

Wardell wrote:

In a Windows XP SP2 peer to peer configuration, I am prompted to enter
a password to access other computers in the workgroup unless I have
the Guest
Account enabled. Any ideas?

This is normal. Either enable the Guest account (which I personally
wouldn't do) or create identical user accounts/passwords on all the
computers in the workgroup. Then users won't get asked for a password
because the computer with the requested resources will authenticate
those people.

Malke
--
MS MVP - Windows Shell/User
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"

I have similiar workgroup set in my office for test purposes and I the guest
account disabled on all computers with different user accounts logged in.
But at a client site it ask for a password. I thought I clicked a setting to
avoid that in my office but can not find it again.

"Malke" wrote:

Wardell wrote:

In a Windows XP SP2 peer to peer configuration, I am prompted to enter
a password to access other computers in the workgroup unless I have
the Guest
Account enabled. Any ideas?

This is normal. Either enable the Guest account (which I personally
wouldn't do) or create identical user accounts/passwords on all the
computers in the workgroup. Then users won't get asked for a password
because the computer with the requested resources will authenticate
those people.

Malke
--
MS MVP - Windows Shell/User
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"

Wardell wrote:

I have similiar workgroup set in my office for test purposes and I the
guest account disabled on all computers with different user accounts
logged in.
But at a client site it ask for a password. I thought I clicked a
setting to avoid that in my office but can not find it again.

But you haven't told us what you mean by "a client site" or how that
network is set up (domain? workgroup?), or even whether you have XP Pro
or Home Edition. So I don't see how we can tell you why you have to
enter a password at "a client site".

Malke
--
MS MVP - Windows Shell/User
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"

In article ,
"Wardell" wrote:
In a Windows XP SP2 peer to peer configuration, I am prompted to enter a
password to access other computers in the workgroup unless I have the Guest
Account enabled. Any ideas?

How are you enabling and disabling the Guest account?

Doing it in Control Panel | User Accounts has nothing to do with
networking and accessing other computers. It determines whether
someone can log in as Guest at the local keyboard.

You can enable or disable the Guest account for network access with
the "net user" command:

net user guest /active:yes (enable)
net user guest /active:no (disable)

Is that how you're doing it?

Accessing a Windows XP Home Edition computer over the network requires
that the Guest account is enabled for network access on your computer.
If it's disabled, you get the password prompt that you describe, and
there's no correct response.

By default, accessing a Windows XP Professional computer over the
network works the same. If you've explicitly disabled simple file
sharing on the XP Professional computer, the Guest account isn't used
in network access.
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
for everyone to see. I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions
addressed directly to me in E-mail or news groups.

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com

On Sat, 04 Dec 2004 02:15:00 -0700, "Steve Winograd [MVP]"
wrote:

SNIP

By default, accessing a Windows XP Professional computer over the
network works the same. If you've explicitly disabled simple file
sharing on the XP Professional computer, the Guest account isn't used
in network access.

Steve,

My impression from reading the Microsoft document
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=87c0a6db-aef8-4bef-925e-7ac9be791028&DisplayLang=en
is that Advanced File Sharing, with the Classic Sharing and security model,
emulates the Win2K network sharing model. Win2K uses validated credentials
(preferred) or Guest credentials (if Guest is activated, and permitted).

The document gives so many options, it's like buying an American car, so I can't
say for sure that you're getting one with an engine or not. But that's my
impression anyway. ;-]

--
Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.

In article , Chuck
wrote:
On Sat, 04 Dec 2004 02:15:00 -0700, "Steve Winograd [MVP]"
wrote:

SNIP

By default, accessing a Windows XP Professional computer over the
network works the same. If you've explicitly disabled simple file
sharing on the XP Professional computer, the Guest account isn't used
in network access.

Steve,

My impression from reading the Microsoft document
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=87c0a6db-aef8-4bef-925e-7ac9be791028&DisplayLang=en
is that Advanced File Sharing, with the Classic Sharing and security model,
emulates the Win2K network sharing model. Win2K uses validated credentials
(preferred) or Guest credentials (if Guest is activated, and permitted).

The document gives so many options, it's like buying an American car, so I can't
say for sure that you're getting one with an engine or not. But that's my
impression anyway. ;-]

Chuck,

That's a great networking document from Microsoft -- one of the few
that I've seen that gets everything right. Thanks for pointing it out.
I've put a link to it on my web site.

I think that you and I agree about how things work. I didn't mean to
say that the Guest account isn't used at all in XP Pro with simple
file sharing disabled. Let me rephrase my last sentence from above:

If you've explicitly disabled simple file sharing on the XP
Professional computer, the Guest account isn't used to validate all
network access. The actual credentials of the user who requests
access are used.

Now, do we agree?
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
for everyone to see. I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions
addressed directly to me in E-mail or news groups.

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com

On Sat, 04 Dec 2004 13:51:17 -0700, "Steve Winograd [MVP]"
wrote:


SNIP

Chuck,

That's a great networking document from Microsoft -- one of the few
that I've seen that gets everything right. Thanks for pointing it out.
I've put a link to it on my web site.

I think that you and I agree about how things work. I didn't mean to
say that the Guest account isn't used at all in XP Pro with simple
file sharing disabled. Let me rephrase my last sentence from above:

If you've explicitly disabled simple file sharing on the XP
Professional computer, the Guest account isn't used to validate all
network access. The actual credentials of the user who requests
access are used.

Now, do we agree?

We're in agreement.

I'm a little unsure what help the OP really needs though - he's only posted
twice and Malke sounds a bit frustrated. ;-)

--
Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.

Chuck wrote:

On Sat, 04 Dec 2004 13:51:17 -0700, "Steve Winograd [MVP]"
wrote:


SNIP

Chuck,

That's a great networking document from Microsoft -- one of the few
that I've seen that gets everything right. Thanks for pointing it out.
I've put a link to it on my web site.

I think that you and I agree about how things work. I didn't mean to
say that the Guest account isn't used at all in XP Pro with simple
file sharing disabled. Let me rephrase my last sentence from above:

If you've explicitly disabled simple file sharing on the XP
Professional computer, the Guest account isn't used to validate all
network access. The actual credentials of the user who requests
access are used.

Now, do we agree?

We're in agreement.

I'm a little unsure what help the OP really needs though - he's only
posted
twice and Malke sounds a bit frustrated. ;-)


I do? I don't see the posts where I answered the OP, but then my news
server seems to have been cleaned out very recently. I hope I wasn't
too cross with the guy. Maybe I hadn't had enough coffee. Or maybe I
wanted to hit him with a cluestick but was trying to be polite. Anyway,
thanks for the great information and links to the white paper, guys.

Best regards,

Malke
--
MS MVP - Windows Shell/User
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"