After some help getting LAN working

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ADKM

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#165949 25-Feb-2015 16:35

I just installed a laptop (win 8.1) and been through the setup procedures. All is pretty good, internet OK on wifi and the laptop can see/access all machines on the LAN (mix of win7 and XP)

The XP machines are OK, but while win7 can see the laptop it wants a user/password. I'm using what I think is correct, but it's not being accepted.
For XP the "username" was the computer name, but that doesn't work for win7.

Any help appreciated, thanks

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#1246590 25-Feb-2015 17:50

Try the target machinename\username as the username, eg LAPTOP\Administrator

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ADKM

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#1246602 25-Feb-2015 18:08

Thanks for suggestion... it did think about that a fraction longer, then unknown user name or bad password

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#1246621 25-Feb-2015 18:28

i struggled with this with my win8.1 and win 7 laptop and pc at home

i resorted to setting a home group and doing it that way

notesgnome

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#1246622 25-Feb-2015 18:34

Don't forget that whichever account you are connecting to on the XP machine it MUST have a password associated with it.

Lias

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#1246683 25-Feb-2015 20:51

Another quick and dirty thing to try is creating a user on both machines with the same username/password

ADKM

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#1246684 25-Feb-2015 21:05

I'm not sure just what to do and it certainly shouldn't be this complex! What notesgnome said isn't how it is here... nothing
has passwords (except this new laptop). The XP machine, without any, is the only working properly. I'm a bit reluctant
to do much in case I make it worse. I can't get to the laptop from Win 7 directly, but I can get to xp, and that can access laptop.
Maybe that'll just have to do.

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linw

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#1246699 25-Feb-2015 21:23

Go here for an explanation http://pressf1.pcworld.co.nz/showthread.php?138429-Confused-over-network-technology-wi-fi-and-homegroup&highlight=share

Check out post #7

All works fine with no password prompts if you do it right!

ADKM

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#1246714 25-Feb-2015 22:00

Thanks linw

Read that with interest, but it seems to apply to a specific folder. I haven't shared any folders(on the laptop).

On the XP Machine I goto Entire Network-Microsoft Windows Network-Workgroup-Laptop

There's 3 folders showing, 'Default', one with my name, and 'Public'. I can move stuff in and out of these.

When I first tried this a Username/password dialog box appeared, but Username had some dropdown options and the first
one (computer name, I think) worked, as did the password.

With Win7 there's no dropdown list and every name tried so far fails. The password must be the same so whatever else it
wants seems the problem. I'd expect if getting past that, I'd see the same 3 folders as XP.

The Win7 & XP machines are sharing folders OK, just as they were before the Laptop came along.

PS. Just tried again to Explore from Win7 (path is Network-Laptop) and this time no password asked for, just "You do not have permission to access \\LAPTOP..." AFAIK nothing's changed, unless I failed too many times.

But Laptop can still access Win7...

Maybe I'll have a beer and forget about it!

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#1246742 25-Feb-2015 22:42

I think you'll find that default is c drive admin share, users is shared and public is a subdirectory of users.

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#1246820 26-Feb-2015 09:10

You can share the root directory but it is not recommended. I've just shared my win 10 C:\ with no problems, apart from several files and folders being non-shareable.

Just get used to how it needs to be done and you will never have sharing problems ever again!

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#1246888 26-Feb-2015 10:20

You are file sharing between multiple machines and none of them have passwords on users accounts.

Good Lord.

As has been said a homegroup is probably your quickest easiest option but won't help with XP machines.

Sharing the root of drives is pretty much a horrific idea - but then again so is file sharing with no security.

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#1246991 26-Feb-2015 12:17

wasabi2k: You are file sharing between multiple machines and none of them have passwords on users accounts.

Good Lord.

hmmn
Why.
Often it simply doesnt matter, in real life, on 2 or 3 PC networks .

Win sharing, pc to pc, has been a buggy mess since Vista
You gotta do what you gotta do to make things work.
Just to get things to work, sometimes you need to setup with no share password & allowing 'everyone' full access on that share anyway, so makes no real diff if user a/c's are pass protected in that case.

ADKM

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#1247002 26-Feb-2015 12:25

Yes, I don't get the concern either. Been working fine for years. Passwords would drive me mad! (Almost as mad as getting Win7 seeing the laptop!)

wasabi2k

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#1247016 26-Feb-2015 12:43

File sharing hasn't been "broken" since Vista - it has just been stricter on permissions and how it works. If you don't take the time to understand how to do it properly then I'm sure it does seem broken.

Why should you use passwords? Good practice. If you ever take a machine somewhere else (to a friends/a lan etc) wide open shares are a disaster waiting to happen. If your machine ever gets stolen - there is all your stuff. Bonus points if you share the root of your c: - as all of your my docs, pictures, etc are all there for anyone who plugs in to your network.

Someone jumps on your wifi? Oh look - all your stuff.

Get malware/a virus? They spread really well on networks with open writeable shares.

Assigning Everyone full access to get file sharing working is equally mad.

But hey - if it works for you that's great. I was merely expressing my surprise.

Edit: before anyone says passwords are easily breakable - sure in XP they were. But having a password is a hell of a lot better than not having one.

ADKM

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#1247042 26-Feb-2015 13:11

There's a password on the wifi. "Everyone" is just me and my wife. Who else would know - or care ? And we've never had a problem in I forget-how-many years,
If disaster were to happen I can always format everything and start again.

> If you don't take the time to understand how to do it properly then I'm sure it does seem broken.

Maybe a fair point, but this "understanding" is not easily found or obtained.

I have a bookfull of passwords, every man and his dog wants one, they're the bane of modern existence! Let's have something else... picture/thumbprint ID... anything else.
It's got so bad now anything online asking for one, I click the Close button.

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