Windows 7 ask's "enter network password" when accessing Window XP Machine

Anonymous
2010-02-18T08:18:39+00:00

Hi All,

I have two PC's one with Windows XP Pro & the other with Windows 7 Pro. I have set up a network & it seems to be working but when i try to access my XP Machine from Windows 7 in ask me to Enter Network Password. I have tried to enter my login password & that did not work, i tried to turn off the password from teh xp machine and it still asks. What can i do to fix this problem. From my xp machine i can access the windows 7 pc fine so i dont understand why W7 is asking for this network password.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Internet and connectivity

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2010-02-22T08:14:27+00:00

Did some searches on the net and below is what i did to solve the problem that was occuring

Permitting Network Access Without a Password

To allow users to log onto their computers without a password and then access the XP Professional machine without a password, you must make a security policy change:

  1. Go to Control Panel | Performance and Maintenance | Administrative Tools | Local Security Policy.
  2. Expand Local Policies | Security Options.
  3. Double-click Accounts: Limit local account use of blank passwords to console login only, which is enabled by default. Disable this option and click OK.

this stopped the network access dialog box appearing when tryin to access my xp machine from windows 7 ! !

Was this answer helpful?

200+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments

123 additional answers

Sort by: Oldest
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2012-01-07T13:37:55+00:00

    In Windows 7 machine that cannot detect XP machines:

    1. Right click computer and select Properties.
    2. On left pane select Advance System Settings.
    3. On System Properties windows that appeared select Computer Name Tab.

    4.Change the Workgroup by clicking the Change.

    1. In Workgroup textbox type your desired Workgroup Name that will be commonly used by all of your Win7 and XP machines. (with no spaces)
    2. Click Ok and let the computer restart.
    3. Be sure that of your target computers use the same workgroup name exactly for them to be detectable vice versa.

    By this your machines now are detectable. Usually only the Windows 7 machines are inaccessible from either XP or the same Windows 7 machines. XP machines are quite not a problem for access from Win7 machines.

    1.The easiest cure to this is to put a password to the inaccessible win7 machine.

    1. Then after putting password restart the machine and try to access it again providing now the password and the user account where the password is binded.
    2. Upon the installation of Win7 OS, the default user name is:     user          , so you may also try the user as username and the password in case the username you provided is denied.

    You will only be asked for password just once and you can then be able to access the machines until the next network session. if what you want is to permanently disable password policies then you may follow the previous posts of others above specially regarding local security policies

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2012-01-30T11:28:09+00:00

    I faced a similar issue today while connecting two laptops with windows 7, read your answer but somehow it didnt work for me..   After that  I tried the following :-

    "CONTROL PANEL> NETWORK AND SHARING CENTRE>HOMEGROUP > CHANGE ADVANCED SHARING SETTINGS >TURN OFF PASSWORD PROTECTED SHARING"

    This eventually solved my problem..

    P.S:- KINDLY NOTE THAT THIS SETTING HAS TO BE APPLIED ON BOTH THE LAPTOPS BEING CONNECTED.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2012-02-10T13:02:53+00:00

    In Control_Panel->Administration_Tools->Local_Security_Setting->Local_Policies->Security_Options there is a parameter "Network access: Sharing and security model for local accounts" with two options. Make sure it is set to "Classic:  local users authenticate as themselves."

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2012-02-15T23:00:48+00:00

    I am the designated IT dummy at work.  We use an XP machine for a server and have a mixture of Windows 7 and Windows XP machines in the office.  I came in this morning and all of the Windows 7 machines were asking for a password to access the server.  The XP machines were fine.  I tried everything on this thread and elsewhere trying to fix the problem.  I could ping the server but could not access it through network discovery.  I was able to map drives using an IP address for the server on the Windows 7 machines and while it did not fix the problem it did provide a work around for it.  All Windows 7 machines are working fine now using mapped drives with the server IP as an address.

    For example

    \192.168.0.75\c is the entry I used for the mapped drive.  Server address and then "c" being the shared folder.  No password was required.

    For those of you that have tried everything and had no luck I hope this helps.  There is still a problem Microsoft needs to fix regarding access without a password through network discovery.  Sometimes a work around is as good as a fix.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments