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

What is a "Network Password"

In this context, the Network Password is your windows sign-in and password.  

Let's call the computer you are on C1 and the computer you are trying to access C2.

The username and password you are to use, the credentials, are the ones on the one you are trying to access, not the one you are currently using.  So if your window's account on C2 is Bubba and your password on C2 is GetErDone, from C1 you enter that information into the pop-up box to access C2.  If C2 doesn't have a password, just enter the account's username. It's also good, if you are on private computers, to save the information to avoid having to enter it again.

And FYI, the sign-in is not the same as the computer's name, unless you set them both the same.

The biggest problem I seem to find is that there are too many things with similar names, and Microsoft doesn't seem to make it easy to understand which is which, without a lot of research.

The method used was this: "\

"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 ! !"

Yes!!! That worked, and I would NEVER have figured that out.  Thanks.  I would add that you must reboot after making the change.  I tried probably a dozen different things, over a period of several months. Nothing worked.

Thanks again!

Oh yes oh yes, I agree with both of you really. I have been around in computing since the days we used dos commands and I had a C64 (God that used to just come on every time without fail) and an Amiga too. But now we have all this advanced computing but some of the more profoundly frustrating things are all still there in most all computers I have used. One is the simple act of trying to use a printer! After all these years it is still a real *#$&()_# problem.

Since about 15 years now I have been trying to connect some of my computers together in order to transfer and copy files and folders between them. Damn, it is still just as frustrating as when I began to try it. Microsoft is so damn concerned with security that it makes no simple way for me to have a simple network where I am the ONLY user on it where i need to have really no security at all. It has not gotten any better with newer versions of windows. I do have some computers running linux but windows is real nasty toward any other os other than windows. Linux is not much better about being able to make it simple either. The systems all seem to think we are all corporations with hundreds of users on the system and we are all involved in trying to keep some type of top secret information from getting into the hands of the enemy which will lead to the destruction of the world the next day.

This password issue has irritated me no end. ( I wish I could use some of the words here to describe how I really feel but I want this to be read by someone) I have tried most all the remedies listed in this very long post but I still find myself unable to access one or more of my computers over my own network from one of my own computers. A couple of years ago when I got a new (used ) computer laptop, it had win 7 on it and it seemed to find my network and my internet and ask for the password for my connection in minutes. I was impressed. That seems to have been some kind of fluke I guess but it is true most of the time now where I am on another win7 laptop and am looking to go on line at a wifi hotspot or a friends house through his network. BUT this idea of connecting to another computer to transfer files continues to frustrate me.

Why does microsoft not solve this for us lowly users who do not have degrees in software science and the time to attend years of microsoft classes at great expense? I know that MS is openly uncooperative with other operating systems but give us little guys a break and work harder on trying to solve the network access between friendly computers and the printing problems which have plagued us for years.

I have had the same question about that password for years now. The one that comes up asking for a password and telling me I do not have permission to access the file or disk etc. Especially irritating when it tells me to see the system administrator and I am that person....

If it were up to me, I would only have a real strong password to get access to my network and keep some sort of heavy duty wall up on my router etc and let my computers talk to each other with no restrictions. Why is this not the case with Windows Home Edition where it would make real sense. Then give us a way to keep others out which really worked. That is like trying to find a cigarette filter which was 100% effective.