I've noticed this in the past week or so. Up until then, my HomeGroup has been working fine. I have 2 Windows 7 PC's connected via HomeGroup, one running Ultimate x64, the other running Home Premium x64. The Home Premium computer is now asked for a "Network Password" when accessing the Ultimate computer's shared folders/libraries. This was not an issue prior to last week. Up until a week ago, I could simply click on my HomeGroup from the Home Premium computer, then click the Ultimate computer name as it appears within the HomeGroup, and finally click one of the shared folders/libraries and it would open the folder/library. Settings are, Advanced Network and Sharing Options are all set to default on both including Let Windows Manage HomeGroup Connections. Network location is set to home on each. HomeGroup password is the same on each. Credential Manager shows [Computer Name]\HomeGroupUser$, correct password, and the persistence is Local Machine on each. Both computers are connected wirelessly using 802.11g via a Linksys WRT400N router, each using a dynamic (DHCP) IP address. Consequently, I can access the Home Premium's shared folders/libraries from the Ultimate computer using HomeGroup without being prompted for a "Network Password". I can access the internet from each computer without any issues. I have tried leaving the HomeGroup on each computer, recreated the HomeGroup on each, deleted the IDStore.sst files on each, all to no avail. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks in advance. ZZaR

Amazing - I fought this all day and tried numerous suggestions. I wanted to rename the computer anyway, and when I renamed and restarted, it fixed the password problem and also another I had with windows 10. I had restarted several times before the rename and nothing had fixed either problem until the rename. Thank you for sharing!

Yes I am stupid, and didn't think to try what you suggest. Your fix is not a fix for those that fall into this issue set. It is a bug related to how password are created and stored across multiple machines. That is what the changing the machine name or toggling the settings appears to work. It does until the next time the keys are refreshed. The issue is that the all machines use the same algorithm to generate the password and it is generated based on machine names - this is why changing the name of the machine by 1 char (as suggested) does work, though only for a few weeks. If one doesn't need any on-network security then turning off all password requirements for home group / windows is a viable solution. In my network this isn't an option. Even rebuilding doesn't gurantee success, the issue can come back. Bottom line, homegroup is broken when using secuity,

yes this worked for me, for about a month

Yes this worked for me, for about a month.

HomeGroup asking for "Network Password" when accessing HomeGroup Computers

Anonymous

I've noticed this in the past week or so. Up until then, my HomeGroup has been working fine.

I have 2 Windows 7 PC's connected via HomeGroup, one running Ultimate x64, the other running Home Premium x64. The Home Premium computer is now asked for a "Network Password" when accessing the Ultimate computer's shared folders/libraries. This was not an issue prior to last week. Up until a week ago, I could simply click on my HomeGroup from the Home Premium computer, then click the Ultimate computer name as it appears within the HomeGroup, and finally click one of the shared folders/libraries and it would open the folder/library.

Settings are,

Advanced Network and Sharing Options are all set to default on both including Let Windows Manage HomeGroup Connections.
Network location is set to home on each.
HomeGroup password is the same on each.
Credential Manager shows [Computer Name]\HomeGroupUser$, correct password, and the persistence is Local Machine on each.
Both computers are connected wirelessly using 802.11g via a Linksys WRT400N router, each using a dynamic (DHCP) IP address.

Consequently, I can access the Home Premium's shared folders/libraries from the Ultimate computer using HomeGroup without being prompted for a "Network Password". I can access the internet from each computer without any issues.

I have tried leaving the HomeGroup on each computer, recreated the HomeGroup on each, deleted the IDStore.sst files on each, all to no avail. Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

ZZaR

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Answer accepted by question author

Anonymous

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

ZZaR

Well, I seem to have possibly stumbled upon something that may have resolved my issue, at least for the time being. This morning, I renamed my Home Premium computer's full name by removing 1 character from the existing name. Of course, I was prompted to reboot for the changes to take effect. I rebooted and then on the next subsequent logon, I renamed my Home Premium computer's full name back to what it was originally. Again, I was prompted to reboot for the changes to take effect. After rebooting, I clicked on my HomeGroup and from there I clicked on my Ultimate computer that appears within my HomeGroup. To my surprise, the shared library icons were restored to their default appearance; documents, music, pictures, and video. I clicked on each of the four libraries and each opened with full access (default read only) to the contents of each library. I was not prompted for a "Network Password" this time!

If renaming the full computer name of my Home Premium computer twice, once to a new name and then back to the original name did somehow correct the issue, would this mean that the share using the full computer name had somehow become corrupt in the preceding week? Could this be the reason for the "Network Password" prompt? At any rate, my HomeGroup is once again functioning correctly between both my Ultimate and Home Premium computers. Knock on wood.

ZZaR

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Anonymous

2016-01-16T04:16:24+00:00

Amazing - I fought this all day and tried numerous suggestions. I wanted to rename the computer anyway, and when I renamed and restarted, it fixed the password problem and also another I had with windows 10. I had restarted several times before the rename and nothing had fixed either problem until the rename. Thank you for sharing!
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Anonymous

2015-02-23T14:53:39+00:00

Yes I am stupid, and didn't think to try what you suggest.

Your fix is not a fix for those that fall into this issue set. It is a bug related to how password are created and stored across multiple machines. That is what the changing the machine name or toggling the settings appears to work. It does until the next time the keys are refreshed.

The issue is that the all machines use the same algorithm to generate the password and it is generated based on machine names - this is why changing the name of the machine by 1 char (as suggested) does work, though only for a few weeks.

If one doesn't need any on-network security then turning off all password requirements for home group / windows is a viable solution. In my network this isn't an option.

Even rebuilding doesn't gurantee success, the issue can come back. Bottom line, homegroup is broken when using secuity,
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Anonymous

2015-02-23T14:47:49+00:00

yes this worked for me, for about a month
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Anonymous

2015-02-23T14:47:25+00:00

Yes this worked for me, for about a month.
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