Vista - Login prompt despite no password protect?

Hey. Got a question here: If Password protected sharing is off in Networking and Sharing Center in Vista...




...why am I still getting a login prompt on my WinXP computer?





My network map:
The dashed line is a wireless connection; the solid line is a wired connection. "Nnet" is the wireless router. The switch is the hub which is a part of the wireless router. Michael-PC is Vista, and mdoccomputer is WinXP.

looking at this it seems it must be a bug, just tryed doing the same myself but had no joy when it come to the xp machine. vista could access it no problem tho.

however, one way round it that i can think of is to make an account on the vista PC with the exact same username and password that it has on the xp box, you can also hide this account by adding it to the deny login locally in administrative tools > local security policy. this way the xp machine will login automaticly on that account.

hope this is of some help
Philly

You must mean this one:




But this is not it, based on its descriptive name.

I think it's more my misunderstanding to the term "password protected sharing" and missed the keyword: sharing, not account login. The login prompt shown above is the account login prompt at WinXP computer to the Vista computer. Once logged in, there will not be another login until WinXP computer is rebooted. To gain access to Vista, you must have an account at the Vista computer, it looks like. It's not making much sense, because you shouldn't need an user account in Vista to logon remotely so you can see shared resources. What's needed, then, is a look at the permissions given to gain that access.

I can gain access using my account or someone else's account.

So, no, it's not a bug in the software. I was just looking for a way to bypss the login prompt, and I think the way to do that is through the permissions. Can't do it now because there is interference blocking Vista.

You should try this:

On your XP Computer:

Open your Windows Explorer and go to Tools->Folder Options
Click the view tab
At the very bottom of the list, make sure "Use Simple File Sharing" is enabled. This should tell XP to assume you are Guest logging into another machine.

I ran into a similar issue where I was trying to network 2 XP machines. XP kept "trying" to login to the other machine as Guest, even though Guest was disabled on both machines. The solution I found was that this checkbox was enabled. Disabling it forces XP to prompt you for a login when making a new connection, so I can only ASSUME that if you disable it you should get the "guest" login you're looking for.

Let me know if it works, thanks!

I'd just like to figure out how to turn off password protect...

Sorry for the late reply. It didn't work out because "use simple file sharing" is already selected.

But it doesn't matter. The way to get around it is to create another user account in XP (for my roommate) and leave off the password (blank). Did the same thing on my primary computer. Viola, no password prompt.

I also spent a little time configuring a WRT54G router as a client bridge, so now the XP computer is in his room and it can asccess my main computer wirelessly. It also has Internet connectivity.

See the first picture in the first post of this thread. See the "Password protected sharing" near the bottom? That's where you set it.

Wow, don't know how I overlooked that. Now if I could only get my drives mapped correctly I'd be good to go.

Type "map drive" in the box in Windows Help and Support and follow directions.

I know how to map a drive, and have done so, the problem is I get an error whenever I try to access it. The drive is a standalone external hard drive connected via USB to a Dell running XP Pro, and I mapped it to my HP laptop running Vista Ultimate x64. I can see it when I open my computer but when I double click it, it gives me an error reading "Windows cannot access the specified device, path,or file. You may not have the appropriate permissions to access the item." It's odd because I discovered I can access the drive by right-clicking it and choosing either 'open' or 'explore'. The problem only exists when mapping drives from the XP to the Vista(s), I can map and access drives from the Vista(s) to the XP just fine.