Vista - Vista requires password to access shared folder on XP machine.

Title says it all. Vista prompts for username/password to access a shared folder on an XP machine on my network. What do I have to do to fix this now? UPnP service and SSDP service is set to auto on the XP box. The folder is shared publicly on the network, not just local. Vista seems to think that it needs authentication to access the file. How could I disable this. Oh, and password protection is already disabled.

you have just answered your own question, you have shared the files publicly, which means that vista is reading the files as public files and deem them a security threat. Changing your connection to a private network on the vista rig should fix the problem.

ok, i'm among those that believe that vista sucks in comparison to XP, but my mother, and consequently the owner of the vista machine insists on having the most "up-to-date" OS...so, in short, can you please (w/sugar on top) walk me through doing that because trying to navigate through vista's control panel tends to give me a migraine.

Go to User Accounts in the Control Panel, select your account and click on Manage Network Passwords, click add and enter a users account login details for the remote machine.

In the Form

Log on to: RemoteMachinename
Username: Remotemachinename\User
Password: thatuserspassword

Hearsepilot,

Thanks for your tip. It fixed my problem of Vista always doing a login challange when accessing the shared folder on my WinXP Pro PC. The login challange did not make any sense since it required the login name of my WinXP PC but the password for my Vista PC. (The WinXP PC is not password protected in any way.)

Good Stuff!

Skyzoomer

Blimey i thuoght this thread died eons ago, glad it was useful to you

Idealy you'd want logon security on your XP machine as its another avenue into your Vista machine.

I spoke too soon. I shutdown for the night. This morning Vista's doing the logon challange again. sniff.