How to Turn "Password Protected Sharing" On or Off in Windows 8

   Information

This tutorial will show you how to turn "password protected sharing" on or off in Windows 8.

When password protected sharing is on, people locally or on the network must sign into a user account with a password on your Windows 8 PC to be able to access shared files and printers and Public folders on your PC.

When password protected sharing is off, people on the network will be able to access shared files and printers and Public folders on your Windows 8 PC without having to sign in to your PC, and local user accounts on your computer will not require having a password.

You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to do the steps in this tutorial.

   Note

If you have a home (private) network and a PC that’s a member of a domain (for example, if you bring home a work laptop), you can access items that are on your home PCs using your work laptop, but not the other way around. Make sure the user accounts on the home PC have passwords. To access items using your work laptop, you might need to enter the user name as home PC name\user name and then provide the password.

   Warning

Password protected sharing will have no affect on computers in a homegroup.

EXAMPLE: "Password Protected Sharing" Turn On
NOTE: This is an example of what a user on your network will see when they try to access a share on your computer from the Network folder. They will be presented with a sign in dialog to sign in to a user account on your computer.

Here's How:

1. Do step 2 or 3 below for how you would like to open the Network and Sharing Center.

2. On the desktop, right click on the Network system icon in the taskbar notification area, click/tap on Open Network and Sharing Center, and go to step 4 below. (see screenshot below)

OR

3. Open the Control Panel (icons view), click/tap on the Network and Sharing Center icon, and go to step 4 below.

4. In the left pane of Network and Sharing Center, click/tap on the Change advanced sharing settings link. (see screenshot below)

5. Click/tap on the button to the right of the All Networks profile to expand it, then do step 6 or 7 below. (see screenshot below)

6. To Turn On "Password Protected Sharing" in Windows 8

A) Click/tap on (dot) Turn on password protected sharing, and go to step 8 below. (see screenshot below step 5)

7. To Turn Off "Password Protected Sharing" in Windows 8
NOTE: This is the default setting.

A) Click/tap on (dot) Turn off password protected sharing, and go to step 8 below. (see screenshot below step 5)

8. Click/tap on Save changes. (see screenshot below step 5)

9. If prompted by UAC, then click/tap on Yes.

10. You can now close the Network and Sharing Center window if you like. (see screenshot below step 4)






That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

• How to Set Network Location to be Public or Private in Windows 8
• How to Turn Network Discovery On or Off in Windows 8
• How to Turn "File and Printer Sharing" On or Off for Networks in Windows 8
• How to Turn "Public Folder Sharing" On or Off for Networks in Windows 8
• How to Change the File Sharing Connections Encryption Settings in Windows 8
• How to "Share with" and "Stop Sharing" Files and Folders on a Network or Shared PC in Windows 8