Solved Can't disable password access to file and printer sharing

I am in the midst of the final steps in setting my my new Win 8 system.

I have a Win XP and Win 8 computer on my home network. I believe that I have set up file and printer sharing correctly. I can access the files and printer on the XP system from the Win 8 system. However, when I attempt to access the Win 8 files from the Win XP system, I get a long delay (about a minute or two) and then it asks me for the User Name & Password. I enter them and then and it works fine.

If I try to print on the printer attached to the Win 8 system from the XP system, I get a printer error unless I have already signed in with the ID & PW when accessing files. It never asks me for an ID & PW before attempting to print.

On the Win 8 system, I have selected "Turn off password protected sharing" in the "Network and Sharing Center/Advanced Sharing Settings".

The Win XP system has previously been correctly sharing files and printers with another XP system for some time and I haven't changed any settings on the XP computer.

Both the XP and Win 8 systems are assigned the same Workgroup name.

Any idea what my problem may be?

Have you tried adjusting the permission settings on the C:>Users folder of the Windows 8 machine?

To subdue the passwords both the Security tab and the Sharing tab of the C:>Users folder may require adjustments in order to gain access from an XP machine.

This is only if you require complete access to the Win8 machines C:>Users folder from the XP machine.

I can give you very precise directions for this if required.

If you only want to share certain files or folders you can use the Public folders on the Windows 8 machine.

Using the Public folders is the safest and easiest option for down level sharing because only objects placed into the Public folders will be available for sharing to the other Workgroup machines.

You just need to enable sharing through the sharing tab of the C:>Users>Public folder on the Windows 8 machine.

I wonder if it has anything to do with the problem here:

http://www.eightforums.com/network-sharing/19707-consistent-temporary-network-error.html

Perhaps it appears unavailable for a while then eventually it works. Which is why after access the computer successfully, you can print.

The delay I have in access shares is the same as the delay in being able to print. I get get error and after a while of trying it goes through.

It's a bloody pain because there's no real problem to be seen.

JohnOfE said:

I wonder if it has anything to do with the problem here:

http://www.eightforums.com/network-sharing/19707-consistent-temporary-network-error.html

Perhaps it appears unavailable for a while then eventually it works. Which is why after access the computer successfully, you can print.

The delay I have in access shares is the same as the delay in being able to print. I get get error and after a while of trying it goes through.

It's a bloody pain because there's no real problem to be seen.

Click to expand...

I don't think that my problem is similar. I don't get an error message - just the need to enter an ID & password.

chev65 said:

Have you tried adjusting the permission settings on the C:>Users folder of the Windows 8 machine?

To subdue the passwords both the Security tab and the Sharing tab of the C:>Users folder may require adjustments in order to gain access from an XP machine.

This is only if you require complete access to the Win8 machines C:>Users folder from the XP machine.

I can give you very precise directions for this if required.

If you only want to share certain files or folders you can use the Public folders on the Windows 8 machine.

Using the Public folders is the safest and easiest option for down level sharing because only objects placed into the Public folders will be available for sharing to the other Workgroup machines.

You just need to enable sharing through the sharing tab of the C:>Users>Public folder on the Windows 8 machine.

Click to expand...

Thank you for your reply chev65,

I believe that there's something odd happening. Let me provide more detail.

On the Win 8 machine...
I have 2 hard drives. The system originally came with Win 8 installed on a traditional 2TB HD. I added an SSD and installed Win 8 on the SSD and boot from this drive. Therefore, I have
Drive C: SSD (with Win 8)
Drive D: a partition on the original HDD where the original Win 8 is installed (but not used)
Drive E: a partition on the original HDD where I store all my files

I really only need to share the printer and Drive E: on the Win 8 machine. (and Drive C: & printer on the XP machine)

I'll post screen captures of the Win 8 Network sharing and permission settings:

As you can see, E: is shared with all permissions granted to Everyone. However, the Security settings are not the same. (Is this the problem?)

Based on your suggestion regarding sharing and permissions on the C:/Users folder, I did some fiddling. C:/Users was set to Share with permissions granted to everyone. I also looked at C:/Users/Public and surprisingly, it was not set to share. I allowed sharing and granted permission to Everyone, then rebooted both the XP and Win 8 computers. Now I can no longer see shared folders from either computer! I then changed C:/Users/Public back to not shared, rebooted but I still can't see the shared files on either computer. On the XP machine, I don't see the Win 8 machine so it never gets a chance to ask for a user ID & PW.

Interestingly, after the first reboot, I clicked "Network" in File Explorer. A green bar very slowly progressed across the address bar before the Win 8 Network appeared under "Network". The XP network never did appear.

No I'm really screwed up. I going backward.

I think I need help!

Lets stick with just the E drive for now. On the Security tab, you will need to click Edit, then Add, then type Everyone into the open box, hit apply OK etc. This should allow access to the entire drive from the XP machine.

Let me know if this works and we can go from there.

On the Public folders, Only files placed into the Public folders will be available from the XP machine. It won't give you access to the Windows 8 machine, just to files placed into the Public folders.

chev65 said:

Lets stick with just the E drive for now. On the Security tab, you will need to click Edit, then Add, then type Everyone into the open box, hit apply OK etc. This should allow access to the entire drive from the XP machine.

Let me know if this works and we can go from there.

On the Public folders, Only files placed into the Public folders will be available from the XP machine. It won't give you access to the Windows 8 machine, just to files placed into the Public folders.

Click to expand...

Thanks again chev65,
I've done as you suggest.

Now I can see the Win 8 E: drive from the XP machine but it still requires a password.

However, I still can't see the XP C: drive from the Win 8 machine. In addition, when I click on the Network folder in File Explorer, I still get the slowly progressing green bar across the address bar.

I'll include a screenshot of the security setting on the E: drive.

I've had a lot of difficulty getting Win 8 installed on the SSD drive and have read many posts in an effort to solve my problems. I vaguely remember one post indicating that having Win 8 installed on 2 drives in the same computer will cause problems. I can find reference to that post now. Could this be part of the problem?

You should be able to access the C drive on the XP machine by applying the same settings to that drive. Although it's safer to set the share up from the C:>Users folder rather than sharing out the entire drive.

I'm not sure about the slow progress bar but I can only fix one problem at a time here.

It's important to point out that ANY type of third party anti virus software will cause you problems with sharing.

Things are spinning out of control.

I adjusted the Security setting for the XP "My Documents folder and rebooted booted both machines.

When the Win 8 machine rebooted, I got the Message "Scanning and repairing Drive D:". It repaired and rebooted, then I got the message "Preparing Automatic repair". To make a long story less long, I got an endless series of those "repair" error message. The end result was that I was unable to boot into either the SSD or the HDD. I have a Restore Drive on a USB drive for the HDD but it failed to restore, repair or fix.

Anyway, luckily I have a Win 8 Pro install disk and I have reinstalled Win 8 on the SSD (with the HDD disconnected).

Before I reinstall everything else, I checked the sharing.
- On the XP machine, I can see and access the Win 8 C:/Users folder without a password.
- On the Win 8 machine, I still can't see the XP machine.

OK now I have a fresh pallete to work with. I looked at the "System Properties" window to ensure that my workgroup name is the same on both computers (they are). I see an interesting item called "To use a wizard to join a domain or workgroup, click Network ID". I don't want to screw up things again so I didn't press it.

Maybe I'm naive but it seems to me that a user shouldn't have to do anything other than "turn on network and printer sharing" when Windows is installed in order for it to work. (I did this). I can accept that I'd have to turn on sharing on a secondary drive because Windows 8 probably only does this for the C:/Users folder.

I'm wondering about another issue too....
My computer has a WiFi card but I'm not using it to connect to the network. I have a wired connection to the router. Could this be causing confusion to Windows?

dsscottage said:

Things are spinning out of control.

I adjusted the Security setting for the XP "My Documents folder and rebooted booted both machines.

When the Win 8 machine rebooted, I got the Message "Scanning and repairing Drive D:". It repaired and rebooted, then I got the message "Preparing Automatic repair". To make a long story less long, I got an endless series of those "repair" error message. The end result was that I was unable to boot into either the SSD or the HDD. I have a Restore Drive on a USB drive for the HDD but it failed to restore, repair or fix.

Anyway, luckily I have a Win 8 Pro install disk and I have reinstalled Win 8 on the SSD (with the HDD disconnected).

Before I reinstall everything else, I checked the sharing.
- On the XP machine, I can see and access the Win 8 C:/Users folder without a password.
- On the Win 8 machine, I still can't see the XP machine.

OK now I have a fresh pallete to work with. I looked at the "System Properties" window to ensure that my workgroup name is the same on both computers (they are). I see an interesting item called "To use a wizard to join a domain or workgroup, click Network ID". I don't want to screw up things again so I didn't press it.

Maybe I'm naive but it seems to me that a user shouldn't have to do anything other than "turn on network and printer sharing" when Windows is installed in order for it to work. (I did this). I can accept that I'd have to turn on sharing on a secondary drive because Windows 8 probably only does this for the C:/Users folder.

I'm wondering about another issue too....
My computer has a WiFi card but I'm not using it to connect to the network. I have a wired connection to the router. Could this be causing confusion to Windows?

Click to expand...

The adjustments we made to the permissions on the C:>Users folder appear to have worked so that's good.

I believe that installing Windows 8 while another drive is connected can lead to problems which might have been the case, although I wasn't really aware of that till now. I'm glad you sorted that part out.

You may need to run the Network set up wizard on the XP machine before Windows 8 will see it. You will also need to share out the C:>Users folder on the XP machine before it can be seen.

I believe the default workgroup name for XP is MSHOME where for Windows 8 it's Workgroup but I'm sure you checked that.

Assuming you shared the Public folders on the Windows 8 machine, you should be able to see that share as well from the XP machine.

You only need to use the sharing tab in order to share out the Public folders at C:>Users>Public

Interesting development.....

The HDD was originally a UEFI drive. I tried but failed to set up the SDD as UEFI. Therefore, it was and is an MBR drive. Because all my fiddling around seemed to cause both the SDD and HDD to become unbootable, I decided to reformat the HDD. First, I used DISKPART to clean the drive to get rid of the UEFI partitions, then I used Disk Manager to format it as NTFS.

As I type, the system is busy copying all my files back to the HDD (still over 3 hours to go!). However, I notice in the background that I can now see the XP computer in File Manager!!!!!!! I don't want to screw up anything else so I'll wait until the copying is finished to explore further.

I'm wondering if the existence of both a UEFI and MBR formatted HD in the system was causing problems? Maybe now that they are both MBR, all is good to go. I'll post back tomorrow with more info.

You mentioned disconnecting the second HDD while installing Win on the SDD. I was aware of that potential issue and have always had the HDD disconnected when installing Win on the SDD. (I did this MANY times in my failed attempts to install Win on the SDD as a UEFI installation.)

By the way....
Since your ID is chev65, I suspect that you are a classic car fan. I'm not into that anymore but it used to be one of my major obsessions.

No Joy!

All my files are copied back to the Win 8 Machine.

After my re installation and reformat, I now have:
C: - SSD with a MBR installation of Win 8 Pro
D: - HDD formatted as a MBR disk with an NTFS file system (user files located here)

After booting up this morning, I can see the Win 8 Machine from the XP machine but it still requires a password even though I have selected "Turn off password protected sharing" in the "All Networks" section in the "Advanced sharing settings" of the "Network and Sharing Center".

I can not see the XP system from the Win 8 system. Again, the XP system was previously set up to share files with another XP system (now replaced by the Win 8 system). The only setting that I have changed on the XP system is the "Security setting" as recommended in post #6. It seems to me that if it was previously set up correctly and it worked, it should work now.

I had one thought this morning. My Win 8 system has both a Ethernet port and a wireless LAN card. When I installed Win 8, I made the selection "connect to the wireless network later". I actually connect to the router and internet through a wired connection to the Ethernet port. I'm getting desperate so I rationalized that both the Ethernet and LAN card are enabled so maybe Win 8 is confused where to find the XP machine (even though the internet is working perfectly). Just in case, I disabled the wireless LAN card (in Device Manager) and rebooted both systems. If this is the issue, do I need to change another setting in Win 8 to direct file sharing to look to the Ethernet port?

Still no joy. I can't see the XP system from the Win 8 system.

dsscottage said:

No Joy!

All my files are copied back to the Win 8 Machine.

After my re installation and reformat, I now have:
C: - SSD with a MBR installation of Win 8 Pro
D: - HDD formatted as a MBR disk with an NTFS file system (user files located here)

After booting up this morning, I can see the Win 8 Machine from the XP machine but it still requires a password even though I have selected "Turn off password protected sharing" in the "All Networks" section in the "Advanced sharing settings" of the "Network and Sharing Center".

I can not see the XP system from the Win 8 system. Again, the XP system was previously set up to share files with another XP system (now replaced by the Win 8 system). The only setting that I have changed on the XP system is the "Security setting" as recommended in post #6. It seems to me that if it was previously set up correctly and it worked, it should work now.

I had one thought this morning. My Win 8 system has both a Ethernet port and a wireless LAN card. When I installed Win 8, I made the selection "connect to the wireless network later". I actually connect to the router and internet through a wired connection to the Ethernet port. I'm getting desperate so I rationalized that both the Ethernet and LAN card are enabled so maybe Win 8 is confused where to find the XP machine (even though the internet is working perfectly). Just in case, I disabled the wireless LAN card (in Device Manager) and rebooted both systems. If this is the issue, do I need to change another setting in Win 8 to direct file sharing to look to the Ethernet port?

Still no joy. I can't see the XP system from the Win 8 system.

Click to expand...

Honestly, no idea why you can't see the XP machine from Win 8, but if you had any type of A/V software installed on the XP machine that might cause the problem unless it's removed using the special uninstall tool for the A/V software.

I believe that I'll change direction a bit.

For the time being, I can live with password access from the XP to the Win 8 machine. However, I really need to get networking from the Win 8 to XP machine working.

I believe that I'll make a fresh post with a thread title better related to that problem.

In the meantime, I really do thank you for taking all the time to help me. I'll rep you!

Thanks again!

dsscottage said:

I believe that I'll change direction a bit.

For the time being, I can live with password access from the XP to the Win 8 machine. However, I really need to get networking from the Win 8 to XP machine working.

I believe that I'll make a fresh post with a thread title better related to that problem.

In the meantime, I really do thank you for taking all the time to help me. I'll rep you!

Thanks again!

Click to expand...

Bringing down the NTFS permissions should have worked for that. Nothing more is required far as I know.

You really should try using the Public folders for sharing between XP and Windows 8, but if you can't even see anything from the Windows 8 machine that might not work.

Solution!

I think that this situation is deserving of a place in "Ripley's Believe it or Not"!

My situation is resolved. After getting a lot of great help from this forum as well as searching the web and many other forums, With dread, I broke down and called Microsoft. (I had just purchased the computer as well as a Win 8 Pro upgrade.)

If you can believe it, a live Microsoft Tech answered the phone on the second ring. He was based in the Philippines but his English was excellent. He was patient and exceptionally helpful. In total, he spent over 2 hours on the phone with me. He indicated that networking a Win 8 and XP computer is difficult. He remotely logged on to both computers and took control of them.

My original issue was the elimination of the need to enter an ID & PW on the XP computer to gain access to the Win 8 network. However after all the changes made, I was unable to even see the XP network from the Win 8 computer. Unfortunately, after 2 hours of trial and error, I lost track of what specifically fixed this problem but he was able to get my network working. However, he was unable to eliminate the need to enter a user ID and password on the XP computer to access the Win 8 computer. He offered to have Level 2 Tech call me back to look at that issue. We agreed on a 2 hour window of time the next day for the Level 2 Tech to call me.

At exactly the beginning of that 2 hour interval, the Level 2 Tech called. Again, he took remote control of both computers. The solution was not easily and immediately obvious. After about an hour on the phone, he resolved the problem.

When accessing Win 8 files or printers from a XP computer, you need to either:
-enter the user ID & PW when accessing the files
-or sign on to the XP computer at boot up with exactly the same password as needed to access the Win 8 network.

Ripley's Believe it or Not?.....
Who hasn't bashed "big bad Microsoft"? However, they provided the best tech support that I have experienced since the mid 1980's when Wordperfect was king and they provided great tech support from Orem, Utah. I think that I'm in love with Microsoft!

dsscottage said:

I think that this situation is deserving of a place in "Ripley's Believe it or Not"!

My situation is resolved. After getting a lot of great help from this forum as well as searching the web and many other forums, With dread, I broke down and called Microsoft. (I had just purchased the computer as well as a Win 8 Pro upgrade.)

If you can believe it, a live Microsoft Tech answered the phone on the second ring. He was based in the Philippines but his English was excellent. He was patient and exceptionally helpful. In total, he spent over 2 hours on the phone with me. He indicated that networking a Win 8 and XP computer is difficult. He remotely logged on to both computers and took control of them.

My original issue was the elimination of the need to enter an ID & PW on the XP computer to gain access to the Win 8 network. However after all the changes made, I was unable to even see the XP network from the Win 8 computer. Unfortunately, after 2 hours of trial and error, I lost track of what specifically fixed this problem but he was able to get my network working. However, he was unable to eliminate the need to enter a user ID and password on the XP computer to access the Win 8 computer. He offered to have Level 2 Tech call me back to look at that issue. We agreed on a 2 hour window of time the next day for the Level 2 Tech to call me.

At exactly the beginning of that 2 hour interval, the Level 2 Tech called. Again, he took remote control of both computers. The solution was not easily and immediately obvious. After about an hour on the phone, he resolved the problem.

When accessing Win 8 files or printers from a XP computer, you need to either:
-enter the user ID & PW when accessing the files
-or sign on to the XP computer at boot up with exactly the same password as needed to access the Win 8 network.

Ripley's Believe it or Not?.....
Who hasn't bashed "big bad Microsoft"? However, they provided the best tech support that I have experienced since the mid 1980's when Wordperfect was king and they provided great tech support from Orem, Utah. I think that I'm in love with Microsoft!

Click to expand...

I'm surprised they didn't have you set up the Public folders on the Windows 8 machine for sharing. It would have been much easier that way.

This is why they have the Public folders in the first place, it's to eliminate all the hassles associated with file access from older Op systems.

Same User name and password required for the Windows 8 and the XP machine in order to get rid of the password prompt, ok thanks but it seems to me that either way you need to enter a password unless you set it up for Auto sign in using the netplwiz trick.

If you would have set up sharing on the Public folders of the Windows 8 machine, there would be no need to create the extra user or sign in at all.

dsscottage said:

I think that this situation is deserving of a place in "Ripley's Believe it or Not"!

My situation is resolved. After getting a lot of great help from this forum as well as searching the web and many other forums, With dread, I broke down and called Microsoft. (I had just purchased the computer as well as a Win 8 Pro upgrade.)

If you can believe it, a live Microsoft Tech answered the phone on the second ring. He was based in the Philippines but his English was excellent. He was patient and exceptionally helpful. In total, he spent over 2 hours on the phone with me. He indicated that networking a Win 8 and XP computer is difficult. He remotely logged on to both computers and took control of them.

My original issue was the elimination of the need to enter an ID & PW on the XP computer to gain access to the Win 8 network. However after all the changes made, I was unable to even see the XP network from the Win 8 computer. Unfortunately, after 2 hours of trial and error, I lost track of what specifically fixed this problem but he was able to get my network working. However, he was unable to eliminate the need to enter a user ID and password on the XP computer to access the Win 8 computer. He offered to have Level 2 Tech call me back to look at that issue. We agreed on a 2 hour window of time the next day for the Level 2 Tech to call me.

At exactly the beginning of that 2 hour interval, the Level 2 Tech called. Again, he took remote control of both computers. The solution was not easily and immediately obvious. After about an hour on the phone, he resolved the problem.

When accessing Win 8 files or printers from a XP computer, you need to either:
-enter the user ID & PW when accessing the files
-or sign on to the XP computer at boot up with exactly the same password as needed to access the Win 8 network.

Ripley's Believe it or Not?.....
Who hasn't bashed "big bad Microsoft"? However, they provided the best tech support that I have experienced since the mid 1980's when Wordperfect was king and they provided great tech support from Orem, Utah. I think that I'm in love with Microsoft!

Click to expand...

I am having the same problem: Can't get to my XP machine from WIN 8. I don't see the solution that your talking about. I can get from XP to WIN 8 and can access the WIN 8 machine in Win explorer from XP machine but I can't see XP machine at all on my WIN 8 machine. Going Nuts here!! Please help!!!