Asked 1K times: How to disable (turn off) password protected sharing

Hi lintekPC, I hope your doing well despite the problem you are experiencing now and I'm sorry for that. For that let me try to assist you.

Have you checked your Advanced sharing settings?

You can go directly to your search bar and type "advanced sharing" and hit enter key. From there you will see it is under Network and Sharing Center > Advanced sharing settings in the address bar. Click the down arrow in All Networks . Then select Turn of password protected sharing.

Here is also a link so you can visualize the procedure

https://www.tips-howto.com/disable-password-pro...

Disclaimer: The link above is a non-Microsoft website. The page appears to be providing accurate, safe information. Watch out for ads on the site that may advertise products frequently classified as PUP (Potentially Unwanted Products). Thoroughly research any product advertised on the site before you decide to download and install it.

I hope this helps. Please let me know if I didn't address your problem. Don't hesitate to ask for further assistance.

Regards,
Arnel

I pulled out my old Windows 7 PC. Created an identical account and applied the same password to the account that I use on the Windows 10 PC. Turned off password protected sharing on both PCs. Then tested that I could access the shared folders on either PC without entering account credentials. It worked. So, the answer in my case was to have the same account name and password on both PCs.

In all the demo and tutorials that I have seen and read, no one mentions that the same account/password has to be created on the source and target PCs where "password protected sharing = off". Otherwise, the credentials must be entered to access the share.

Update:

- The Windows 7 PC can access the Windows 10 share without entering credentials

- The Windows 10 PC can access the Windows 7 share without entering credentials

- The Windows 7 PC cannot access the Windows 11 share without entering credentials

- The Windows 10 PC cannot access the Windows 11 share without entering credentials

- The Windows 11 PC cannot access the Windows 10 share without entering credentials

- The Windows 11 PC can access the Windows 7 share without entering credentials

I don't get it. Each PC has the same configuration. Gees!

Yes, thank you for that. It is also an alternative solution if you do not want to enable the option "turn off password protected sharing". And if you do not want the created user to be able to login from the Windows log-in at startup, you must remove its membership.

You can do this by typing computer management in your search bar or opening explorer and right cilck in My Computer/This PC and select Manage
Then from the treeview, select Local Users and Groups > Users
Select the user that you added for file sharing. Right click and select properties
In the tabs, select Member Of.
Remove the list of group membership.
In the general tab, uncheck user must change password at next logon

Regards,
Arnel

All through out Windows 7 till 11, instead of using Guest, create a user on all Windows with the same password. And remove its membership group.

Then to access those folders without entering password. You will need to add credentials.

Go to Control Panel > User Accounts and select Credential Manager
In Credential Manager select Windows Credential
Then click Add a Windows Credential
In the Internet or Network address, fill the IP address of the network you need to access, then followed by the user name and password.
Click Ok when done.

I hope this helps.