Re: Field to fill in the username is greyed out when connecting over network to workgroup PC

From: Steve Winograd [MVP] (winograd_at_pobox.com)
Date: 08/17/04 

Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2004 16:08:15 -0600

In article <2ofc9vFaacr9U1@uni-berlin.de>, "Spin" <spin@spin.com>
wrote:
>Have 4 WinXP PCs in a workgroup. Which means local SAM on each PC to
>authenticate users. When 1 XP PC accesses a Share on another XP PC, why are
>they unable to specify the username when connecting? The username/password
>dialog prompt has an active field to fill in the password but the field to
>fill in the username is greyed out (can't edit it). What's happening?

When you access Windows XP Home Edition over the network, all users on
other computers validate using the Guest account, and the username
field on the accessing computer is greyed out. These commands on XP
Home Edition control networked access to it using the Guest account:

   net user guest /active:yes ;allow
   net user guest /active:no ;deny

If the Guest account has a network password, the user on the other
computer must enter that password at the prompt. To create or remove
a network password for the Guest account, use this command:

      control userpasswords2.

In a workgroup, the default behavior for XP Professional is the same
as XP Home Edition. However, Pro can disable simple file sharing,
which lets users on other computers validate as themselves. 

-- 
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)
Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
for everyone to see.  I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions
addressed directly to me in E-mail or news groups.
Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com

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