Non-existant password

[johnwill]

First off, I recommend having passwords all around, because specifically Vista networking doesn't file share by default with no password on the account.

[Book Worm]

I am not using Vista, all machines are XP or XP Pro

I have just discovered that I can no longer ping baby from papa. (I was able to at one point) I can ping baby from mama and from itself.

BTW I can't seem to sucessfully do a search of these forums. Is there a help somewhere on how to do a Search?

[Dr Bob]

Book Worm, I have the exact same problem you have, posted in another thread. My network worked fine, then suddenly I was unable to access the shared folder of my main computer, getting the "password" request prompt. Like you, I have never password protected the user accounts I am using.

I have spent several hours reading through multiple Microsoft help files and while I've learned a great deal about home networking, I have not found the solution to the password problem (yet! I am optimistic!).

On the outside chance something I came across might help, I thought I'd share some of what I learned, most you probably already knew. I *still* think in my case there is some problem that occurred after I deleted a user account on the main computer somehow related to password issues, but I can't prove it.

At any rate, I am also running XP Pro/home on three different computers. I have named them Dad, Son and laptop. I cannot access Dad's shared folder or ANY folder from Son or laptop. I can easily access Son and Laptop from Dad.

I can ping all computers using either the IP address or the computer name. At various times, I find that the "show network computers" command does not reveal all computers on the network, though I can ping them. Usually rebooting and resetting the router fixes that problem. There is a specific registry hack that will fix the problem of computers not showing up when they should. You can find that paper in the Microsoft tec support area.

Make sure the "guest" account is activated on all computers. Apparently XP uses the guest account in some way for network sharing (from what I've read in the Microsoft tec notes). If you deactivate guest, some network resources may not be available (according to Microsoft).

Turn off all firewalls while troubleshooting. I use Zone Alarm because I find it easy to set up trusted zones. I note from time to time that Windows Firewall somehow reactivates itself by magic. I have had many problems with sharing networks resources, printers, etc related to firewall issues, often finding Windows Firewall turned on when I didn't realize it (even though I had shut down Zone Alarm). The fact you had/have a problem pinging another computer suggests a firewall problem. Is your router's firewall also blocking the network? Have you tried placing the computer you can't access outside the router's firewall to check? I do that on my Belkin router within the configuration screen of the router using the DMZ option (I think that's what it's called).

I am most intrigued by the fact you set up another user account and briefly had things working again. This lends support to my theory that some issue to deleting/adding user accounts started this crazy password problem in the first place (at least on my end).

I'm going to try to "repair" Windows with my XP CD and see if that has any affect. I'll let you know.

............Bob