Sharing files asking for credentials

Question

Hi,

I'm having an issue with sharing files across a VPN network. Scenario is this:

• Windows Server 2022 running on a virtual machine in a data centre. 192.168.251.x range.
• Site with Windows 11 PC's. 192.168.1.x range.
• Site and server are connected via IPSec VPN. We can communicate fine between the server and PC's.
• No domain controller. The PC's are enrolled in Intune, with security and settings managed through there.
• The Server is not enrolled in Intune. It acts as a stand alone device.

There are files on the D drive of the server that the users need to access. I can map a shared drive to the server, but it keeps asking for credentials. For now I've created a local user on the server which the users can use to authenticate. I've turned off everything I can find which controls if a password for the files is needed or not, but it still keeps asking.

Can anyone provide some help here?

Do we need to enroll the server in Intune, which means then using an Azure login for the server. Which will mean that the users who use their Azure login will be able to authenticate that way? Althought really we don't want the system to ask for a password, but it still does. We'd like the users to just be able to map that drive without windows asking for credentials.