HP printer Scan to Network Folder will NOT work unless my Win 10 PC has password for logon

Question

My new home printer is an HP OfficeJet Pro 9015. The HP OJP 9015 has a “Scan to Network Folder” feature which sets a “button” on the printer’s tiny screen to scan what’s in the feeder or on the glass and send a pdf copy to a designated folder on my home network – specifically to a target folder on my home Win 10 Pro 64-bit PC (version 1909).

Note that the printer is initiating and pushing the scanned pdf to my Win 10 Pro PC on the network – the PC is not ordering and pulling the scan.

• The target folder on my Win 10 Pro PC is fully Shared with Read-Write privileges to “Everyone” and “Network”
• Security on the target folder gives Everyone and Network Full Control.
• On my Win 10 Pro PC, Password-Protected Sharing is Off.
• On my Win 10 Pro PC, my "Network profile" is set to "Private".
• In Group Editor on my Win 10 Pro PC, my Network access and Network security settings are as you see them in the screenshot at bottom here † - I have never changed them intentionally.
• My Win 10 Pro PC is local account, not Microsoft account.
• On my Win 10 Pro PC, many of my folders are in a OneDrive parent folder, but I have the below problem whether I'm pointing to a target folder in the OneDrive or a target folder NOT in the OneDrive.
  ▲ Please re-read these seven before continuing.

► However, the printer will not accept the designation of a network folder as a valid target unless I add a logon password to my Win 10 Pro PC and add that password to the setting on the printer. The printer setup for this target folder will not accept a no-logon-password Win 10 PC as the home of the target.

I don’t want a logon password on my home PC, and I really have tried a lot of stuff to try to get around this. This is apparently a big problem with Win 10. For example, see this closed thread on MS Answer forums:
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-networking-winpc/windows-10-computers-requesting-password-on-a/bc2a68fb-90c7-417e-a0fe-765b2852bd64
1 .

I do NOT have this problem if I put the target folder on an old XP PC - no logon password is required. That leads me to think it's something about Win 10, not the HP printer.

► How can this be fixed so that I can set up "Scan to Network Folder" on my HP 9015 and NOT have to add a password for logon to my Win 10 Pro PC?

IMPORTANT - "Independent Advisors" should NOT post here unless you have the precise answer to my actual question. If you post nonsense, I shall report you to the Moderator. Thanks.

† Please check the screenshot at https://filestore.community.support.microsoft.com/api/images/035e6828-cd34-401c-963e-44d1fd47da69?upload=true
035e6828-cd34-401c-963e-44d1fd47da69

below ![40855-untitled.gif][2] 1: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-networking-winpc/windows-10-computers-requesting-password-on-a/bc2a68fb-90c7-417e-a0fe-765b2852bd64 [2]: /api/attachments/40855-untitled.gif?platform=QnA

Answer 1

  
UPDATE - I have fixed this problem by

(a) enabling SMB 1 on my Win 10 Pro 64-bit PC (v 1909) in Windows Features,

(b) enabling SMB 1 in the Embedded Web Server (EWS) for my 9015 at Network - Advanced Settings - SMB, and

(c) DISABLING (unchecking) SMB 2 and 3 on the 9015 EWS in the same place.

I had done (a) and (b) before but not (c). (c) is necessary.

This is not good. SMB 1 is NOT secure. MS and HP have failed to make SMB 2 and 3 work on Win 10 Pro and an HP OJP 9015.

MS and HP have fallen down here.

Answer 2

 
In another forum, I got this suggestion for making SMB 2 and 3 behave and permit connections to my PC without a logon password on that PC:

1. Click the Start button and type msc in the Search programs and files bar and hit enter.
2. At the left pane, go to Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > Security Options
3. Look for “Accounts: Limit local account use of blank passwords to console logon only” and double click on it.
4. By default the Enable option is selected and all you need to do is select “Disable” and click OK.
   5.

Questions:

a) Do you think SMB 2 or 3 will work without a logon password on my PC, if I follow the above guide? Or do they absolutely require a logon password?

b) And if they work after I follow the above guide, are they rendered less protective?

Thoughts?
 

Answer 3

Thank you, David. It was really helpful the way you laid out the steps you took. Your first solution worked for me, as I do have a logon id and password for my PC. I had to look up what an EWS is, but otherwise all was clear. Is SMB 1 a security concern, though?

I can now scan from my HP 9012e to my network folder.

Answer 4

I ended up creating a user account specifically for the scanner (with password). Removing the "Users" group membership stops it showing for interactive login, and it can be added to the permissions of the folder being shared to allow it network write access.

Seemed cleaner than fiddling with network authentication settings. Might require Pro to be able to use computer management to remove the users group from the scanner user to stop it showing on the login screen though.