Folder Sharing Authentication Failure

Question

Three computers, all Windows 11, A, B, and C.

Folders shared on computer A can be seen by B and C

Folders shared on computer B can be seen by A and C

Folders shared on computer C cannot be accessed from A or B.

Folder sharing by C used to work, but failed after a recent update. Recovery to pre-update did not resolve.

All are using local accounts, although at one time may have also had Microsoft accounts

No school or work policies involved.

C can be pinged from both A and B.

Suspect that Windows Hello might be a factor, but the setting for turning it off is never visible, "For improved security, only allow Windows Hello sign-in for Microsoft accounts on this device." (Never visible, not greyed out, never available).

Suspect that computer C is looking for some authentication that A and B don't provide because of the delay before error, "Path could not be found"

All options of password and no passwords explored, no change.

Again, C can see and access folders in A and B, but the shared folders on C are not visible or accessible.

What is the registry entry that controls the requirement for Windows Hello to allow folder access for a shared folder?

***moved from Windows / Windows 11 / Files, folders, and storage***

Answer 1

Hello,

The following steps will help you disable the Windows Hello PIN login option using REGEDIT. But before proceeding, we recommend that you create a backup of your registry so that you can restore it if any issues arise.

1. Launch the Run dialog box, type regedit and click OK.
2. In Registry Editor, copy the following path and paste it into its address bar. Then press Enter. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PolicyManager\default\Setting
3. Double-click the Settings key to expand it and select the AllowSignInOptions subkey. You'll find a DWORD entry called Value on the right. Because you have enabled the Windows Hello sign-in option, its value is set to 1. Double-click it and change its value from 1 to 0. This will disable the Windows Hello sign-in option for all user accounts you create on the device.
4. Close Registry Editor and restart your device.

Hope this helps!

Best regards

Zunhui

Answer 2

I changed the value at: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PolicyManager\default\Setting\AllowSignInOptions and it did not solve the issue. It did cause all the "sign-in" options to gray out. The error presented is still that "the network path cannot be found".

While that registry entry seems to control whether the Hello Sign-in is enabled, I don't think it is the entry that is set by the option, "For improved security, only allow Windows Hello sign-in for Microsoft accounts on this device". I suspect, but don't know for sure, that this is related to the problem. Where is the key for this?

Again, this computer can see the folders and files in other computers, but the other computers cannot see this computer. Also, it used to work and suddenly stopped. All of the regular steps for sharing have been checked.

Answer 3

This issue occurs if the TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper service is stopped or if the service is running as Local System but not Local Service.

To resolve this issue, make sure that the TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper service is running as a Local Service.

You can refer to the following link:

Can't access shared folders from File Explorer - Windows Client | Microsoft Learn

Best regards

Zunhui