Windows 7 network password

Question

Have networked a new windows 7 system to linux. Network looks good, but when trying to share files I get a prompt for a network password. When setting up, the software generated a ten digit network password. The system now does not recognise the password it generated. When I view in the vault I noticed that it is expecting an eight digit password??? Why does it generate this password in the first place if I am an administrater? If I want one I will slot it in myself surely. Am not a regular windows user and I now remember why!!!!

Answer 1

It sounds like you attempted to network using a Homegroup. You can only use Homegroup networking if all machines on the Local Area Network are running Win7. You need to use regular networking and create a username/password on the Win7 machine that matches one on the Linux box. Disable Homegroup and use normal LAN networking.

In Windows 7, go to Control Panel>All Control Panel Items>Network and Sharing Center. Click on "Change advanced sharing settings". You don't want to use Homegroup unless you have all Windows 7 machines. If you do and you want to use Homegroup, see Windows 7's Help & Support. Otherwise, in the Advanced Sharing:

Turn ON network discovery

Turn ON file and printer sharing

Turn ON sharing in the Public folder sharing section

Turn ON password protected sharing

A. Configure firewalls on all machines to allow the Local Area Network (LAN) traffic as trusted. With Windows Firewall, turning on Window's File and Printer Sharing as above will take care of this for you. In XP you can run the Network Setup Wizard or just enable File/Printer Sharing in the Windows XP Firewall's exceptions. If you aren't running a third-party firewall or have an antivirus/security program with its own firewall component, then you're fine.  With third-party firewalls, I usually configure the LAN allowance with an IP range. Ex. would be 192.168.1.0-192.168.1.254. Obviously you would substitute your correct subnet. Refer to any third party security program's Help or user forums for how to properly configure its firewall. Do not run more than one firewall. DO NOT TURN OFF FIREWALLS; CONFIGURE THEM CORRECTLY.

B. For ease of organization, put all computers in the same Workgroup. This is done from the System applet in Control Panel, Computer Name tab.

C. Create matching user accounts and passwords on all machines. You do not need to be logged into the same account on all machines and the passwords assigned to each user account can be different; the accounts/passwords just need to exist and match on all machines. DO NOT NEGLECT TO CREATE PASSWORDS, EVEN IF ONLY SIMPLE ONES . If you wish a machine to boot directly to the Desktop (into one particular user's account) for convenience, you can do this:

Start>Search box>type: netplwiz [enter]

Click on Continue (or supply an administrator's password) when prompted by UAC

Uncheck the option "Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer". Select a user account to automatically log on by clicking on the desired account to highlight it and then hit OK. Enter the correct password for that user account (if there is one) when prompted. Leave it blank if there is no password (null).

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MS-MVP - Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!