File Sharing Win 11 not working

Question

File Sharing Win 11 not working

CM Newell 5

When I try to access shared files over local network, I get asked for credentials, and after they are enteed I get a message that "The username or password is incorrect."

It is not incorrect.

How do I fix this problem?

Mike M 0 Reputation points

2026-02-26T03:23:31.8666667+00:00

Use widows key + L to log out, use sign in options to select using password, type password and log in, once you do this at least ONE time, the file share should work. I did same thing on both machines; they are both mine with same account. This drove me mad as it worked before I reinstalled Win 11 on new machine!! I used an app on phone to log in not PW, so it never saved locally to new install so always gave an error. It seems to me that file share doesn't query actual account, but only saved credentials on machines! It also seems the only way to get those credentials saved is to log in at least one time with password!!!

Hope this helps.

6 answers

Your answer

Mike M 0 Reputation points

2026-02-26T03:23:31.8666667+00:00

Use widows key + L to log out, use sign in options to select using password, type password and log in, once you do this at least ONE time, the file share should work. I did same thing on both machines; they are both mine with same account. This drove me mad as it worked before I reinstalled Win 11 on new machine!! I used an app on phone to log in not PW, so it never saved locally to new install so always gave an error. It seems to me that file share doesn't query actual account, but only saved credentials on machines! It also seems the only way to get those credentials saved is to log in at least one time with password!!!

Hope this helps.

Answer 1

MotoX80 37,781

Just to verify, you are logging on to both PCs with the same Microsoft account, correct?

Open the credential manager and look to see if the "other" pc name is listed here. Remove any saved credentials.

User's image

Then open a command prompt and run "net use". If you see the "other" pc listed here, then delete the mapped drive like I did here.

User's image

I recently saw a post from a user who figured out that his problem was that he had only ever used a PIN to log on with his MS account.

I log on to my laptop with my MS account via a PIN but I think that I always logged in with a password before switching to a PIN. I can't verify that other users experience.

I have noticed that I can verify that my PC knows what my password is. I would suggest that you verify that both PCs recognize your password.

In the above image you will note that the directory is C:\Users\madne. The "madne" is the first 5 letters of my email address. If you run whoami.exe it will tell you your id in the format ComputerName\YourFirst5Letters. Run whoami on both PCs and see if YourFirst5Letters match.

Then run this command and enter your password.

runas /user:YourFirst5Letters cmd.exe

Here I used Terminal and it launched a new tab with "running as" in the title.

User's image

Do that on both PCs to verify that they both recognize your same password.

Then use net view to see if you can list the network shares.

net view \\TheNameOfTheOtherPC

What does "net view" give you?

CM Newell 5 Reputation points

2025-12-03T01:13:18.35+00:00

Ok, I didn't find anything using "net use" on the laptop, but did on the desktop.

Both users are the same, but I have 2 different passwords--one for laptop oone for desktop. This has not previously been a problem ,but I will chang them to be the same, and then proceed.
CM Newell 5 Reputation points

2025-12-03T01:37:18.44+00:00

Well, that was ugly. Desktop just crashed and had to do a system restore.

I was in the process of attempting to change the password on laptop to same as desktop. Wouldn't let me use the existing desktop one, because it said I'd already used it. This is incredibly frustrating, because everything was working fine a couple weeks ago.
MotoX80 37,781 Reputation points

2025-12-03T01:43:27.56+00:00

Long before there was such a thing as a Microsoft account, I used local accounts with the same name and the same password to allow PCs to authenticate to each other. I still do that on the test VM's that I play with.

If you're using local accounts with the same name, then use the same password too.

I don't see how you could use different passwords for the same MS account. That would seem to go against the idea of having one MS account. But never say never. It could be something that I'm just not aware of.
ScarletFieldz 0 Reputation points

2025-12-17T10:58:39.2633333+00:00

I just wanted to say this response is very helpful, clear, and well-written. I've been banging my head against a similar problem for hours. I have a new computer and a replacement for the new computer, and they're the same exact model. Sharing was working on one and not the newest replacement.

I found that I had "only Windows Hello" logins allowed, fixed that, rebooted, and it didn't help. (I was sure that was the issue. Darn!)

So I floundered around, checked security policies between the two machines, checked sharing settings, rechecked all the basic settings, etc. Until I ran across this:

I recently saw a post from a user who figured out that his problem was that he had only ever used a PIN to log on with his MS account. I log on to my laptop with my MS account via a PIN but I think that I always logged in with a password before switching to a PIN. I can't verify that other users experience.

I've been messing with other settings, so I can't say with 100% certainty that this is what fixed it, but I realized even though I changed the Windows Hello setting, I'd probably never actually used the password to login locally. Makes sense to at least TEST the password on the lcoal machine.

The password worked locally. And now sharing from the other computer works. Phew!

I didn't even reboot... just used the "sign off" option and logged back in.

Thank you, @MotoX80 , for writing clear and helpful posts!
MotoX80 37,781 Reputation points

2025-12-17T12:54:46.29+00:00

@ScarletFieldz You're welcome.

Answer 2

CM Newell 5

"you may try to clear SMB credentials then re-add manually"

How do I know which credentials are SMB related?

I don't want to clear anything that's going to make the problem worse.

Laptop--fujitsu stylistic, Win 11 25H2, reinstalled 11/23 at the direction of microsoft tech support person. Win 11 pro

Desktop--Dell XPS 8930, new hard drive installed this spring and updated fro 10--> 11 by local preofessional. Win 11 24H2. Win 11 home

Microsoft account

permissions shared as per support recommendations

(file and print sharing over network enabled)

Lucus-V 9,400 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-12-02T23:23:03.96+00:00

Hi CM Newell,
Thank you for your information.

SMB credentials often start with Local IP addresses or Machine name.

To be clarify, both Fujitsu and Dell cannot access each other, and both use Microsoft account. While Windows ask for User and Password, what kind of information did you insert to the prompt?

Please note that you don't have to provide me your PII such as your exact User and Password. You only need to describe about them.
Lucus-V 9,400 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-12-17T23:38:14.6266667+00:00

Hi CM Newell,
I see that you're receiving help from MotoX80, and I hope that their solution can resolve your issue. If you need any additional support from me, please let me know.

Answer 3

Hi CM Newell,
Welcome to Microsoft Q&A forum. I'm happy to help.

Could you describe more details about your system? Such as your Windows version on 2 machines (23H2, 24H2, 25H2), you're using Local account or Microsoft account, and sharing permission that you've set. If there're anything hard for describe, please kindly provide the screenshots.

In the meantime, you may try to clear SMB credentials then re-add manually by opening Credential Manager > Windows Credentials > remove existed credentials related to SMB > Add a Windows credential > insert Address, User name and Password.

If there's any update, please feel free to let me know.

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

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Answer 4

CM Newell 5

I have tried that and had no luck getting access.

0 comments

Answer 5

Hi CM,

Thank you for sharing your question. I understand you are having issues with windows 11.

Here's how to troubleshoot when Windows 11 asks for login info to get into shared files, but then says your username or password is wrong even if it's right:

By default, Windows 11 wants a password to access shared stuff. This means you need a real username and password from the computer that's sharing the folder.

If the computer sharing the folder uses a Microsoft account, you gotta use that account's email and password, not just a local username.

If your computer is part of a workgroup, this error can pop up if your login info is wrong or if sharing settings are off.

How to fix it

Turn on password-protected sharing and double-check your login details

On the PC sharing the folder, go to:

Settings > Network & Internet > Advanced network settings > Advanced sharing settings.

Find Password-protected sharing and flip it on.

Make sure you're typing in the exact username and password for an account on that computer (either the Microsoft account email + password, or a local account’s details).

Make a local account just for sharing (if you want)

If you don't wanna use your Microsoft account, create a separate local account on the computer that’s doing the sharing: