How to access shared folder without giving username and password

Question

I have shared one folder to "Everyone" on a machine 1 and trying to access the folder from another machine 2. It is asking for username and password of the machine 1. I am accessing the share folder from Run>//shared folder path.

I am using Windows 7 machines.

Is there any way that i can access the shared folder without giving any username and password.

score 162 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 28 '13 at 13:24

162

I found one way to access the shared folder without giving the username and password.

We need to change the share folder protect settings in the machine where the folder has been shared.

Go to Control Panel > Network and sharing center > Change advanced sharing settings > Enable Turn Off password protect sharing option.

By doing the above settings we can access the shared folder without any username/password.

answered Aug 28 '13 at 13:24

Snehanjali Sahoo

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Make sure the folder's Properties > Security includes Guest. Folders in C:\Users generally don't include that user. – Bae Sep 18 '13 at 04:48
This solution works under Windows 8/8.1 as well. Nice. – Jared May 04 '14 at 03:38
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This is the perfect solution, but keep in mind that if anyone breaks into your wifi router he gets the access to your files. And if you have any write-enabled directories he can also delete them. – kolenda May 05 '14 at 23:10
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Also make sure the folder's Properties > Security includes Everyone. Guest was not needed in my case. – Hossein Oct 26 '15 at 09:00
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How to do it for windows server 2016? – Mayur Nov 26 '18 at 11:13
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i have added Everyone and done all the above steps, but still asking for a username and password! windows 10. – Talha Rafique Dec 04 '21 at 09:32

score 14 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 29 '13 at 17:09

You need to go to user accounts and enable Guest Account, its default disabled. Once you do this, you share any folder and add the guest account to the list of users who can accesss that specific folder, this also includes to Turn off password Protected Sharing in 'Advanced Sharing Settings'

The other way to do this where you only enter a password once is to join a Homegroup. if you have a network of 2 or more computers, they can all connect to a homegroup and access all the files they need from each other, and anyone outside the group needs a 1 time password to be able to access your network, this was introduced in windows 7.

This option works perfectly on Windows Server 2012 ! – robe007 Oct 17 '19 at 16:28 — robe007, Oct 17 '19 at 16:28

How to access shared folder without giving username and password

2 Answers2