\\HomePC\guest password
Thu, 2008-06-19 14:13 — Alan_G
Hi
This has been driving me mad for the past few days........
Scenario: Two PC's both running XP Home Edition, both fully patched. Both connected to ADSL router. Both PC's are networked on a LAN and belong to same workgroup. Both have four or five shared directories all with Allow network users to change my file enabled.
Up until a couple of days ago, everything has worked fine for over a year. I can access the shared files on either PC across the network from the other PC. Neither PC has had any software or hardware changes, and suddenly a few days ago, when trying to access a shared directory on one of the PC's from the other PC I get a window open up with
Connect To HomePC (as the Window Title)
Connecting to HomePC (text)
User name: HOMEPC\Guest (Combobox which is greyed out and not selectable)
Password: (empty textbox which has focus)
OK and Cancel Buttons
Now, I don't know what it is and have never set a password, so I can't access any of the shared files on HomePC (other one funnily enough is called WorkPC). I can see the PC listed in View Workgroup Computers, I can ping it OK, I can see the shared directories listed in My Network Places, I can access files as normal on WorkPC from that PC (HomePC and I can also access the internet OK from HomePC) and I've tried every password that I ever use.
Things I've tried (on HomePC) are:
Rerun Network Setup Wizard
Ensured Guest account is enabled and no password set (net user guest)
Ensured no saved passwords (Manage My Network Passwords)
Ensured File and Printer Sharing are on
Unset and reset sharing on directories
Temporarily turned off Windows Firewall and Kaspersky Anti-Virus
Attempted a System Restore which failed no matter which restore point was chosen (Windows cannot restore your system to "selected date" No changes were made to your system)
Run a full trojan scan (Trojan Remover) and AV scan (Kaspersky). Both came up clean
Ensured Server service (and Workstation service) is started
Ensured AllowAnonymous registry key is set to 0
Ensured TCP/IP is installed and working
Net View \\HomePC results in System Error 5 has occured. Access is denied
Something else that happened at the same time (I **think** there's a relevance) is that on the HomePC, my wife has a Limited User Account, and it's set so she has to enter her user password to log on to Windows. At the same time that the network problems started, she suddenly didn't have to enter her password to log on. I've since reset that for her.
I've spent the last few days trying to solve the problem to no avail, so any further insight would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers
Alan
Network Problem Solver
The Network Problem Solver will most likely solve this problem, but you'll have to fill in the form. Since the solver is general, the form contains some entries that may be irrelevant, but it's better to work through the entire form to be sure.
Possible causes are many. The computer may have caught some browser-related malware that has injected something in the network stack, a security program may have received an automatic upgrade that changed some security group policy, etc.
By the way, wouldn't you want to have AllowAnonymous activated? Try that also.
And you definitely want System Restore to work. It's too late now for this particular problem, but had it worked, it might have solved your problem. Get it to work again and test it from time to time. As you have already found out, it is notoriously unreliable.
Hi Thanks for your
Hi
Thanks for your reply.
I've tried the Network Problem Solver (which I've got to say I think is an awesome tool) and been through all the suggested solutions to no avail.
My apologies for the AllowAnonymous registry key setting I mentioned, I meant to say RestrictAnonymous is set to 0.
Do you have any suggestions for checking/resetting the security group policy (bearing in mind this is XP Home edition so the security snap in isn't avaiable). I can run a HiJack this log and check that I guess for browser related malware. I'm currently running an AdAware (pro version) full scan to see if that throws up any light on the problem.
Yep, System Restore was kind of my last hope for an 'easy' fix, but sadly wasn't to be
Again, thanks for your time.......
Security Group Policy
The Network Problem Solver has precise instructions for how to reset the policies on XP Home. Are you sure you have gone through all its solutions? Cases in which it cannot solve a networking problem are rare, provided the form is filled correctly.
Hi Again, thanks for your
Hi
Again, thanks for your reply.
Yes, I'm sure I filled the form in correctly and tried the suggested fixes.
The good news (well at least for me :-) ) is that I've just run a full system scan with AdAware SE Pro, which turned up two Win32 Trojans (which is strange as a prior full system scan with Trojan Remover turned up nothing). Quarantining and deleting the two trojans, plus once again resetting the guest account to active and no password has given me access to my shared directories so all is well in Network Land again.
Many thanks for taking the time for your replies, it's much appreciated
Cheers
Alan
Good news
Thanks for keeping everybody posted! That's really good news.
The problem with viruses and worms is that they can cause all kinds of subtle and not so subtle problems, so they are generally difficult to diagnose. Good that you found and eradicated them.
I have amended the chapter Remove malware infections in the general problem solving advice article to cover your case more obviously.