anonymous microsoft networking shares

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bulk88

In Windows 2000/XP/Server/etc, how do I make a anonymous share? One
where ANY user using Microsoft Networking/SMB/NetBIOS can access
regardless of their username and password, and without the username
and password having to exist as an account on the "server" machine? I
dont want a user to ever have to enter a username and password to
access this share. New computers and users come everyday to this LAN,
there is no organization or anything of them (such as AD). I dont use
AD or anything, this is normal p2p File and Printer sharing LAN. I
understand this is very insecure. In particular I'm trying to create a
network printer that anyone can print to.

I tried to add "ANONYMOUS LOGON" and "Everyone" groups to the share,
didnt help, I still get prompted for username and password. Does the
server have to be rebooted or login cycled for the changes to take
effect?
 
In Windows 2000/XP/Server/etc, how do I make a anonymous share? One
where ANY user using Microsoft Networking/SMB/NetBIOS can access
regardless of their username and password, and without the username
and password having to exist as an account on the "server" machine? I
dont want a user to ever have to enter a username and password to
access this share. New computers and users come everyday to this LAN,
there is no organization or anything of them (such as AD). I dont use
AD or anything, this is normal p2p File and Printer sharing LAN. I
understand this is very insecure. In particular I'm trying to create a
network printer that anyone can print to.

I tried to add "ANONYMOUS LOGON" and "Everyone" groups to the share,
didnt help, I still get prompted for username and password. Does the
server have to be rebooted or login cycled for the changes to take
effect?
Click to expand...

I believe you'd have to enable the Guest account.

If this is a network printer, you could set up a standard TCP/IP port on any
computer and connect to it directly, note.

OT, but you might want to pull back and take a look at the bigger picture on
this network, if you're the one who's supposed to manage and maintain it. AD
would be a good idea, but even without that, the idea of "new computers and
users coming in every day" is a rather frightening one. If you use AD, you
can set up a generic 'Visitor' account for non-employees/etc to use - and
you only have to set it up in one place.

Outside of a tiny/home office, I don't see the value in
peer-to-peer/workgroups - they can be a nightmare to manage, and they do not
scale well. Since you already have a Windows server, you could certainly
configure it for AD if you wanted. I don't know what your client
workstations run (or why they come and go) but it would be a good thing for
your entire company if someone put in a domain & a more formalized
structure.
 
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