xp shared printer wants password to connect. need to disable

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
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G

Guest

Hi.
Have an XP box with a shared printer on it.
Have setup to allow, network, everyone, anonymous, guest, etc. Anything to
let the people print to it without a password.
However to do so, all need to connect to the \\ip\share first, enter id and
password (and admin acct o n the XP box). Then it prints, until they log off
then it repeats.
I do not want any prompt for a password. With the old NT 4 system there it
worked fine. No password.
New system and new printer was put in place.
Permissions seem right and like I said I tried adding everything to have ti
connect without a password. And the last thing I wan tto do is add every
single user to that box as an account.

Any help is appreciated.
Thaks,
Sean
 
Is the XP box Pro or Home? If Pro using simple file sharing or standard?

What exact OS version(s) are the problem workstations running?
 
XP Pro SP2 with just the normal file and printer sharing for MS enabled.
This i the second time I have heard about 'simple' file sharing. Never used
or heard of it before.
Thanks,
Sean
 
File and printer sharing is a bit more complicated in XP Pro than prior
versions. See the 2 links below for an explanation. To see if simple
file sharing is enabled (the usual case unless in a domain) see Control
Panel / Folder Options / View / Use simple file sharing (the last item).

If Not using simple file sharing, you need an account on the XP box
matching the network users name and password for each workstation to avoid
the prompt. If you are using simple file sharing, the solution may vary a
bit depending on the Windows version on the workstations, which you didn't
provide, but basically authentication is via the guest account which must be
enabled on all systems involved. On XP systems running net user guest
/active:yes will make sure.

If you want to post back with detail on the workstations and file sharing
type, I'll advise further. This isn't a difficult problem to resolve, but
it really helps to give the specifics at the outset.

http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/xp/filesharing.htm and
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;304040
-
 
Thanks. I did change to simple sharing as I found it after your post. Then
the guest accout did work. Prompts were gone.
I tried to have matching accounts on box with no password, but get the
prompt I guess because of no password. This is my preferred methed at this
point so we can see who prints what becuase when using guest everyone shows
up as guest for user.

But if I have to assign all of their passwords and make sure all of them
sync it up every 3 months, it is going to be a pain. Working on AD in HQ but
I am in remote site and it is not happening anytime soon here.

I am using Win 2K and XP clients to attach to the shared printer.
I also noticed in 2K when it prompts, no place to save password like in XP,
which stinks.


Sean
 
You're welcome. The following is excerpted from
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/...windows/xp/all/reskit/en-us/prdp_log_tyry.asp

If you want to disable the restriction against logging on to the network
without a password, you can do so through Local Security Policy. The policy
setting that controls blank password restriction can be modified using the
Local Security Policy or Group Policy MMC snap-ins. You can use either tool
to find this policy option at Security Settings\Local Policies\Security
Options. The name of the policy is Accounts: Limit local account use of
blank passwords to console logon only. It is enabled by default.

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