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Question

can someone please explain passwords to me?

Apr 20, 2014 5:07AM PDT

I only use my two PCs at home, and when I install windows, I never use a password for admin or anything else. Forgive me ( head down) Happy but I have been on PCs since their birth, so I get it and deal with it. Please don't hurt me?Happy

I have a home network with a win 7 machine, and an XP pro machine. Both with the latest SPs installed I have no official IT Training and neither does anyone else I know. We all learn as we have to. Passwords have always killed me.

When I am on the Win 7 machine, I want to access the files or get them from an my XP machine so I open network places to view or share files on XP from win7 and XP wants my name and password. Never in my whole life has anyone ever explained to me where this password originates. I would be one happy user if someone could tell me what I have to do on the XP machine to allow me to get at its files from win7, or any other Win version in the first place Happy

I would assume that since I never assigning admin passwords, windows is generating something for me and blocking my Win7 access. My life is simple, again its just me without any passwords ever entered. ever.
I don't think I need to know why it wants authentication, I am just kind of begging someone to tell me how to go to the XP machine and tell it that its okay for user " fred" password " ethel" to gain access via the network.
I would settle for no password, just a user or whatever is mandatory. I want to learn where this information is given to the XP machine so I can control it and track it.

I got into the same problem with remote desktop and cannot use remote between the two machines because I have no idea where each one gets the user and password information. (Its my machine can't I just set the user/password myself?)
As an user of the old Win 3.1, I have been at it for years and never found a source to explain passwords and users security. Usually, I search and get tons of pages with screen shots and " click this" or " click that" instructions and half the time "this" or " that" cannot be found Happy

I think that is enough. I am on win7, trying to gain access to XP. Since I have full control of the XP machine, what do I enter and where does it go to let me get into XP , from win 7.

Thank you for reading all of this. I understand password requirements, but I am the only user of any of them so i think a k.i.s.s. approach would be the right method

Much obliged in advance and thanks for the foruml

John

Discussion is locked

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Answer
I'll be short.
Apr 20, 2014 5:27AM PDT

Unless you enable the Guest account, Windows on the server side looks at the incoming connection and queries who you are. Let's say I have an account on the server called "BOB". OK, now I'm logged into my other PC as "BOB" with same password and if it's all set up, I will be able to connect because of an old system Microsoft called "Single Sign On." So that's how we avoid the question about who we are in a small network.

If you don't have a matching account on service and client, then it will ask, but only if the guest account is disabled.

And don't going around enabling the guest account without knowing that it opens the door to really bad things. That is, if some virus is on the network it's free to do whatever on all shares when that's enabled. Some don't care since they backup what they can't lose.
Bob

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Answer
Re: password
Apr 20, 2014 6:01AM PDT

XP ask for the name and the password, because it doesn't yet know that the username you're going to type in to login doesn't have a password. So I would just enter the user name you use to logon to your XP PC (well, maybe you set it to autologon) and no password.

You define users in Control Panel>User Accounts. And that's the place also to set or change a password.

Kees

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And ...
Apr 20, 2014 6:02AM PDT
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still makes no sense
Apr 20, 2014 9:17AM PDT

I am very, very grateful for the time everyone and anyone takes to try and help me out. I tried to be simple in hopes of learning what to do, but somehow, the message/question never gets through Happy I guess I do this a lot.

Every computer I have set up, xp, 7, 8 or whatever, I NEVER use a password, and I only use the name " fred" This way I can just turn on the PC and it boots without me doing anything more. I know it makes serious users kind of cringe to think a virus or other user can make havoc, but its how I live anymore , here at home, alone, I do not wish to seem ungrateful, but all I want to do is have remote desktop let me into each machine when I want to. Both machines are " fred" and no password. So when I get asked for a password, I sit and stare at it and think, " how the heck should I know? Happy

When I use RD to access the XP machine from W7, it wants a name and a password. If I apply logic,Happy It is asking for the " username and password to open my computer door" so since I have already mentioned that both machines are " fred" and no password, can anyone tell me where that " username and password is created, where it lives, how do I find out what it is? What am I missing in thinking I can boot up the XP machine and go to some place in the setup, and put in the "username and password" I can use in order for win 7 to remote into my machine?

Am I supposed to create a guest account? Should that guest account username and password be the one that the machine is expecting when I RD in? seriously, I am not trying to be a butt head Happy but I never use passwords, so when windows asks for one, I cannot continue any more as the password is basically null.

Can I overstay my welcome and ask,: if I changed both machines to be user " fred" and password " ethel" could I go either way with RD using " fred and ethel"

The last thing I want to do is lock myself out of my machines by playing password roulette.

OBTW, Four years ago, I have a major brain injury from a stroke, so sometimes I cannot put forth a cogent thought and other times I just sit and thnk " damn, where did I write down that password. I don't say it for empathy, but to show that passwords are wonderful for people who have short term memory Happy They can wreak havoc for me, in spite of great efforts to write them down.. Happy


I Thank you all for your help. I understand the danger of no passwords or open guest accounts. Its how I live <g>> If I can learn how and why things work, I can deal with it, but when all I know is to click here and click there, it gets messy. I prefer to learn why I click and what it is doing behind the window.

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tried "admin" and leaving the password block empty?
Apr 20, 2014 10:19AM PDT

no quotes.

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OK, you are now writing about Remote Desktop
Apr 20, 2014 10:58AM PDT

So that's a whole nuther kettle of fish.

But back to network shares. I simplified that to where Windows looks for accounts (users on the server machine) but I did neglect that authorization changes from XP to 7 so you have more research to get that to work. Here's a good link on that. http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-7/share-files-and-printers-between-windows-7-and-xp/

Notice how there are changes required from the defaults?

OK, about remote desktop. That does not use the same system and each connection is treated like Windows just started and you will be logging in. I don't recall anyone tweaking RD to allow no login required.
Bob

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not really Rd specific
Apr 20, 2014 12:37PM PDT

Windows stores the necessary credential somewhere, for RD, or for network file sharing.

I thought it a simple question, since when I try to share the files on the network, windows wants credentials, so I figure it should be something that someone would know how to find..

The RD is the same issue, I try to access XP, with it, or for file shars and it wants credentials. I assumed that I could find those credentials in XP, So I would know what name and password is needed. How can an OS ask for identification when it does not ever reveal what that ID is? XP says " I need your name and password" but it seems no one knows how to find out what it is looking for?

Always grateful for the time and help. Just frustrated. Sorry..

John

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RD is one road, file sharing another.
Apr 20, 2014 1:16PM PDT
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Re: logon
Apr 20, 2014 8:04PM PDT

There's a difference between a username and a password. Every Windows back to Windows 98 at least had you type a username (or press cancel in Windows 98, kind of a loophole), unless you set it to autologon (http://windowsxp.mvps.org/Autologon.htm). If that username has a password or not doesn't matter.
So that's the explanation on passwords: you need a username, but you can (but are not required) to add a password to a username as an added level of security.

Since your PC's didn't come with the username 'fred' (mine didn't!) you must have defined and entered them yourself. That answers the question to how it is created: by you!. It's stored in Control Panel>User Accounts.


I've never seen anybody using Remote Desktop in a home network, although I use it at work to work on servers from my PC. In my home network I use file and printer sharing between XP and Windows 7, and for that there's no need to logon on the other machine (apart from starting it the normal way). If I want to run a program on the 'other' PC, I just go to it (it's only one floor higher - or lower, of course).

Kees

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And ...
Apr 21, 2014 12:40AM PDT

if no password is defined, I leave it blank if there's a box where I can fill it in. On the welcome screen, the box doesn't even appear, but that's an exception.

Kees

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Just want to make sure I am not getting on someone's nerves
Apr 21, 2014 3:48AM PDT

I always appreciate assistance, and I know that sometimes my frustration can come through in my words, so I want to say I hope they did not come out wrong and thanks for sure.

I always name my machine and never give a password when I install. I know the risks, and I do not object to the reminders, so thanks for that.

Yes, I give it the name, but never a password, but the password being blank is probably part of the trouble I am having..

Just to waste more of your time telling you how the other half lives, my mail reader (several mail accounts) lives on one machine, the Win7 box, and so it is the only way to get mail and be able to read it if I want to refer back to it. I don't know how others do things, we all have our habits embedded into our routines. Mine go back 20 years, so they are hard to break. Read mail downloaded onto Win7, using the XP machine elsewhere, in the house when there is company or friends are watching the game in that room. I can WOL the Win7 machine and check my mail from the bedroom. If I run my mail reader on any other mail, it all downloads to that machine and is no longer in the same place, so I set up RD which also allows me to write my journal on one machine, and not have to move the files around. Its a great use of RD and I set that up a long time ago, so you see, I can stumble onto the password user combo, but having done it once, I cannot at all recall how I did it. Happy The issue reared its head when I installed a new motherboard and OS onto the " XP" machine and now RD will not work as I forgot how to set up the credentials..

I Think the file sharing has a simpler answer but we have diverged from my original intent, from sharing to RD, my fault.

When I want to map a drive on the other machine, it requires credentials from me that I do not know what they are. I really think its a waste of time to worry about what a password is and a wht is a username, as we all know that.
The reason for my initial post was, as far as, for instance, the XP machine is concerned, the machine trying to map to one of its drives, is identical as far as machine name, and passwords to enter it, so I do not know how to do that, as it refuses the machine name as it has no password assigned.

Anyway, I know this stuff can grow into a lot of back and forth and all of you are busy and kind enough to help. Frankly, Team viewer sets up easy and does all I need it to do, move files, check my email from another machine and even run apps. What prompted my inquiry was the simple reality that Windows has all this functionality and I could be using it, rather than a third party app. (which, btw, works really well)

I grew up on the PC since their inception, and really do know my way around, but as an engineer, I stayed away from IT, and just created product Happy I was good with it all until win200 left us and Microsoft chose to mix up versions between home, and pro, and god knows what, giving so many more security options.. Probably good for business, but I am just here at home an all that security really makes it interesting Happy Those of you who may have gone to training, classes, seminars, or school to learn it may not realize that this stuff if not covered in any books, not that I can find. Perhaps you are like me, in that you set up such configurations, and use the computers all the time, until 8 months later when you have to do it again and you cannot recall all the details? Happy

That is why I clone my hard drives every month or so, because a lot of thing work well, but when I have to set up again, I have to look up the answers. The answer to my question is not in a book, and does not appear in a web search.

Nuff' said, my friends, thanks again..

John

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If you never entered a password
Apr 21, 2014 5:39AM PDT

then it does not exist. Your password is just the blank line. Your signin on things would be your machine name or username and blank.

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If you're happy with teamviewer ...
Apr 21, 2014 5:47AM PDT

why not use that and forget about the remote desktop offered by Windows?

For checking e-mail, by the way, most mail providers offer webmail also.

Kees