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Question

HomeLAN = iMac + Win7

Feb 17, 2016 9:13AM PST

I created a home LAN a few years ago, through my Win7 laptop, to include the laptop plus an iMac Yosemite. I was also able to use my Android tablet and Android smartphone on the LAN. Worked fine until I had to replace faulty hard drive on the iMac a year ago. The laptop appears to automatically log onto the LAN. But I can not seem to log onto the LAN from my iMac anymore. Although, both computers appear in the laptop's Win7 Network window!? Asks me for a p/w to log my iMac onto the LAN, but I have long forgotten it, or don't remember exactly what p/w its asking for anyway. Could it be asking for a HOMEGROUP p/w; or a WORKGROUP p/w; or a network p/w; or the router p/w; or what? The terms HOMEGROUP and WORKGROUP both seem to crop up!? It all seems so muddled and out of control now. I'm thinking maybe I should just delete the existing LAN and create a new one from scratch. But I don't know how to go about doing this. Any advice, or where might I find instructions on how to do this myself, i.e. remove existing LAN, and then create a new one? Thx.

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Few if any LANs require a login.
Feb 17, 2016 10:02AM PST

Unless we talk about WLAN (WiFi) connections. So I'm going to not write about that here and guess you are talking about connecting to a Windows Share.

If you forgot all about your usernames and passwords you create new ones and add that user to the share. But I find folk getting lost on that. How about enabling the Guest account on Windows 7? Here's a link you can choose what you understand from.

https://www.google.com/#q=enable+guest+account+windows+7

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LAN Login
Feb 17, 2016 8:04PM PST

Hello Mr. Proffitt ...

Thanks for the reply.

I want to be able to access, via my iMac, the files/folders on my Win7 that I've designated for LAN sharing. Similarly, I want to be able to access, via my Win7, the files/folders on my iMac that I've designated for LAN sharing. In fact, the latter actually still works, but not the former.

It seemed to be relatively easy when I initially created my home LAN a few years ago. But I assume from your silence re. possibly deactivating or deleting my existing LAN configurations and starting over again to create a new LAN homegroup from scratch, that this is not a viable option!?

I'm not really talking about WiFi. I have no problems with WiFi on my Win7 and on my iMac for accessing the Internet and my wireless printer through my common TP-LINK router.

I'm also not familiar with what you mean by Windows Share. Is Windows Share a LAN based network? Is it the same thing as a Win7 Guest account? How would a Win7 Guest account give me the 2-way LAN file/folder sharing I need, as per above?

If, as you say, few LANs require login, why am I being asked to enter a password from my iMac when I click on the name of my Win7 that appears in my iMac's Network window in Finder? I don't recall having to provide a password in the past when the LAN seemed to be working properly.

What password is it asking/looking for? Is it the password for the administrator account on my Win7 (which is the only user account on the Win7 besides the Guest account), or the network password which I can't seem to locate in any Win7 or iMac network configuration file(s)? None of the passwords I know of seem to work to give me access to the shared Win7 files/folders from my iMac. Double checking the shared files/folders on both computers has confirmed that sharing is in fact turned on on both. And, strangely, accessing the shared iMac files/folders from my Win7 seems to work without a password! What am I doing wrong! Could it possibly only be an iMac problem???

Win7 has a way for me to view the LAN network's homegroup password, but the displayed password doesn't work for LAN network access of the Win7 from my iMac. Also, this homegroup password seems to change every time I ask Win7 to display it. There seems to be a more confusing array of passwords for using a LAN than when I originally created the LAN network.

If this issue appears to require a bigger "fix" than could be indicated via this forum, could you please suggest any other resource(s) I should consider exploring?

Thank you ... Phlurim

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Sorry
Feb 17, 2016 8:35PM PST

But in all that I couldn't find a clear question. Maybe you need a treatise on Windows networking but my thought was to keep it simple by enabling the Guest account. Sorry that didn't work out.

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Thanks
Feb 18, 2016 1:42PM PST

OK. Thanks for the help. At least I know now that it is probably going to be a bigger job than I had hoped.

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One last check.
Feb 18, 2016 2:01PM PST

Did you enable the guest account? Sometimes folk don't try that and we are left with a bigger mystery. That is, there is some other areas to look into but I cover basics first and HomeGroup may be the wrong choice for network shares with Apples. Let's find out.

https://support.apple.com/kb/PH18709?locale=en_US did not mention HomeGroup

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LAN problem
Feb 19, 2016 4:47AM PST

Hi,
I have a Win7 box and an iMac (actually a couple) on the same network and this is how I connect to each of them.
When I first double click on the icon for the Win box, I get a login dialog box. It usually contains my name, the one I am logged into the iMac as.
I remove that name and substitute it for the username of the Administrator on the Win box. I then sign in as that person, using that username and password.

Basically, whatever name and password you would normally use to log onto the Win box, is the one you use when logging in from the iMac.
Gives you access to everything.
YMMV

P