Network password - NOT homegroup password

Hi,
I have searched for this using the www and this forum and couldnt find a solution.

Untill yesterday my homegroup was working just fine. Two laptops / home premium / windows 7.

Now when I try to access it I am prompted for a Network user name and password, the same promt giving details of my domain. This is not my homegroup password, I know where and how to find / use it. I have renamed pc's tried setting up homegroup again etc etc. Incidently I cant change the share options on any of my folders now, they are all locked to 'Nobody'.

Can anyone help as it appears to have support from Microsoft for their product I'll have to pay pardon my igronance but if I sold a product with constant updates I wont charge for the support.......

Am i missing the point here

how someone can help

Pete

Is your system on a domain?

The locked to Nobody shows on mine also, but I have a Share with Specific People option I can select. Are you unable to do that?

Can you do anything that takes administrator rights? Have you tried disconnecting from the network to see if it makes a difference?

Hi Thanks for your reply. No i'm not on a Domain. The prompt just gives details of my pc name. It just labeled 'domain:PETE-Laptop' I have full admin rights and can make system wide changes, on both machines. I can not add share with specific people (I have tried, just doesnt do anything) I have disconnected from network, + new homegroup etc etc. Its bugging me a bit now as I frequently share files between the two laptops. Like i said earlier, its was working fine until this week!

(you may correct me on the domain part, to the best of my knowledge im not)

I'm having the same problem. My homegroup, consisting of a desktop pc and laptop, was working fine in both directions 2 days ago. Today, if I click into the homegroup on the laptop I'm asked for a username and password. I've tried leaving both fields blank, entering various username and password combinations of one or the other and both. I've restored my laptop to its state of 2 days ago. I've left the homegroup on both machines and then rejoined under different passwords. I've set my advance network sharing options to not require passwords on each and both computers. anywho, none of this is working. If any of you who have experienced this problem and found a solution, please let me know. Thanks!

If it was working and now it isn't, then something had to change. Possibly an update to Windows, which I would not think happened, or an update to some anti-virus or firewall program.

Have you gotten any updates or done anything that might have messed with the ports the Homegroup uses? I do not normally use Homegroups, but it asking for a username and password would seem to indicate something beside the Homegroup was involved. Have you changed any usernames or computer names or IP addresses?

as far as i can remember is the username and password of the laptop or computer your trying to access, if there is no password leave the password box blank

Originally Posted by Saltgrass

If it was working and now it isn't, then something had to change. Possibly an update to Windows, which I would not think happened, or an update to some anti-virus or firewall program.

Have you gotten any updates or done anything that might have messed with the ports the Homegroup uses? I do not normally use Homegroups, but it asking for a username and password would seem to indicate something beside the Homegroup was involved. Have you changed any usernames or computer names or IP addresses?

Thanks for the thoughts. A windows update did indeed take place between the time it was working and the time it wasn't. I restored the laptop computer to it's pre-update state but that did not do the trick. It still asks for the username and password when I want to access files on the desktop via the homegroup. Also note that the same windows update was performed on my desktop computer but it has no problem in accessing the laptop files through the homegroup.

Originally Posted by kaos

as far as i can remember is the username and password of the laptop or computer your trying to access, if there is no password leave the password box blank

Thanks but I'm afraid that doesn't do the trick. When I said I tried leaving both username and password blank and entering various username and password combinations of one or the other and both, entering no password was one of those various combinations.

On which machine did you create the homegroup? What does it say on both machines in the Network and Sharing Center window next to Homegroup:?

When you mention joining the homegroup with different passwords, where did you get these passwords? Are you referring to multiple Homegroup creations generating new passwords?

Edit: I also just remembered when you set the files for sharing you have an option of whether to share the files with the homegroup, or a specific person, and one more option, I believe. You might check and make sure all the files you have shared in the homegroup are set up correctly. If you need to test, you could limit exactly what the homegroup shares to one item instead of all. Maybe you could narrow down one group that was causing problems.

SOLUTION!!! I'm not sure what voodoo is going on here, but here's a 2-step process that worked on my machine to clear the username/ password problem. Step 1: I changed the computer name on the offending machine (the computer asking for the username and password) by removing one character. For that to take affect, you need to reboot and so I did. Step 2: After rebooting, I changed the computer name back to what it was by replacing the missing character. PROBLEM SOLVED!! I am now able to access the files on the other computer through the homegroup network. I found this solution on another forum. That is to say it has worked for two of us now. My machines are using Windows 7 home premium. Any idears on what voodoo is going on here? Thanks to all of you who offered ideas.