For years and years I've been writing LibreOffice documents on my
laptop computer running Windows 7, and saving them on my desktop
computer,running Windows XP (which is attached to the printer).

This morning, when I wanted to save the3 document in the Shared
Documents folder, and it asked for a user name and password. m

I've never had a user name and password, because it's a home network.

Other than saving the document on a USB flash drive and moving the
file that way, how can I restore network access, and where and how do
I create a username and password so that Windows 7 will let me into
the network again? Do I create it on the laptop or on the desktop?

And why is it suddenly asking for a password when it never asked for
one before?

--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

On Sun, 24 Oct 2021 07:19:31 +0200, Steve Hayes
<hayesstw@telkomsa.net> wrote:

>For years and years I've been writing LibreOffice documents on my
>laptop computer running Windows 7, and saving them on my desktop
>computer,running Windows XP (which is attached to the printer).
>
>This morning, when I wanted to save the3 document in the Shared
>Documents folder, and it asked for a user name and password. m
>
>I've never had a user name and password, because it's a home network.
>
>Other than saving the document on a USB flash drive and moving the
>file that way, how can I restore network access, and where and how do
>I create a username and password so that Windows 7 will let me into
>the network again? Do I create it on the laptop or on the desktop?
>
>And why is it suddenly asking for a password when it never asked for
>one before?

If you have administrator power you can go into the network settings
and remove that.

On 24/10/2021 06:19, Steve Hayes wrote:
>
> For years and years I've been writing LibreOffice documents on my
> laptop computer running Windows 7, and saving them on my desktop
> computer,running Windows XP (which is attached to the printer).
>
> This morning, when I wanted to save the3 document in the Shared
> Documents folder, and it asked for a user name and password. m
>
> I've never had a user name and password, because it's a home network.
>
> Other than saving the document on a USB flash drive and moving the
> file that way, how can I restore network access, and where and how do
> I create a username and password so that Windows 7 will let me into
> the network again? Do I create it on the laptop or on the desktop?
>
> And why is it suddenly asking for a password when it never asked for
> one before?

I'm not clear from the above instructions exactly what you've been
doing, but the best and most secure way to share things between Windows
PCs is to use the same username/password combinations on each PC. On
Vista (I think) and since versions of Windows, that means disabling the
insecure Homegroups, as described below.

Therefore, if you've changed the username and/or password on one PC you
must do the same on the other. Perhaps this is the cause of your problem?

In case it's any help, I append some instructions I posted to someone
previously for how to set up a W7 PC to share with 2k/XP.

Windows Sharing Instructions
============================

IMO, M$'s default sharing arrangements have always been dangerously
insecure. What follows is the comparatively secure
way that I've always set up sharing, ever since Windows 2000.

Note: These are W7 instructions only, other versions of Windows will
obviously be similar but not exactly the same, because of M$'
pointless and idiotic habit of hiding all the control levers in
different places with every new edition of Windows, thus forcing
people continually to relearn everything they've known for years. (Can
you imagine the catastrophic chaos that would result on the roads if
car manufacturers decided to do that?).

In what follows, I assume that you want to create shares on each PC
visible to others, and that none are work PCs authenticating to a domain
server.

On each PC:

1) Go into ...
Control Panel, All Control Panel Items,System,
Advanced system settings, Computer Name, Change
.... and ensure that name and workgroup are changed to something
memorable from the defaults, and that the latter is the same for all
the machines that you wish to share files together.

2) Any user wishing to access a share on a PC must have a user
account on that PC, so set up the necessary accounts up on each PC,
giving them the same logon user id and passwd as they normally use on
their own PC. (If on a particular PC you want a user only to be able
to access a share, but not be able to sign on to it, you still need
his/her account to exist, but then it must be added to a block list in
that PC's security policy - however, this may not be possible on
some lower cost editions of Windows, and is beyond the scope of these
notes).

3) Go into ...
Control Panel, All Control Panel Items,
Network and Sharing Center, Advanced sharing settings
.... and set the following:
Network discovery
Probably on, unless reason otherwise;
File and printer sharing
Probably on, unless reason otherwise;
Public folder sharing
Probably off, unless reason otherwise;
Media streaming
Probably off, unless reason otherwise;
File sharing connections
Use 128-bit, unless reason otherwise;
Password protected sharing
Turn on;
HomeGroup connections
Use user accounts and passwords.

4) On each directory or drive of each machine that you want to
share, creating subdirectories for this as required ...
<rt-click>, Share with,
Advanced sharing, Advanced sharing;
Select Share this folder;
Type a suitable share name
(Note: ending it with a '$' will hide it from
users casually browsing from other Windows PCs,
but Linux users may still see it via Samba);
Type a suitable comment, if required;
Click Permissions, remove the relatively insecure
default permissions offered, and then click ...
Add, Advanced, Find Now
... and by <click>ing and <ctrl-click>ing select and add
the following:
Admininstrators
System
Authenticated Users
... and then give them the following permissions ...
Admininstrators Full Control
System Full Control
Authenticated Users Read or Read/Change
as required

5) If necessary, but DO NOT DO THE FOLLOWING ON THE WINDOWS FOLDER OR
OTHER SYSTEM FOLDERS (hopefully you're not trying to share these anyway,
not normally recommended) including user folders but sub-directories of
the latter that you've created especially to share are perfectly safe ...

<rt-click> the drive or directory being shared
and select ...
Properties
Security
.... and ensure the above permissions are replicated on the drive or
folder itself.

--

Fake news kills!

I may be contacted via the contact address given on my website:
www.macfh.co.uk

On Sun, 24 Oct 2021 at 12:06:52, Java Jive <java@evij.com.invalid> wrote
(my responses usually follow points raised):
>On 24/10/2021 06:19, Steve Hayes wrote:
[]
>> And why is it suddenly asking for a password when it never asked for
>> one before?
[]
>Therefore, if you've changed the username and/or password on one PC you
>must do the same on the other. Perhaps this is the cause of your
>problem?

I _imagine_ he'd have told us if he'd done that sort of thing.
>
>In case it's any help, I append some instructions I posted to someone
>previously for how to set up a W7 PC to share with 2k/XP.
[]
Thanks, saved for reference - though still doesn't answer why Steve's
system suddenly changed how it works!
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

(please reply to group - they also serve who only look and lurk)
(William Allen, 1999 - after Milton, of course)

On Sun, 24 Oct 2021 12:06:52 +0100, Java Jive <java@evij.com.invalid>
wrote:

>On 24/10/2021 06:19, Steve Hayes wrote:

>> I've never had a user name and password, because it's a home network.

>Therefore, if you've changed the username and/or password on one PC you
>must do the same on the other. Perhaps this is the cause of your problem?

I haven'ty changed my user name or password.

My problem is that the computer is asking me to enter a user anme and
password when I never creeated them in the first place, and have been
using it for about 10 years without having to enter one.

--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

On 25/10/2021 03:02, Steve Hayes wrote:
>
> On Sun, 24 Oct 2021 12:06:52 +0100, Java Jive <java@evij.com.invalid>
> wrote:
>>
>> On 24/10/2021 06:19, Steve Hayes wrote:
>
>>> I've never had a user name and password, because it's a home network.

Sorry, missed that on first reading. However, this is an insecure
situation, therefore anyone, say another family member, could have
changed something on either PC.

>> Therefore, if you've changed the username and/or password on one PC you
>> must do the same on the other. Perhaps this is the cause of your problem?
>
> I haven't changed my user name or password.
>
> My problem is that the computer is asking me to enter a user anme and
> password when I never creeated them in the first place, and have been
> using it for about 10 years without having to enter one.

My advice would be to go into Control Panel, User Accounts, check what
user accounts have been set up and their group membership, you won't be
able to tell what passwords they have except by changing them but don't
change anything yet, and then work through my instructions above
checking all the settings mentioned, again not changing anything yet,
noting down all this information as you go, and report it back here.

--

Fake news kills!

I may be contacted via the contact address given on my website:
www.macfh.co.uk