Readers like you help support MUO. When you make a purchase using links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Read More.

I read the MakeUseOf article about building a LAN without a router. (https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/build-local-area-network-router/)

However, while the other PCs show up on the network I can't open any resources on them. It asks for a network password even though those PCs don't have one. What can I do to fix this? I'm using Windows 7.

Emmanuel Asuncion
2013-06-22 02:00:14
You must specify first what file you want to share. Go to Public Documents>right click>properties>sharing tab>share and choose recipient.
MAKEUSEOF VIDEO OF THE DAY
SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT
Flavius Graur
2013-01-22 03:32:54
Windows XP and later have a policy active by default that prevents anyone outside from connecting if there is no password set. One thing you can try (which always worked for me) is to disable that policy. To do this(in Win 7) you need to open "Local Security Policy" (found in Control Panel>Administrative Tools) and inside, in Local Policies select Security Options.On the list on the righthand side you need to disable"Accounts: Limit local account use of blank passwords to console logon only".If problems still occur, you could try also disabling "Network Access: Restrict anonymous access to named pipes and shares" and enabling "Network Access: Let Everyone permissions apply to anonymous users"
Nikhil Chandak
2012-12-30 06:00:08
check these - http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/build-local-area-network-router/ - by MUO http://www.labnol.org/software/wireless-network-without-router/11494/or I think u can also get a video for this on youtube or on daily-motion
2012-12-29 23:41:15
I'm assuming you actually mean "without a file server", since you must have a router or to be assigning IP addresses to the computers... if you had a smart switch with DCHP, I doubt you'd be asking this question at all.ha14 has the simplest solution to your problem.
Zaid Zidan
2012-12-29 23:09:37
I went through this too and I tried everything just as others have wrote, but for some reason nothing helped ... I found that the easiest way to get access is to put a password on every computer (it wants a password even though there's none, give it a password)
Christopher Clark
2012-12-29 21:20:18
Both are great but the option that i do is just type in the computername\username and then the password. this is expanding on Jan's second idea also. so if you are trying to access computerA while at computerB you would type computerA\user1 and then the pass. this is assuming you are sharing a folder with everyone on computer A.
Jack Cola
2012-12-29 23:18:50
Maybe you want to have a look into Connectify.me.Connect your computer to your modem via a LAN cable, set Connectify to share over WiFi, then connect to the new WiFi network you created to share the internet and files between computers.At the moment, I am using Connectify to connect my desktop computer to the internet via my laptop's WiFi connection because my desktop PC doesn't have WiFi, nor do I have a LAN cable. This is only a temporary option for me thought.
Ijtaba Alavi
2012-12-29 20:45:51
Or just goto network and sharing center and then click on Change Advanced Sharing Settings from the left panethen, explore all available options under:Private (Current profile), Guest or Public, All Networks,choose what to keep turn on and what to turn offand read the description of everything thereyou will not get any problem of this type in future :)else the simple answer is turn off Password Protected Sharing under "All Network" Section !
Benoit Bourgeault
2012-12-29 20:40:51
You can use a "Homegroup", see the following: -http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Create-a-homegroup-http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/homegroup-help#homegroup-start-to-finish=windows-7&v1h=win8tab1&v2h=win7tab1
Benoit Bourgeault
2012-12-29 20:49:10
This one is more detailed.[EMBED_YT]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVG7cM9QChk[/EMBED_YT]
Ijtaba Alavi
2012-12-29 20:35:35
Having password is not only the way of protecting data over the networkcheck if those computers have turned on file sharing on home group and turn on all media sharing too and do the same settigns for home and puclic networks then see.And if it still asks for the password than just put the username (name of that pc) in the username place and leave the password blank and press enter, you should get the access
ha14
2012-12-29 07:09:59
Control Panel - Network and Sharing Center - Change Advanced Sharing Settings Expand Home or Work Network Discovery ONFile and printer sharing ONPublic Folder Sharing ONMedia Streaming OffEnable file sharing 40-56 encryption machines (if XP/2000 etc PCs in workgroup)Password Protected Sharing OFF
Jan Fritsch
2012-12-29 01:43:44
You will have to change the security options to allow file sharing without authentication.http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/w7itpronetworking/thread/16e3c166-0dda-4015-a8a0-8aaf8697c60ahttp://blog.qdigi.com/2012/02/windows-7-folder-sharing-with-no.htmlOr you simply input the account name and passwords of one of the users on the remote computer you are trying to access.