I am trying to map a network share between two Windows 7 machines. The server machine that will host the folder we'll call \\server-comp has been setup to allow the user 'bob' to have read access. The user 'bob' on the server computer has a password. The user 'bob' is the only one given access, Administrator has been removed as a user allowed access on the server machine hosting the shared folder. I am connecting from a Windows 7 client with now user password and no user 'bob'. I can see the \\server-comp machine when I go to the Network section in windows explorer. My expectation is that when I double click on this machine, it will then prompt me for a username and password with which to connect, which I'd enter in as bob/pass and be good to go and see all the shared folders bob has access to on the server. The only thing I see is this error: \\server-comp is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of this server to find out if you have access permissions. Logon failure: user account restriction. Possible reasons are blank passwords are not allowed, logon hour restrictions, or a policy restriction has been enforced. Now it never even gives me a chance to enter a username and password to get access. Here's the kicker, I can access the folder from my Mac! My Mac seems to be smart enough to say 'hey, i need to get your access info' and asks me for my username and password, then when I give it it connects just fine. How in the world is Microsoft making it more complex to connect to their own product than from a Mac?!?

Hello sdr984 In the server machine, give the user bob a password, then on the client access machine, give the user bob the same password. When both the user in the server and on the access client have matching credentials, access will be granted. What's happening is that when the server gets credentials that is username/blankpw it's denied due to policy. I don't work much with peer to peer so I don't know if Win7 has this policy by default or not but my guess is that it to avoid internal disctionary attacks and blank password attacks. Not that I dislike MAC's but why do you assume that the MAC is smarter because it allows this to work. The MAC's 'apparent ease of use' has an associated security risk. Anyways, change password protected sharing and this should go away. Miguel Miguel Fra / Falcon IT Services Computer & Network Support, Miami, FL Visit our Knowledgebase and Support Sharepoint Site