Goal: allow any person from any windows PC (these include 98se, XP and Vista machines) on my workgroup access to shared partitions on my main PC w/o having to enter a username/password. I had no problems setting this up when my PC was running XP and Vista. But I just upgraded to Windows 7. When I try to connect using my XP PC I get a request for a username and password. The bigger issue is the Windows 98 PC: it can see my main PC in Network Neighborhood, but when I try to connect to it to access the shared partitions, it comes back with a "\\MAIN is not accessible. This request is not supported by the network." However, the 98 PC accesses the XP PCs shares w/o problems, and the XP PC accesses the 98 PCs shares w/o problems. In addition, the Win 7 PC accesses both the XP and 98 shares w/o problems. So what do I need to do? Windows 7 network settings: current profile (Work), Network discovery is on, file and printer sharing is on, public folder sharing is on (anyone with network access can read and write files in the Public folders), Media streaming is off, Password protected sharing is off. Also, can someone tell me why my Main Win 7 User folders were shared by default after running the network wizard in win 7?!?

Hi, How do you run Network Wizard in Windows 7? Can you write down the detail procedure? Regarding the connection issue, it can occur by incorrect network settings on Windows 98 and Windows 7 machine. You can refer to the following steps to troubleshoot the issue. 1. Temporarily disable all firewall on each machine and router (if it has). 2. Please refer to the suggestions from the link below to enable NTLM 2 for Windows 98. 3. Use the method from the link below to share folder. Pleasemake sure to modifythe "LMCompatibilityLevel" registry value on Windows 7 machine. File and Printer Sharing in Windows Vista If the issue persists, please collect the error message and Netmon file for research. Collect the Netmon file ========================= a. Download NetMon3.3 from the following website and install it on the computer http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=983b941d-06cb-4658-b7f6-3088333d062f b. Launch NetMon3.3. c. In the Microsoft Network Monitor 3.3 window, click Create a new capture tab d. In the new tab, select all the Network Adapters in the Select Networks window. e. Then, switch to Network Monitor, press F5 to start NetMon. f. Try to access the target computer again. When it failed, go to step 7. g. Go back to the NetMon window and press F7 to stop the NetMon. h. Press Ctrl+S to save the Netmon file named test. Then please upload to SkyDrive (www.skydrive.live.com ) and share the link to me. Thanks, Novak

Thank you for your response. While I am working on this, maybe someone could answer what changed in Networking from Vista to 7 that we have to jump through hoops to do something that was relatively easy before? I never had to find/install any special updates on my XP or Win98 PCs to make them see/access shares on my Vista PC, nor did I have to change any registry settings. I could just connect w/o having to login with a username and password.

3. Use the method from the link below to share folder. Pleasemake sure to modifythe "LMCompatibilityLevel" registry value on Windows 7 machine. File and Printer Sharing in Windows Vista How/what do I update the LMCompatibilityLevel registry value on the Win7 machine? Searching the registry did not find one. If I did create a key, the link says not to change it to 1, so what do I change it to? 3 to match the Win98 PC? Also, explain in detail how to create this key, as I really don't want screw up this installation.

There is a little difference between Windows 7 and Windows Vista but most network settings are the same. After performing further research, I suggest we perform the suggestions from the link below for a test. Networking between Vista and w98 Please Note: Microsoft provides third-party contact information to help you find technical support. This contact information may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this third-party contact information. Thanks, Novak

Novak, Thank you once again for your reply. The link you referenced did not solve my issue. One thing I did note, for whatever reason by default the LMCompatibility key did not even exist in my installation, but running the secpol.msc program did create it. Unfortunately, changing those settings removed visibility of my Win 7 PC from the network. So, on a whim I reinstalled Vista on a separate partition. Immediately after installation, w/o installing any SPs or updates, I set up my shares (network discovery on, file sharing on, password protected sharing off). The Win 98 PC was able to see the Vista PC and connect to the shares, just as I wanted to, no changes to the registry, no need to set up special logins and passwords consistent across computers, no need to activate the guest account. While I appreciate your time/research, I have spent too much time/energy on this issue, so I am reverting back to Vista, since it works simply as I want it to. For what it is worth, and this is my own personal feedback, Windows 7 networking is not good. I didn't like the Homegroup feature at all, and I really didn't like the lack of simplicity in setting up my non-domain network (which has ultimately resulted in me abandoning Win 7 for use on my main PC). And I really did not like that running the network wizard (work, non-domain, public folders shared) resulted in the User folder being shared by default (apparently, based on my research, this is a feature, probably a result of the new Libraries feature in Windows 7, which I do not like either). For reference, I did try everything under both Win 7 Pro and Home Premium, 64-bit versions.