How to fix share access issues where user name and password are requested

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 13:54:09 Z

Sometimes, you will install the connector on a PC, create a user on Windows Home Server that matches the user you're logged in as locally, and yet you get asked for a user name and password when you try to view a share on the server. This may occur because Windows distinguishes between the user name and the display name. The display name is what's shown on the logon screen on the client, or in the standard User Accounts applet in Control Panel. The user name is the actual user that logs in. Sometimes, particularly on PCs from OEMs, there will be a default account when the computer is set up, and that account's display name will be changed as part of setup. Changing the display name doesn't affect the user name, however, and it's the user name that Windows Home Server uses to authenticate.

You'll need to inspect the user names in the Advanced User Accounts Control Panel. On the client that's not connecting successfully:

Start → Run → type 'control userpasswords2' → press Enter.
If you are using Windows Vista and have UAC turned on, there will be a confirmation prompt. Confirm that you want to do this and continue.
There will be one or more user names listed. Probably none of them will match the user you think you're logged in as. You can find out who you are actually logged in as by running the command echo %username% in a DOS command prompt.
Find the user that was returned from the DOS command above, or select each user in turn and click on the Properties button. You will find that one user will show a 'Full Name' that matches who you think you're logged in as. Change that user's 'User Name' to match the logon name of the appropriate user on Windows Home Server.

The Advanced User Accounts Control Panel is not the only interface available in Windows for changing the user name, but it's the most straightforward. You can safely change the user name without causing any problems; the display name will remain associated with it, as will any files or folders that are owned, etc.