Windows 2000 folder sharing

[AlfCraft07]

I recently reinstalled Windows 2000 due to issues I mentioned in another thread, so now I would like to share my user folder onto the network. The problem is, the user doesn't have a password, but other computers trying to access it keep asking for credentials. On the previous installation back in August, I managed to enable seamless network access to the 2000 installation, however a bit of time has passed and I just forgot about it, so I can't figure out how I did it and it's driving me insane. Doing the same exact steps on my XP installation without simple file sharing, I'm able to access the files from the other computers just fine. If you can, some help may be appreciated.

[AlfCraft07]

UPDATE 1: Somehow, overnight the problem got fixed on its own. I didn't make any changes. Strange, but now this is a step ahead till my network share is back up as before (in my network of course). But I noticed that, when the other computers couldn't access 2000, 2000 couldn't access the other computers as well, giving errors like "Service not started". So I guess, that might be the cause: after rebooting and leaving the PC AFK overnight, it may have worked because it could take the time to start the service it needs (if you know which one it is please tell me). When I got the ability to connect to 2000, 2000 could also connect to other computers in the network.

[RetroLizard]

This is an easy fix. On Windows 2000, and all other NT-based Windows past 2000, you'll need to create a user/password and make sure it's the exact same on each computer in the local network that you want to share.

Once the account is created, give it sharing permissions on the Windows 2000 computer. If you want to access it from any other computer, you'll need to switch to that same account temporarily.

[AlfCraft07]

As I mentioned previously, the problem just fixed itself by leaving the PC running for a period of time, after which I was able to access the share without any password. I was also able to do so on my previous installation. It seemed to be an issue with the service starting way later than the system itself, as trying to access the local computers in My Network Places right after logging in just gave me a "Workgroup is not accessible. The service has not been started." error. Rebooting the PC luckily didn't cause the others to ask for a password, and right now I am able to access the share from Windows 11 build 26200.5001 just fine. Now the service (which one?) seems to have started at the right time as now Local Computers in My Network Places works as normal.

[AlfCraft07]

UPDATE 2: While other computers connect to 2000 just fine without the password, the problem with the service on My Network Places is back, so I can't connect to other computers (the only way I can do it is typing \\NAME-PC in the address bar). Could you please tell me which service is the "stopped service" it needs to work? All network-related services seem to be running, and even restarting them yields no results.

[AlfCraft07]

During further investigation actually I discovered that the "service not started" is in fact the non-master browser status of the PC: if I shut down all the other PCs on the network and then retry, it loads the Local Computers page with all the computer names, and still does after I turn the other computers back on, I think because the Master Browser is now the 2000 installation. However actually it should work even if it's not Master Browser. Anyway, I fixed this last problem (kinda) by setting IsDomainMaster to TRUE in HKLM/System/CurrentControlSet/Services/Browser/Parameters so when 2000 is on it's always the master browser.

[AlfCraft07]

UPDATE 3 - Final conclusion: I fixed the problem by forcing the 2000 installation to become Master Browser on connection, and stopping my Windows 11 PCs from being able to be elected as such. When the Master Browser is my Windows 8.1 computer, Windows 2000 is able to access the workgroup just fine. Turns out that there is something in Windows 11 that is deprecated and disabled by default, that doesn't allow Windows 2000 PCs (using SMB1) to access workgroups.

[xyz]

in gpedit.msc there are multiple settings for file sharing and network security, such as "Network Security: LAN Manager authentication level" (=send LM and NTLM answers), "Do not save lan manager hashes" (=disabled) and allow anonymous login/browsing... you gotta lower all security related settings to make older windows versions work. i personally can access win11 shares via win3.1 doing so (however, using \\ip\folder mounted as network share). the amount of backwards compatibility is insane.