Win98 peer2peer network password problem

1st of all thanks for the great website ! With the help of your guide I have set up a peer2peer network between my 2 PCs pretty successfully. The PCs each appear OK in Network Neighbourhood on the other PC. PC 'A' can see, browse and use the shared drive on PC 'B'. But when I try to access PC 'A' from PC 'B' Win98 asks for a network password in order to make the connection. I am unaware of having done anything to cause this but I can't guess the password or find where its value is stored so I'm stuck. As I'm planning to get a cable modem internet connection fitted to PC 'A' and shared between both machines I'm anxious to get the problem sorted.
I thought I might have found the answer in your archive (Thread No. 849 started 17/4/01) but the remedy you provided there doesn't work for me - right clicking My Computer doesn't bring up a context menu which includes Manage option.
Details of the PCs and set up are :-
PC 'A' 700 MHz Athlon with Win98 Ist Edition upgraded to include SP1 and other critical updates
PC 'B' 1.1 GHz Athlon with Win98 2nd Edition
Both PCs have identical network configs :-
- Client for Microsoft Networks (Primary Network Logon)
- Dial Up Adapter
- Netgear FA311 Fast Ethernet PCI Adapter
- Netbeui->FA311..........
- TCP/IP->Dial Up Adapter
- TCP/IP->Netgear FA311....
- File & Printer sharing for Microsoft Networks
All drives have been shared as Access Type Full with no passwords.
Share Level Access Control has been implemented.
A proper cross-over cable is in use.
Everything would be fine if only I could get rid of the wretched password or find out how to establish its value.
Any help you can offer will be hugely appreciated 'cos I'm baffled ! I'm not even sure which of the 2 PCs is really presenting the problem !
Alastair Morton

1. RE: Win98 peer2peer network password problem
lbyard Sep-03-01 06:24 PM
In response to message 0

"Both PCs have identical network configs" PC names must be unique. Larry

2. RE: Win98 peer2peer network password problem
mortonad Sep-04-01 09:40 PM
In response to message 1

Larry,
Larry,
I'm sorry - computer names are unique - it's the protocols & services that are identical. By the way my son & friend are (in my absence)successfully playing games in LAN mode across the 2 PCs - seemingly further proof the basic network is fully functional.
Thanks very much for your time. Any furher help will be greatly appreciated. I've scoured many sources & techie friends but still baffled.
Alastair

3. RE: Win98 peer2peer network password problem
lbyard Sep-05-01 05:20 AM
In response to message 2

Using the Windows Explorer, right click the drive on PC A, select Properties, and verify that Under Access Type, “Depends on Password” is not Selected. Be sure the share name does not have a $ in it. Larry

4. RE: Win98 peer2peer network password problem
mortonad Sep-08-01 11:55 AM
In response to message 3

Larry,
Thanks. Checked all drives on PC A and everything OK there I'm afraid. New clues however - the dialogue box which comes up demanding the password refers to PC A as :-
Resource: \\A\IPC$
I've found references to problems with exactly this dialogue with regard to Win98 clients connecting to Win2k servers but noone seems to have seen this problem between 2 Win98 computers.
I read that IPC$ is a hidden share, presumably in my case on PC A, which requires a password in order to allow a connection. How it got there on my PC and how the password got set seems a mystery.
I'm still searching for more info but I hope this may give you some more to work on for me. I apologise for not mentioning the resource name earlier - I just assumed it was a normal convention used by Win98.
Many thanks again for your efforts,
Alastair

5. RE: Win98 peer2peer network password problem
mortonad Sep-08-01 12:02 PM
In response to message 4

Larry,
Me again - if you want to see an example of the dialogue box have a look at this :-
www.homenethelp.com/web/howto/win2k-ipc-error.asp
The article may give food for thought too
Regards,
Alastair

6. RE: Win98 peer2peer network password problem
lbyard Sep-09-01 04:02 PM
In response to message 5

Now I see the problem. I disconnected my NT file server to get rid of the NT domain controller. The solution is in mskb 258717, Configuring Windows 2000 Professional to Work in a Peer-to-Peer Workgroup, at http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q291/6/43.ASP?LN=EN-US&SD=gn&FR=0&qry=cable&rnk=5&src=DHCS_MSPSS_gn_SRCH&SPR=OL2002, starting at paragraph 3.
An aside… I am about to get rid of that bothersome server, and try to convert it to Linux (mainly just to do it, I am getting rusty on UNIX, and want to do some local Perl stuff/learning without having to use ActivePerl on the NT server), and dropping the use of a domain, which I don't really need for security, as all of my computers are now in my home/office/shop and only used by my family. Larry

7. RE: Win98 peer2peer network password problem
mortonad Sep-10-01 02:26 PM
In response to message 6

Larry,
Many thanks again. I think we're gradually homing in on the problem but we're not there yet I'm afraid.
The URL for mskb258717 is actually
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q258/7/17.ASP?LN=EN-US&SD=gn&FR=0&qry=Q258717&rnk=1&src=DHCS_MSPSS_gn_SRCH&SPR=OL2002, just in case anyone else wants to follow this up.
Because both my PCs are Win98 the instructions can't be followed exactly but I've tried the equivalent matching of username and password to no avail.
I've found a couple of references to editing the following registry key :-
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Vxd\Vnetsup
It's suggested that setting the value of the key "EnablePlainTextPassword" to 1 will help in some way with IPC$ password problems. Does this give you a lead at all or make any sense? I assume the idea is to enable you to look up the unencrypted value of the IPC$ password which would be great but where would it appear ? When I look it up with Regedit the value for PC "A"is currently set to 01 00 00 00. Is that already set to 1 ? If not what would it look like ?
Any further suggestions will be much appreciated. I must say I never expected creating a peer2peer network would be this hard !
Regards,
Alastair

8. RE: Win98 peer2peer network password problem
lbyard Sep-10-01 06:48 PM
In response to message 7

If Log On To Windows NT Domain is not checked on the Windows on PC B, I would uninstall and reinstall everything network on that computer, otherwise uncheck it. Larry

9. RE: Win98 peer2peer network password problem
mortonad Sep-16-01 09:06 AM
In response to message 8

Larry,
Many thanks again. PC B is definitely not checked for NT Domain so we'll do the uninstall/reinstall and let you know what happens. It's very helpful to get your view on which machine is the problem. Do you mean uninstall should include physically the NIC as well ?
Regards,
Alastair