2

A few months ago, I set up a network share and disabled password protected sharing, so that anyone on my local network could access this share. It worked until a week ago.

Now, people who try to access this share are asked for my username and password. I don't remember changing anything. The "password-protected sharing" setting in the control panel has disappeared:

control panel screenshot

I don't remember changing any settings. I have Windows 10 20H2, build 19042.1165.

How can I disable password-protected sharing again?

acl
  • 211
  • 1
  • 3
  • 5

2 Answers2

3

Make sure you are on a Private Network (likely here) and Password Protected sharing is (a) still there and (b) on the second screen in.

Open Advanced Network and Sharing center and down at the bottom, click on All Networks.

Screen Shots to illustrate:

First screen and click on all networks

.

All Networks

If for whatever reason the option is not there, run a Windows 10 Repair install and use the option to Keep Everything.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

Windows 10 is running, so click on the Download button (not Upgrade Button) and select Run.

2

The setting was not available because I had joined an Active Directory domain, which presumably forced password-protected sharing.

I left the domain, and the option is back in the control panel.

acl
  • 211
  • 1
  • 3
  • 5