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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
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2 Answers2

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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.

John
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  • I am on a private network, and that option does not appear. – acl Sep 12 '21 at 13:53
  • Did you click on All Networks at the bottom. The option is there on my two Windows 10 machines and 1 Windows 11 pre-release machine. The option was not removed. Scroll down right to the bottom of the first screen. – John Sep 12 '21 at 13:55
  • The option is definitely not there, and yes, I've clicked on "All networks". I would know, I've used it a dozen times before. As I said in the question, it has disappeared on this machine. – acl Sep 12 '21 at 13:58
  • Run a Windows 10 Repair Install. I amended my answer accordingly. Repair Install should fix this issue. – John Sep 12 '21 at 14:02
  • Password Protected Sharing does not exist on any of my systems, and this is not a recent change, since my work machine is running 1909. The rest of the systems are running 21H1. The issue appears to be connected to a domain group policy and/or workgroup. – Ramhound Sep 13 '21 at 16:25
  • My screen shot shows the Password Protected sharing (setting to turn ON / OFF) and exists on all my Windows machines (all Pro and all machines) – John Sep 13 '21 at 16:26
  • @John - The machine must have the required group policy enabled. I can show you a screenshot that shows it missing. I can say with 1,000,000% certainty there isn't any wrong with the Windows installation I am using. – Ramhound Sep 13 '21 at 16:26
  • No. I do not use Group Policies much and this is a Windows Setting natively in Windows. Same setting in Windows 7 (just looked) and also in Windows 8 (going from memory). – John Sep 13 '21 at 16:28
  • @Ramhound In my case, it was an AD domain. – acl Sep 14 '21 at 08:36
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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
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