Windows 10: New Windows 10 PC: credentials to access others on network

Hi, I'm setting up a new Windows 10 Home Premium PC and I have it connected to my router with an Ethernet cable.

I have my old Windows 7 machine also connected to the router with a cable.

When I try to access the Win7 PC from the Win10 PC, I'm asked to Enter network credentials. It won't accept the usernames and passwords I've tried.

I found this thread that may have the answer but I didn't understand how to implement the solution: Network Credentials

Previously, an IT guy told me to use the same ID and password for all machines on my network to avoid problems like I'm having (as may be mentioned in the above referenced thread) but I don't understand how one identifies between the different computers on the network when they have the same names.

Assistance to allow me to use my new Windows 10 machine on my network would be greatly appreciated.

:)

 

Network Credentials - Windows 10

I have two home PC's one started with Windows 10 and the other PC started with Windows 7. The PC that started with Windows 7 could see the other PC, but not vice versa. I would adjust the network settings and get the two to see each other's files and I was
able to share my printer. This would last for a while then when I needed to access some file or to print from my other PC, it was not working. I would then readjust the network settings. This process would be repeated a number of times and checking Window
10 help did not produce a long lasting solution.

I finally found a suggestion from a Microsoft support person suggesting to check the Credential Manager and how to access the Credential manager. In Control Panel and with the view set to Large Icons, I could find Credential Manager. In Credential Manager
there were two Tabs or options "Web Credentials" and "Windows Credentials". Since I was concerned about my network, I selected "Windows Credentials". In that section I could see the name of my other PC, but could not find a way to insure my Credentials that
I was using were correct nor could I find a way to edit the Credentials. I decided to use "Add a Windows Credential". So I changed the name of my other PC then using "Add a Windows Credential" I added the information that I wanted to use to access that PC,
this allowed me to set (for the 10th time) sharing of my files and folders and match it to a set of credentials. Once this aspect of networking was solved, I then could easily share my printer (a non-wireless printer), because when setting up the printer on
the second machine, now the printer information was available to select.

Since this change was made I have had no problems networking or printing. Not sure if there is another way to fix the issue or not. Not sure if I could have kept my other PC's name and still used "Add a Windows credential" and whether it would allow the
addition or not. I have not tried that since I had success with what I did. I understand why the Windows Credential manager does not allow a user to edit the credentials, because then a hacker would have easy access to the credentials and thus all the other
PC's

 

Windows 10 Home Network

 

Welcome to the TenForums @ixodid

Head to your Win 7 machine, right click on the network icon in systray (lower right), click on Open Network and Sharing, upper left click change advance sharing settings. You should be in Private Network section. Last entry in this section, Homegroup Connections, click use accounts and passwords.

Then on Windows 10 machine enter the user name from your Windows 7 machine, like John or Owner, and then enter the password you use to sign into that machine.

Your old IT guy want you to use the same user name and password, not necessarily the same Computer name. My computer name is desktop31, my user name is Ken.

 

I was having the problem that my machines(3 hardware, 1 VM) could not see each other, or even them selves in Network inside of File Explorer.
Long Story shortened to avoid any confusion:
I eventually figured out, to run the setup for Homegroup on each machine, they then saw each other without being "connected" via the password. I then shut off Homegroup on all the machines, and they remained in Network in file explorer, so I could send and delete files back and forth, even run installers from another machine.

 

Hi Ken, I appreciate your response.

I followed your instructions on the Win 7 machine. Now it's asking for a password to login. I've never had to log in before and I don't have a password. How can I get back into the Win 7 machine?

And is there a way to do this without using HomeGroup? I was advised not to use HomeGroup and since did additional research and found some compelling reasons to not use HomeGroup.

Thank you

 

What user name name and password were you trying if you didn't have a password? Not understanding.

If you don't have a password you could just try hitting enter. The route you were going does not use Homegroup. Not sure what you read about Homegroup, lots of people use.