Windows 10: Password Elimination

Operating a wired Ethernet LAN that connects this Windows-10 computer with other Windows-8.1, Windows-7 and Linux computers, I am constantly frustrated by demands for user IDs and passwords when attempting to access one machine from another. Such security on a local wired network is absolutely unnecessary and very exasperating.

I'm reduced to transferring files via flash drives. I'd like to obtain file system display and file transfer among these computers totally without reference to passwords. Is it possible to do this? Can someone recommend documentation? Is there an app available that uses the TCP/IP system software independent of Microsoft's security concerns?

Thank you for your attention.

:)

 

Eliminate passwords

The fact is, every time a computer connects to the internet it leaves the private home. Attackers today are as effective from thousands of miles away as if they were sitting right next to us. And since our OP is against passwords, their only user account
must have Administrator permissions. As soon as that computer is hacked, not only does the attacker have unfettered access to the system, they can also use the computer to attack other systems. And all this will happen without the OP's knowledge.

Of course, password protection is no guarantee against attack. But it's one of the many layers that goes into hardening a computer against attack. And that's the idea ... put up as many roadblocks as you can in the hope of persuading an attacker to go away.

I personally would not counsel someone to remove password protection from their computer just as I would not counsel them to remove it from their network or their router or to prevent updates or to disable their malware protection. If it was only their own
computer being put at risk, then as they say in America: "It's a free country." But it's not only the OP's computer that's at risk; it's every computer that the OP's computer can harm. That could include websites that I might need for my livelihood or that
might infect my mother's computer.

 

Eliminate passwords

Sure.

If you only have one account, you won't even have to click on anything.

Setup a local account (only account on the machine in the end if you do not want to select which user to logon with) and set a blank password for it and use that account.

 

Just set them as credentials. You are always going to be asked for passwords, if you have a properly secured LAN.

 

bro67 writes,
"You are always going to be asked for passwords, if you have a properly secured LAN."

I don't want a secured LAN, properly or otherwise. I want a LAN (note hardwired and very local) whose machines can exchange files without ever knowing a password. Do you declare it impossible?

Obviously passwordless code can transfer files using the TCP/IP calls; the hard part is displaying the machines' file structures to permit transfer selection. Does no app exist for this independent of the OS?

 

You have not setup your network shares properly. I have my pc setup so it is a private not public network (it is illogical but a private network is more public than a public network - yet public network means it it is a network where the public can access it so is more locked down by default).

In network sharing centre, you set share permissions to everyone, and turn off need for paswords.

My main rig is setup like that, and I can access it without passwords even from my android devices.

 

If you do not want to secure it, then go into advanced sharing and disable password protection. Not much else to say than you open yourself up to huge security issues if malware takes over and gets the full run of your system.

Also passwords have zero to do with whatever you came up with about thinking that they can just go out and unlock any file or folder without you doing anything. The reason we password protect systems is not to keep the dishonest people out. It is to secure our life, just like you place locks on doors and windows to protect your family, not to protect the bad guys. I just put out a warning that you are going to open yourself up to risks if you keep any banking or financial information, along with other items that you do not want people to access, but allow them full access to.

 

WOW! I had no idea. Kind of backwards logic from a OS/Network standpoint. So for the everyday user, this poses some serious concerns. Mine is set to private as well.

 

To bro67:
Life is a tradeoff of protection vs. convenience. I choose convenience. The sensitive data on my network have other protections.

To cereberus:
I have tried all that network sharing and property dialogs offer in vain. I think the current debacle occurred when I assigned a password to the hub machine in order temporarily to connect another Windows-10 computer that absolutely would not participate without passwords. Now I have removed the password and rechecked the profusion of permission declarations, but all the other machines insist on knowing the now nonexistent password.

I'm tired of struggling with Microsoft security presumptions. It appears that the only reliable solution is to find an independent file transfer method. Can you recommend one?

 

If all you want to do is transfer files, Teamviewer is probably easiest solution.

 

Or, and this may be the easiest way.....just get a NAS and send/save/store everything there and everyone can access to it. Heck, it doesn't have to be a NAS just an external HDD with a wired/wireless access. With the NAS, it comes with it's own software to give permissions and usually very user friendly.

 

Plankton I do love those who share Social Media Accounts and emails. Nothing is sacred if you wish to keep certain items secret. Even just going with a Cloud account helps when storing items there, since it leaves a mirrored copy if you wish on your hard drive. Storage is pretty cheap these days, especially $2.99 for 200gb for iCloud.

 

Microsoft does not assume anything when it comes to security. All companies use security to help protect what is on a network to keep it from being lost. The only reliable solution is to use standard methods of security by using username and passwords on those shared folders to keep from losing the data, not to keep others from gaining access is why we do it.