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I always had the same username and password on all my network devices (NAS, desktop PC, laptop) in my small home network. This allows me to access network shares of other devices without having to enter a username and password. The username in Windows 8 now is the prename of my hotmail account, which is not the same username as I use on the other machines.

Is there a way to define a default username and password to access network shares so that I do not always have to connect as another user explicitely?

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  • Can you map the shares to a network drive letter, check off Connect using different Credentials and then specify the login and password and save it?
    – j_bombay
    Oct 29, 2012 at 20:56
  • This is possible, but I always have to map a network drive and cannot easily browse a share from the "Network" folder.
    – James
    Oct 29, 2012 at 23:49
  • Same problem. Seems it MIGHT have to do with something missing in Windows 8. This answer seems to suggest that an upgrade is the solution: social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/….
    – user366349
    Sep 9, 2014 at 1:21

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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In Windows 7 and 8, there is an option in Control Panel (Credential Manager) that allows you to manage your network credentials. This is a great way to connect to a computer with only having to supply the credentials once. All you need to supply is the computername, username, and password. Save the information

  1. Disconnect all network drives
  2. Create the credentials
  3. Browse to the computername

Hope that helps.

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  • That you, this is an awesome tip. I was able to share a windows folder read only but on the media center using this allow write permission as well.
    – Daniel Sokolowski
    Aug 3, 2013 at 16:10
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You need to create the account as a local account so that the actual Windows username is the same as on the other devices.
After creating the local account, you can convert/link it to a Microsoft account and everything will still work.

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  • 2
    It didn't work for me. The local account had the same password, but when I converted it to Microsoft account, the password changed to Microsoft account's password. It will work if you have the same password as the Microsoft account on other devices.
    – Alexey Ivanov
    Oct 29, 2012 at 20:22
  • Couldn't you just change the password on the devices you want to access? Or add the new account name?
    – Bryant
    Oct 29, 2012 at 21:04

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