johnny’s jotter

After a recent Windows Update I could no longer access the folders on my Windows XP file server. A window popped up asking for a username and password even though they are both the same on the two computers. The error message each time was “Logon failure: unknown username or bad password.”

I typed in my username and password five times. It reached the point where I thought I had gone crazy and was typing in the wrong one: it kept on coming back to me with the dreaded “Logon failure: unknown username or bad password.”.

I quickly returned to my senses and guessed something was up with the authentication between XP and Windows 7. A few Google searches later I found out that a Local Security Policy needs changing.

• Open the Start menu
• Type “Local Security Policy” in the search box
• Open Local Security Policy
• Navigate to “Local Policies” -> “Security Options” and then locate the entry named “Network security: LAN Manager authentication level”. Double click on it.
• In the dropdown list choose “Send LM & NTLM – use NTLMv2 session security if negotiated
• Click OK

It seems that a recent Windows Update has changed that policy’s settings to be undefined, which —from what I can tell— forces NTLMv2 session security always. My XP installation mustn’t have NTLMv2 capability and that is why I kept seeing “Logon failure: unknown username or bad password.” errors.

After changing the local policy I was immediately able to connect to my network shares again.

Links

• Microsoft forum: “I can’t map a network drive from Windows 7″

Windows XP had the PowerToys, which added useful functionality to the system. One of my favourites was the “CMD Shell here” PowerToy, which opened a cmd prompt with its working directory set to the folder you were in.

Vista incorporated this into the OS, obviating the need for a PowerToy. I was happy with this. Then I installed Windows 7 and the option has disappeared from my context menu.

After a quick search I’ve come across the following:

• Holding shift down when right clicking on a folder brings up a few extra options, one of them being “Open command prompt here”
• Save the following as a .reg file, then right click -> merge it to add an entry to the context menu which creates an elevated (Admin privileges) command prompt:

  Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTDirectoryshellrunas]
  @="Open Command Window Here (Administrator)"
  
  [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTDirectoryshellrunascommand]
  @="cmd.exe /s /k pushd "%V""

Read the articles about Windows 7 right click command prompt and elevated command prompt.

A few years ago I discovered that the links toolbar is a zillion times better than quick launch. The links toolbar allows you to create folders and group common program shortcuts in them. When you click on a folder a menu appears with all the shortcuts.

IE7 changed the way that works with its improved security: now each time you open a shortcut that’s in the links toolbar, it asks you if you really want to open the file. This is pretty annoying and so after doing some searching I found this:

To remove the prompt, enter this in a cmd shell that has Administrative Privileges (Start menu -> type cmd -> hold ctrl+shift, tap enter).
cd %userprofile%favorites
icacls links /setintegritylevel (CI)low

To restore the prompt:
cd %userprofile%favorites
icacls links /setintegritylevel (OI)(CI)low

Thanks to ‘Jimmy Brush’ for this. This and other tips on his Vista FAQ.