Disabling Encrypted Passwords…
I can never remember the method to use to enable Windows to transmit plain text passwords when connecting to a third-party Samba server (such as my Linux file servers!), so, once and for all, I decided to finally write it down!
Windows Vista:
Go to Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Local Security Policy > Local Policies > Security Options and enable “Microsoft Network Client: Send unencrypted password to third-party SMB servers.” While you’re there, also change “Network Security: LAN Manager authentication level” setting to “Send LM and NTLM - use NTLMv2 session security if negotiated.” This works on the Business edition. These instructions should also work on the Enterprise and Ultimate versions, but the Home editions of Vista do not allow UI access to Local Security Policy and you’ll have to edit the registry manually.
Windows XP:
Go to Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Local Security Policy > Local Policies > Security Options and enable “Microsoft Network Client: Send unencrypted password to third-party SMB servers.”
Windows 98:
Start regedit.exe, and add the following key with a DWORD value of 1: My Computer\ HKEY Local Machine\ System\ CurrentControlSet\ Services\ VxD\ VNETSUP\ EnablePlainTextPassword (eliminate the extra spaces; they’re just for line wrapping)
Took me long enough to get around to publishing this since I seem to be reinstalling Windows operating systems or upgrading them from scratch far too frequently. Can you tell what I’m doing tonight?!
Lemme guess….
Added instructions for Windows Vista.
Thanks so much for the info on disabling encrypted passwords. This worked great on Windows XP. I have a PC running Windows Vista Home edition. As you state I can’t apply this approach there. Can you give
me a little guideance on how to edit the registry manually?