Password protected sharing is a networking based feature in Windows, with which you can allow or block other users on your system to access shared files, printers and public folders. By default, this feature is turned on and someone else having an user account on your system can go to Network pane in the File Explorer, to access the shared data. In this post, we’ll see how you can turn off Password Protected Sharing in Windows 11/10.
As I said that the password protected sharing is on by default, you’ll be asked to enter your credentials while accessing shared data:
Now if in your case, all the other members on your system are worth trusting and you do not want to let Windows ask them credentials each time they access shared data, you can turn off password protected sharing for them. There are two methods for it, discussed below. You should be an administrator of your machine to follow them.
How to turn off Password Protected Sharing in Windows 11/10
Method 1: Via Control Panel/Network And Sharing Center
1. Right click on the network icon in taskbar notifications area and select Open Network and Sharing Center.
2. In the Network and Sharing Center window, click Change advanced sharing settings link as shown below.
3. Then in Advanced sharing settings window scroll down and expand All Networks. You’ll then find Password protected sharing heading. Under it, select Turn off password protected sharing option and click Save Changes.
You can now reboot your system and password protected sharing will be turned off after restarting your system. In case if the same doesn’t happens, you need to turn off password protected sharing by tweaking registry, which is mentioned in Method 2.
Method 2: Using Registry Editor
1. Press Windows + R and put regedit in Run dialog box to open Registry Editor. Click OK.
2. In the left pane of Registry Editor, navigate to following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa
3. In the right pane of Lsa key, look for registry DWORD (REG_DWORD) named everyoneincludeanonymous which might have value set to 0. Double click on it to change the value.
4. Now modify the Value data in Edit DWORD Value box and set it to 1. Click OK. Then navigate to following registry location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters
5. Lastly, in the right pane of Parameters key, set the registry DWORD (REG_DWORD) named restrictnullsessaccess from 1 to 0. Close the Registry Editor and reboot.
After reboot, you’ll find that password protected sharing is finally turned off.
Method 3: Using LUSRMGR
If you’re on upgraded Windows 10 Anniversary Update or later, above mentioned methods may not work for you. Our reader “Kissache” has shared an alternative method that you can use in this case.
1. Press 
+ R and type lusrmgr.msc into Run dialog box, click/tap OK to open Local Users and Groups snap-in.
2. In next window, click Users.
3. Moving on, then right click Guest and select Properties.
4. Finally in Guest property sheet, check Password never expires and uncheck other options present there. Click Apply followed by OK.
Reboot, and Password Protected sharing should be turned off.
That’s it!
Originally written on JUNE 7, 2016. Updated for Windows 11.
