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Changing Login Credentials for Accessing a Share
The first time a user connects to a computer's shared resources he or she may have to supply a username and password for an account loaded on the shared computer they are remotely accessing.
Remember, in Part I we discussed that it's best to create matching accounts for each user on all the computers because sharing and file permissions can be assigned only to user accounts that are on the same PC.
This way, instead of being prompted to log in when accessing a shared computer, Windows will automatically use the account credentials of the user.
This auto login feature typically saves time and energy, but sometimes you may want to log into a shared computer using a username and password that differ from those of the Windows account you are currently logged in to.
You may also find it necessary to change the login credentials if you checked Remember My Password when accessing a shared resource that required a different username and password from the account you were logged into. This is because you won't be prompted to enter the credentials anymore; Windows will keep using the same username and password to log into the share.
In Windows XP and Vista, you can change the network passwords from the User Account window in the Control Panel. We'll talk through it step-by-step:
- Click Start>Control Panel.
- In the Control Panel window, click the User Accounts (in XP) or User Accounts and Family Safety (in Vista) category, and then click User Accounts.
- In XP, click the Windows account you're currently logged in to; on the next screen, under the Related Tasks pane on the left side of the account settings window, click the Manage my network passwords link.
- In Vista, click the Manage your network passwords link. Now you should see a dialog box similar to what Figure 3 shows.
- If you already see an entry for the computer on the network you want to change the login account for (listed as the Computer Name in the list box), select it and click the Remove button; otherwise, continue with the next step.
- Click the Add button. The Logon Information Properties dialog box (in XP) or Stored Credentials Properties (in Vista) should appear.
- In the Server field (in XP) or Log on to (Vista), enter the Computer Name of the computer on the network you want to change the login account for.
- In the User name field, enter the computer name and Windows account that's authorized to access the computer on the network, using the appropriate format; for example, computername\accountname.
- In the Password field, enter the password for the Windows account that's being used.
- In Vista, click the A Windows logon credential radio button.
- Click OK.
- You may have to Log Out of your Windows account and log back in for the changes to take place.
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