I try to connect to a shared directory on NT machine from win 95 machine. It keeps on asking me \\Computer_name\IPC$ password?

I tried all of my passwords, none works. How will I connect, please help on this. Thanks.

You have to be set up on the NT machine as a user first before you can access the shared file.

...and you have to be logged on to Win95 with the Username of a user account in NT. You can see who you're logged on as in Win95 by going to the Start menu. Look at the "Log off" entry. The name beside it is your present Username. If NT doesn't have an account with this Username, you'll never get in - hence the \\server\IPC$ screen.

Solution:
- Make sure you have a valid Username and Password on an account in NT
- On Win95, select "Log off" on the Start menu.
- On the logon screen that pops up, enter the Username and Password for the NT account.
- Now try to access the NT machine. If you have the correct permissions, you'll get in.

What the guys above said is correct for normal shares. However the IPC$ is a special admin share that is used by the browser service. You can not connect to it directly.

He's not Anthony he's not trying to connect to the IPC$ share. I think he's trying to connect to a normal share to which he has access. And is getting the IPC$ message.

I had the dickens of a time trying to get a dialup RAS connection on an NT server. I tried everything and always got the \\Computer_name\IPC$ password prompt box. I ried the suggestion of making sure that the username on the local machine (Win98) was the same as the username on the NT server, and now it works great. I have the passwords the same also, and don't know though if they need to be the same.

You can use the same solution for Win98 clients accessing Win2k boxes. The trick is to remember that who you are logged in as must match an account on the Win2k box.

Rebind the protocol to the network card. I suggest reinstalling the card and protocol all togeather. I had the same problem, and this is how I fixed it.

Here is a Microsoft TechNet article which will shed some light on "Browsing Shares on a Windows NT Workstation or server using Windows 98":

Jamie Brooks posts the following problem.

The issue is about accessing shares on a Windows NT workstation from a Windows 9x client and receiving a popup asking for the password to IPC$. Here's what Jamie says:

I have setup a small Windows NT-based LAN. On the LAN, I have 6 Windows NT Workstations and 10 Windows 98 Workstations. The problem is when I attempt the browse (access) the shares on NT Workstations from a Win98 workstation, I receive a message telling me I have to supply a password for the IPC$ share. How can I fix this problem? I want to be able to view/access the shares on the NT Workstations without having to enter a password? Is this possible? If so, how do I do this?

Thanks for the help,

Jamie Brooks

And here's what John R Buchan had to say.

If it can be assumed from your comment about "logged onto the Windows NT Server" that the server is a domain controller and you mean that you logged onto the 98 machine with a domain account? If so, then the Windows NT Workstation you are attempting to connect to would have to be a member of that domain (or a trusting domain) to be willing to accept authentication of domain accounts.

Brief description of Windows NT's authentication procedure for incoming connections:

Win95 is a bit quirky about the way it passes account information when attempting to make a network connection. If there is a value in the "NT Domain" field (Control Panel / Network / Client for MS Networks / Properties), Win95 will pass this as the domain (even if "Log in to NT domain" is disabled). If the "NT Domain" field is blank, Win95 will pass its workgroup as a domain.

Window NT's quirk is that each Windows NT machine (with the possible exception of domain controllers) believes that it is a domain (in and of itself). They maintain their own local security, their own user database, and are capable of authenticating logons, locally.

When a Windows NT client attempts to connect to a remote server, it will pass the account (username password and domain) of the current user. If the current user is logged in locally, Windows NT will pass its own name as the domain.

Note Windows NT allows you to specify a different account when making a remote connection. If you have specified a different account, that information will be passed instead.

Window NT's authentication procedure

When Windows NT attempts to validate an incoming connection, it first looks at the domain field. If it recognizes (trusts) the domain, it will pass the authentication through to a domain controller for that domain. If it doesn't recognize the domain, it will attempt to validate the account against its own local user account database.

In either case:

If the username and password match an existing account, the connection will be completed as that user (assuming that account has permission to make the connection).
If the username exists, but the password doesn't match (or the username doesn't exist), the 95's user will be prompted for a password for the IPC$ share. If the user enters the correct password for that account, the connection will be completed (assuming that account has permission to make the connection).
If the username doesn't exist, but the Guest account is enabled and has sufficient privileges on the Windows NT server (any Windows NT machine sharing resources), the connection will be validated as Guest.
If the username doesn't exist and Guest is disabled, the 95's user will be prompted for a password for the IPC$ share. No matter what password is entered, the connection will not be validated, since the account doesn't exist.
You can see what is happening by enabling Success and Failure auditing for Logon & Logoff on the Windows NT server. Check the Security event log, after attempting a connection.