Hi,

I'm getting serious about switching to Linux from Windows, and have been testing a variety of work scenarios, with pretty good success so far.

The main roadblock I'm running into is that I don't seem to be able to get my Kubuntu 16.04 LTS machine to access the Public folders on my Windows Vista work machine.

The several Windows machines in my local network have no problems reading from or copying to that Public folder, but in Kubuntu when I open Dolphin and navigate to the Workgroup (Network --> Samba Shares --> Workgroup) and try to open that folder, it asks me for a username and a password. And here's the rub: I don't HAVE a password to enter; neither the Workgroup nor the specific Windows PC in question has a password associated with it. But if I enter nothing (given that there is nothing to be entered), I get an "access denied" result.

So, what do I do? Having to sneakernet files back and forth with a USB drive would get really old really fast.

Thanks for any (simple) suggestions you might offer a Linux noob.

**[Mods: I posted this to the Networking subforum, but I'm not sure if it would go better in the Newbie subforum.]**

This thread from stackoverflow should help: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/...e-and-password

Alternatively, try establishing a username and password for the Windows machine, retest, and let us know what happens.

Thanks very much for the ideas.

I tried everything suggested in the stackoverflow.com thread. Unfortunately, none of it worked. Password-protected sharing in Vista was already turned off, and the folder was already shared with Everyone -- these settings made it possible for other Windows computers (ranging from XP to Windows 10) to read the Public folders.

I enabled the Guest account but there doesn't seem to be any way to add it to the list of users who can access the folder. Presumably, though, a "Guest" would be included in "Everyone."

Everything failed with the persistent request (every time I tried to access the Public folder) in the Kubuntu machine to enter a username and password.

The only thing I haven't tried yet is to set up a username and password for the Vista PC (the one with the Public folder I want Linux to access).

I even turned off the firewall and (alternatively) added the Linux box to the firewall's trusted devices. No luck.

This morning I created a password for the administrator account on the Vista PC. And whaddaya know, now I can access it from the Kubuntu computer. Thanks for your help!

Now I'll have to decide between 1) keeping a password on my currently main computer running Windows, and 2) being able to access it from the future main computer running Linux.