You can’t access this shared folder because your organization’s security policies block unauthenticated guest access

Ray Huang 16

Hi Sir

i have two PCs:

PC-A: Windows 10 1909
PC-B: Windows 7 (have a shared folder)

everything working well when PC-A is Windows 10 1803, after upgrade to 1909,
i will get below error when accessing PC-B shared folder "You can’t access this shared folder because your organization’s security policies block unauthenticated guest access"

after search on google, get the common solution is enable "Insecure guest logons" in GPO.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4046019/guest-access-in-smb2-disabled-by-default-in-windows-10-and-windows-ser

but i do not want to enable the insecure setting in GPO.

so the question is how can i config the PC-B that can meet the Win10-1909 security policy in order to allow me to access the PC-B shared folder?

Thanks,
Ray

Anonymous

2020-08-13T03:11:30.17+00:00

Just want to confirm the current situations.

Please feel free to let us know if you need further assistance.
Md. Manjurul Islam Rubel 51 Reputation points

2020-10-28T11:49:48.66+00:00

I had same problem but I have fixed by this tutorial.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyatMj1Z2NQ&ab Hope it will help you
Matt MacKay 1 Reputation point

2021-07-03T05:36:13.747+00:00

THANK YOU! After a few hours of struggle you just helped me solve my problem. Thanks for being a great lad. :)
Nabiel Darindigon 1 Reputation point

2021-10-12T01:22:23.093+00:00

Hello, I am facing this type of error. I've tried the listed and it still doesn't work. I was still okay doing it the other day. Might it be related to this updates? The numbers KB5004237 and KB5005539?
Jamie McFarling 51 Reputation points

2021-12-13T18:48:28.307+00:00

I don't know if I can get on board with this fix. It's bypassing security mechanisms, which is never a good thing.
Nguyễn Minh Giám 0 Reputation points

2023-04-03T04:32:14.8633333+00:00

this was i met wwhen i unsafe PC for that
Clay J 0 Reputation points

2025-02-04T10:51:56.5166667+00:00

I feel the same way Jamie, sacrifice one thing to save the other doesn't seem like a clever idea

13 answers

Anonymous

2020-08-05T08:31:05.597+00:00

Hi ,

If your company disable the GPO editor and Secpol on our PC, could you enable insecure guest logons with Registry?

Please refer to the following steps:

1.Open Run command by Pressing windows + R and type regedit and hit enter to open the registry editor.

2.Navigate to the following path.

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows

3.Expand the Windows Registry Key and search for LanmanWorkstation registry key, If you are not able to find the registry key, then you need to create it.

4.Right Click on the Windows Registry Key and Choose New > Key, Name the Key as LanmanWorkstation. Now Click on the LanmanWorkstation Registry key and from your right-hand side right click and choose New > DWORD 32 bit Value and name it as AllowInsecureGuestAuth. Double click on the AllowInsecureGuestAuth DWORD and set the vlaue to 1 and give OK.

As the picture below:

Now restart the system once and check the shared file is accessible or not.

Please note: Make sure that you back up the registry before you modify it. Make sure that you know how to restore the registry if a problem occurs.

---Please Accept as answer if the reply is helpful---

Best Regards,

Candy
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Ray Huang 16 Reputation points

2020-08-06T00:47:29.877+00:00

Thanks for reply,

Used this solution when the Operating System is Win10-1803, but i will not work if the Windows version is 1909.

i've tried this already, but not work.

Jaap Verhage 6 Reputation points

2021-05-14T11:48:09.76+00:00

That may be, but it does work (again?) with version 20H2.

Md. Manjurul Islam Rubel 51 Reputation points

2021-05-17T05:17:26.147+00:00

You can checkout this link.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyatMj1Z2NQ Hope it will help you

Andy Premaza 6 Reputation points

2021-09-24T08:44:54.057+00:00

you can watch the youtube link above, or just do:

1) open regedit
2) expand to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanWorkstation\Parameters
3) create a new 32-bit DWORD entry, called AllowInsecureGuestAuth
4) set value to 1
5) retry connecting (i didnt have to reboot the PC and I am using Windows 10 20H2)

Jared Hagel 41 Reputation points

2022-02-09T17:13:35.457+00:00

Yes, it worked for me with this version of Windows 10 Enterprise

Damian Cain 1 Reputation point

2022-08-03T19:23:45.973+00:00

This did it for me! Three separate times trying to browse NAS drive. This fixed it each time

Eric Ortiz 0 Reputation points

2024-04-08T11:02:15.2433333+00:00

Many thanks for this info. It has saved the day for me several times :). It works perfectly without putting at risk anything else.

Peter M 0 Reputation points

2024-12-06T14:25:34.09+00:00

Brilliant Candy - many thanks.

Drex Franco 0 Reputation points

2025-01-21T13:14:54.97+00:00

Worked perfectly for me

Ivan Slišković 0 Reputation points

2025-02-08T18:41:46.9833333+00:00

This Registry entry resolved my problems with Windows 11 connecting to shared folder

Brad White 0 Reputation points

2025-10-04T21:37:14.66+00:00

5 year old post still helping - thanks
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Craig Potter 25 Reputation points

2023-02-17T23:37:41.9066667+00:00

I just had this same problem and struggled to get it resolved. Trying the phone number as a user name did not work for me unfortunately. What I ended up using was GUEST as the user name and left the password blank, finally worked. Why on earth I couldn't access with the computer's microsoft credentials is beyond me.
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Austin Nguyen 5 Reputation points

2023-04-25T03:07:54.83+00:00

OH MY GOODNESS, someone pin this comment. THE SOLUTION is to use "guest" as a username, and input NO password. Who would have guessed. Hours and hours of stress over this. My goodness. So many people have and are struggling with this issue...

Tony Richmond II 0 Reputation points

2023-08-14T04:54:16.3+00:00

I agree. Just trying to share a simple folder on my home network. Went through ALL the settings I could find. Older Windows 10 PC was OK with the [pcname][user] combo for the username, and my windows password. Newer Windows 10 PC wouldn't play ball. Only dumb luck brought me here, since I thought I knew what I was trying to do after success with my old pc.

Maybe that wouldn't work well in some places, but sharing a folder at home? ACES!!! Thanks Craig!

amit tzah 0 Reputation points

2024-02-16T17:04:18.06+00:00

Wow, this works for me after hours of struggling! thanks

Lee Hilbert 0 Reputation points

2025-06-17T16:03:59.9666667+00:00

This solution of using GUEST as the user name worked for me and solved my similar problem!! Thank you for this post!
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Kapil Arya 38,726 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2020-08-05T06:33:41.083+00:00

Hello,

See if FIX 2 mentioned here helps you:

https://www.kapilarya.com/fix-you-cant-access-this-shared-folder-because-your-organizations-security-policies-block-unauthenticated-guest-access

Hope this helps!

Note: Included link in this reply refers to blog post by a trusted Microsoft MVP.
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Ray Huang 16 Reputation points

2020-08-05T06:58:39.147+00:00

Thanks for the reply,

our company disable the GPO editor and Secpol on our PC. we could not change the settings by ourselves.

still need the correct configuration on PC-B.
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Ray Huang 16 Reputation points

2020-09-02T02:57:38.687+00:00

@Anonymous

The issue resolved after turn on "Password protected sharing" in PC A network sharing center.

also thanks for your answers for Win10 side.

Best Regards,
Ray
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Anonymous

2020-08-06T03:43:11.557+00:00

Hi ,

Please make sure you have installed latest windows updates. Also enable the SMB 1.0 support by enabling the following Windows features from the Control Panel:

If the above steps still didn't work, please check SMBclient log to see if there are something related for us to troubleshooting.

Best Regards,

Candy
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Ray Huang 16 Reputation points

2020-08-06T04:08:09.273+00:00

install on the PC-A or PC-B?

Anonymous

2020-08-07T01:48:29.297+00:00

On the windows 10. If windows 10 access windows 7's shared folder, then windows 10 acts as a SMB client, so enable the SMB 1.0 client support on your windows 10.

Ray Huang 16 Reputation points

2020-08-07T02:43:15.613+00:00

still the same error after install SMB client 1.0 on windows 10 machine.

Anonymous

2020-08-07T03:51:50.777+00:00

Are there any related error message in SMBclient event log?

Ray Huang 16 Reputation points

2020-08-10T08:16:58.75+00:00

Hi Candy

kindly check the below snapshot of SMB client log:

Anonymous

2020-08-11T02:32:58.423+00:00

Really strange. The event log means you did not enable insecure guest logon. Could you please make sure if the parameter of AllowInsecureGuestAuth is exist and the value is 1?

If yes and it still doesn't work, I would suggest you roll back to 1803 or upgrade to 2004 and then check if you still occur the same problem(enable insecure guest logons with Registry). Please note: If you upgrade to windows 10 2004, then you cannot roll back to 1803, you can only roll back to windows 10 1909.

Ray Huang 16 Reputation points

2020-08-11T04:46:40.513+00:00

Sorry Candy,

our company could not allow to edit the registry, and 1803 will stop service at end of 2020, so we will not allow to roll back.

forget to turn on the Insecure Guest logons on Win10 1909, lets configure the PC-B more secure.

could you guide me how to configure the PC-B shared folder and GPO settings etc.. to meet the Security Policies for Win10 1909?

the PC-B is not in our company, and i can do anything on it.

Myint85 1 Reputation point

2020-09-10T11:09:05.633+00:00

Hi Candy,

I have the similar problem. Refer to attached pic. Rolling back to older build is the only option?

Myint85 1 Reputation point

2020-09-10T11:41:42.677+00:00

I wanted to try the accepted solution "Turn on password protected sharing" but that option is missing in my control panel, network section.

Does it ring a bell?

Myint85 1 Reputation point

2020-09-10T11:54:04.71+00:00

Here is another log!

23892-image.png

Anonymous

2020-09-14T00:21:45.54+00:00

Hi ,

Please post a new thread and we will continue to assistant you on the new thread.

Best Regards,

Candy

Alfi Satria 0 Reputation points

2024-12-30T09:12:57.7566667+00:00

This one is the most simple way
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You can’t access this shared folder because your organization’s security policies block unauthenticated guest access

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