howto: Log on as a specific user on a remote Windows share

On Windows, some users disable the guest account to avoid uncontrolled access to the shares on their computer. Instead, they create specific accounts for their friends and grant those accounts access to the relevant folders.

However, sometimes when you browse to your friend's computer in Windows Explorer, Windows automatically logs you on as guest rather than prompting you for a user name and password, and you receive an 'Access Denied' error message. If that happens, you can carry out the following steps:

1. Open a command prompt by clicking on Start -> Run. Next type "cmd" in the Run dialog, and click the OK button.



2. Type "net use" in the prompt. This shows you a list of all the shares you are currently connected to:
   
   

   Status  Local  Remote                    Network
   
   
   
   ------------------------------------------------------------------
   
   
   OK             \\somecomputername\IPC$   Microsoft Windows Network
   
   
   The command completed successfully.




3. To remove a connection type "net use /d share_name". This causes Windows to forget that it used the guest account to connect to the share.


4. Connect as a specific user by typing "net use share_name /USER:user_name". If the account is associated with a password, you'll be prompted to enter it.

You should now be able to access the specified share through Windows Explorer.