No User-Level Access Control Is Available for My Network Places or for Sharing Folders in My Computer

After you upgrade a computer from Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Me) or Microsoft Windows 98 to Windows XP Home Edition, you do not find any option to set a password for access to data on the computer in My Network Places or on the Sharing tab in the folder Properties dialog box in My Computer. This password option is available in Windows Me and Windows 98.

This issue occurs because the Windows XP simple sharing model is fundamentally different from the Windows 98 and Windows Me sharing model. By default, Windows XP forces all incoming network connections to the "Guest" level of access. Windows XP Home Edition-based computers always have Simple File Sharing enabled.

You encounter this issue in Windows XP Professional only if you are in a Workgroup and are not logged into a domain.

For additional information about file sharing in Windows XP, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: