Microsoft account makes networking more difficult?

I've been using standard networking since win95, when it was so easy anybody could do it. It keeps getting more difficult. I had to learn in Win7 that you had to type in a permission name that wasn't even in the list "Everyone" and grant it the desired permissions. Seems pretty ridiculous but once I did it a dozen times I could do it without even looking it up. I just installed win10 on two of the computers in my network and when I tried to access shared folders I ran into the dreaded window that asks for a username and password. Usually this means you just screwed up one of the dozen or so networking settings that have to be just right, but after going over it many dozens of times I figured out that this was a new problem related to the fact that I now have a microsoft account. When the win10 installation suggested I create such an account it seemed harmless enough ... but big mistake! I wasted many hours in getting the file sharing to work. I didn't even know what user/password it wanted but it turns out I had to enter my Microsoft account username and password before the file sharing would work. So if a friend brings over his laptop and I want to share folders with him, not only do I have to give him my wifi password but I also have to give him my Microsoft account password!!! Does Microsoft really think people want to do this? I'm sure not, which means there is probably something basic I am missing. Can somebody explain this crazy state of affairs?

As network manager you will need to set up the credentials on the friend's comp yourself. Windows Credential manager doesn't show the password in clear.

Same would go for your wifi password if you wanted to keep it to yourself.

The live account does not make networking harder. It still works the same as it did with Windows 7.

As network manager you will need to set up the credentials on the friend's comp yourself. Windows Credential manager doesn't show the password in clear.

Same would go for your wifi password if you wanted to keep it to yourself.

Perhaps you are correct about that. I once had a program that allowed me to see what was underneath the asterisks or bullets that appear in place of the passwords. Maybe windows has gotten more secure lately, and this trick no longer works?

Still it would have been nice if Microsoft told me that this would be a consequence of creating a Microsoft account during the windows 10 installation. Then I may have skipped that step, or even if I had signed up for the account it wouldn't have confused me when windows networking requested a password for situations where one wasn't needed in the past.

Thanks for the reply linw.
~Paul

The live account does not make networking harder. It still works the same as it did with Windows 7.

Sorry bro67 I'm not sure I know what a live account is ... but if you are referring to the Microsoft account I was encouraged to get during the win10 installation, it certainly did make it harder for me. In windows 7, if I set things up properly a password was not required to access shared files on another computer in the network (using traditional networking). However now it asks for a password no matter how it is set up. It's true that one can save the credentials which means that the password doesn't have to be entered every time. Still it wasn't something I really needed or wanted. (Although it is somewhat less of a problem now that at least I know what it wants when it asks for this password). Perhaps I could have avoided this problem by using the "homegroup" style of networking, but there are a few reasons that I still prefer the so-called traditional networking.

~Paul

A live account is exactly what Microsoft is forcing people to use to log into Windows 8 & 10. It is that thing called an email address for your Microsoft Live account and your password for the same.