Admin Password Doesn't Work for USB readyshare drive

[rathodpriyank]

I have a similar problem where it doesn't work while there is a password with a USB readyshare, Firmware is V2.02.08.

I don't know the specifics but this workaround doesn't work for me so far. 

[alieus]

In my case it also seemed to be an offending "$" character - I guess it works for the router but not for Windows network sharing, or something.  Test first by eliminating special characters and see what happens.

[GrandpaR]

I'm having a a similar problem on my 

R6400v2 AC1750 Smart WiFi Router
Hardware Version R6400v2
Firmware Version V1.0.3.66_10.0.50
GUI Language Version V1.0.3.66_2.1.38.1

I have a 2 TB WD Elements attached to the front USB 3.0 port and it's been working for a couple years. I'm trying to tighten security, so I turned the read/write password on in the NetGear control panel. I properly get challenged for password when using phone's NetGear Genie app and it accepts user (admin) and  password (same simple one used to access the router admin), however, I CANNOT get any of our Win 10 PCs to access it. They get challenged for the password or user and password, but it will not accept anything I try. I'm thinking the router and Win 10 aren't communicating the security info properly.

[DexterJB]

Hi @GrandpaR,

Welcome to the community!

You can try the following steps:

1. Go to Control Panel > User Accounts > Manage Windows Credentials

2. Add a Windows Credential

3. Enter the directions to the router and the router's user name and password. See example below:

\\readyshare

admin

password

4. Click on OK

5. Check to see if you are able to access the drive via Windows Explorer

Dexter

Community Team

[DexterJB]

Hi @GrandpaR,

Any update on this?

Dexter

[schumaku]

@DexterJB whatever we try - the admin and (password) authenticate does ot work for any NTGR router with ReadyShare here - no similar problems with several NAS (multiple brands and generations of Q, S, N, ...).  Netger engineers have tried many different things, and have seen it does not work at all....zero feedback since. Strange for a major brand of counsumer hardware...

Still awful NTGR does have us to share the admin (!!!!) credentials just for storage access - but that's another story. 

[Ramkar]

I strugled a lot when trying to connect to the USB "SMB" share "posted" by my Nighthawk X6S Tri-Band Mesh Extender. 

What I ran, in a command prompt, was:

runas /noprofile /netonly /user:<my_device_login_name> cmd

Enter the password for <my_device_login_name>:<my_device_login_password>

In the new command prompt (cmd) window I attempted to connect using the defaults:

net use u: \\readyshare\usb_storage

I was asked for the password and typed my defined password for my <my_device_login_name> and got the following results:

C:\Windows\system32>net view \\192.168.0.6\usb_storage
System error 53 has occurred.

The network path was not found.

C:\Windows\system32>net view \\READYSHARE
System error 53 has occurred.

The network path was not found.

C:\Windows\system32>ping readyshare

Pinging readyshare [192.168.0.6] with 32 bytes of data
Reply from 192.168.0.6: bytes=32 time=17ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.6: bytes=32 time=26ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.6: bytes=32 time=27ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.6: bytes=32 time=27ms TTL=64

Ping statistics for 192.168.0.6:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 17ms, Maximum = 27ms, Average = 24ms

C:\Windows\system32>net view \\READYSHARE\u$
System error 53 has occurred.

The network path was not found.

C:\Windows\system32>

No success attempting a SMB protocol connection hoewever what worked for me was to enable FTP access, there were no issues with that, except a slow transfer rate.

Greetings.

[GrandpaR]

---

@DexterJB wrote:

Hi @GrandpaR,

Welcome to the community!

You can try the following steps:

1. Go to Control Panel > User Accounts > Manage Windows Credentials

2. Add a Windows Credential

3. Enter the directions to the router and the router's user name and password. See example below:

\\readyshare

admin

password

4. Click on OK

5. Check to see if you are able to access the drive via Windows Explorer

Dexter

Community Team

---

Sorry to be so long in getting back to this. We had a major family illness and I got diverted.

I'm running Windows 10 Home v1809 and I don't see a "Manage Windows Credentials". That sounds like something that might be in the Professional version ... did some research and found it "To open Credential Manager, type credential manager in the search box ".

Before doing the above, I turned on security on a folder on the USB drive via router's admin page, then tested access from Win 10, but today it is not giving me any security challenge. i.e. it does not appear to enforcing the security.

I do see that I already have a generic creditial for \\readyshare (created by Windows during prior testing?) but from the length of the password it does not match the router's admin password.

I'll have to work on this more later, when I have time. Thanks for the info. though. I'd never seen the Credential Manager before.

R6400v2 AC1750 Smart WiFi Router
Hardware Version R6400v2
Firmware Version v1.0.3.66_10.0.50
GUI Language Version v1.0.3.66_2.1.38.1

---

[DexterJB]

Hi @GrandpaR, please keep us posted.

Dexter

[schumaku]

@DexterJB as I've mentioned above ... there is no way to connect a Nighthawk hosted shared folder with admin protection on many NTGR routers.

Windows 10 Pro, Version 10.0.18362 Build 18362 (up2date of course), no strange optimisations, can connect flawless also to legacy NAS (NetBIOS annoucement/name resolution only, SMB 1.0 only, ... and works nicely on high end NAS using WSD and SMB 3 with negotiated encryption for example).

Example: R9000, 1.0.4.36 Hotfix, no current SMB session to the R9000, and no entries in the Credentials Manager. And yes, the admin password does end with a @ ... that's nothing that must have an impact:

Very misleading that the "Warning" does talk of an "Admin Password" ... username and password are case sensitive, and there is NO Admin account, only admin.




And yes, I know the admin password...

[kcmuchogusto]

Same issue here. very frustrating. Is there any updates?

[schumaku]

@Christian_R please ...

[giologist]

I am also experiencing this on Mac OS 

Router Firmware Version
V1.0.0.56

I am able to connect to readyshhare just fine without admin password enabled. Once its enabled, i cannot connect at all (using the same credentials i use to login to routerlogin).

[Christian_R]

Hello giologist, 

Are you getting an error when the password is enabled and attempting to log in?

Christian 

[schumaku]

@Christian_R sorry for chiming in - we get the ubiquitous one when attempting to access:

[Dwsexton]

My router has been working fine for over a year - able to map readyshare as a network drive with password protection using a Terabyte USB hard drive. This problem started for me a few days ago. My USB drive wouldn't even show up when web browisng to readyshare nor would it connect to any of my computers (Linux or Windows). I unplugged the drive and plugged it back in. It then showed up and worked fione for about a day. The problem was now different, the drive showed up in the administration panel of the web browser and I could use the web browser to see the files but it would not map to any of my computers. Plugging and unplugging the drive did not fix it this time. I then unplugged the drive, plugged in a USB memory stick and was able to map that. I thin unplugged the memory stick, plugged back in my Terabyte USB hard drive and it worked again, able to remap it to my computer. If this pursists I will swap out the hard drive with another one and see if that one is stable.

[michaelkenward]

---

@Dwsexton wrote:

My router has been working fine for over a year - able to map readyshare as a network drive with password protection using a Terabyte USB hard drive.

---

Is there a question in there? I can't see one.

If you do need help, you would do better to start a new question that to hitch a ride on something that started more than three years ago,

If you are just adding more details based on your experience, thanks. Perhaps it will help a later visitor.

[TxB0y]

From post 15 of this thread stiil applies with R8000P router Firmware: V1.4.1.50_1.3.10.  You will need to reset the admin password after setting up the readyshare.   Note there is nothing stopping you setting it back to your perferred password afterwards.

[Lanoo]

1058 firmware and can't seem to get readyshare to work properly at all.

Windows can map the USB hard drive and show the storage space.

I can access it through FTP. But something isn't working properly and won't allow me to map network drive on windows 10.

I've tried router credentials and windows credentials when mapping the drive in windows.

I think I'll try an older firmware. I just bought this router and it had 1058 installed.

My previous router was r7000 and network USB drive worked.

[Lanoo]

Downgrading to 1052 firmware on R9000 allowed me to open USB hard drive folders without password. But, I tried to put a password requirement for root of the drive and I can't open it from windows 10.

Android phone lets me access root with password.

What's going on here?

Router configuration:

Readyshare

\\readyshare\HDD

Steps I take on windows: 

map drive

\\readyshare\HDD

router admin and pass I set.

On the phone:

I use MIX app from XDA dev

smb://router ip address

router admin and pass I set.

[JohnKn13]

Same issue, but I don't see any solutions yet. Curious if someone found a workaround.

[TxB0y]

Change the password once more.  After you have deployed readyshared device.

[najevi]

---

@Phclem wrote:
I had the same problem on my R7000, where I had set the admin password using some special characters ($). After several changes, I noticed that the readyshare mapping is rejected if my password contains the $ sign, but works fine if the admin password is "less sophisticated" ! Hope this will help some others ...

---

I agree. Alphanumeric passwords {i.e. limited to: a-zA-Z0-9} appear to be successful but any password made more secure {eg. by using: ~!@#$$%^&*()_ } are successful only when accessing the NETGEAR Web-based Router Configuration Utility but not succesful when accessing a \\readyshare network folder that has been secured with "admin" access controls.

• Incidentally. I did test the sequence where a plain alphanumeric {admin, password} pair is first used successfully and only then change to a more secure {admin, pa$$word} pair using a special character however, each time a special character is introduced to the admin password any subsequent access from Windows 10 file explorer to a readyshare network folder fails to recognize the more $ecure pas$word.

---

Help Center quote:
Available Network Folders Table

This table shows all the Network Folders currently available and configured on the Router:

• Folder Name : Full path of the used by the Network Folder
• Volume Name : Volume name from the storage device (either USB drive or HDD)
• Total/Free Space : Shows the current utilisation of the storage device
• Share Name : The Name shown in the Router Web GUI can either be clicked to immediately access the storage or can be entered into a web browser e.g //readyshare/photos. If 'Not Shared' is shown then the default share has been deleted and no other share for the root folder exists.
• Read/Write Access : Shows the permissions/access controls on the Network Folder:
  • All - no password allows all users to access the Network Folder
  • admin will prompt for users to provide the same username and password used to access the Router Web GUI

---

bold underline added

If this bug is to be fixed then please let the fix involve specifying a {username, password} pair for readyshare that is different than that required for the admin account for the NETGEAR Web-based Router Configuration Utility. Sharing these admin credentials with LAN users (who understandably require shared folder access) is a gratuitous invitation for curious local network users to go poking around the router configuration utility and potentially meddle with critical router functionality/security.

Even better would be for the "admin" username to be user customizable. After all, who is going to think of trying to hack your router secured using something like "ScoobyDoo" as an admin user name and then, say, "M!cr0$)ft" as your password?

OS Name: Microsoft Windows 10 Home (64-bit)
OS Version: 10.0.18362 N/A Build 18362

Browser Firefox 76.0.1 (64-bit)

Router Version R8000

Firmware Version V1.0.4.28_10.1.54

GUI Language Version V1.0.4.28_2.1.49.1

[giologist]

---

@Christian_R wrote:

Hello giologist, 

Are you getting an error when the password is enabled and attempting to log in?

Christian 

---

Correct, when entering the password, I receive the following error message:

There was a problem connecting to the server “readyshare”.

Check the server name or IP address, and then try again. If you continue to have problems, contact your system administrator.

This is when using a direct copy and paste from the admin password I used to login to routerlogin.net. Also, machine is MacOS

[JohnKn13]

I've tried everything in this post. None of these solutions work to access a password protected folder.