Allowing Windows 11 Access to Unauthenticated Shares

Windows 11 prevents you from accessing open SMB shares because they are a security risk.  However sometimes you need to access these unauthenticated shares for a variety of reasons.  Here is how you do that.

Method 1: Use the Local Group Policy Editor 

1. Open the search menu and type gpedit.msc, then select "Edit group policy" to open the Local Group Policy Editor.
2. Navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Network > Lanman Workstation.
3. Find and double-click the policy named "Enable insecure guest logons".
4. Select "Enabled," click "Apply," and then "OK".
5. Restart your computer for the changes to take effect. 
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Method 2: Use the Registry Editor 

1. Open the search menu, type regedit, and press Enter to open the Registry Editor.
2. Navigate to the following path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanWorkstation\Parameters.
3. In the right-hand pane, find the AllowInsecureGuestAuth value. If it doesn't exist, right-click in an empty space, select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value, and name it AllowInsecureGuestAuth.
4. Double-click AllowInsecureGuestAuth, set the "Value data" to 1, and click "OK".
5. Close the Registry Editor and restart your computer. 
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Method 3: Powershell Commands

Run the following powershell commands in an elevated powershell window.

Set-SmbClientConfiguration -RequireSecuritySignature $false

Set-SmbClientConfiguration -EnableInsecureGuestLogons $true