How do I deal with Hyper-V wanting a password that I do not have?

xarzu said:

I went through the steps of making a folder sharable on my host machine. When I went to my hyper-V Ubuntu 22.04 virtual machine and used the folders UI to go to Other Locations -> Windows Network -> Workgroup -> desktop-... it asks for a password for the desktop computer name access. I don't use a password when I use my desktop.

I don't have a password for my local account on my Hyper-V host machine. Unfortunately Linux seems incapable of handling the concept that a Windows username can have no password, and insists on you providing one.

You could just give your Windows account a password, but I like the convenience of not needing one to sign in. One way round that is to create a local account on the Host just for Linux to use to connect and give it a password. On the Host you can grant that account appropriate share permissions and file permissions to give it the access you require.

I have previously created a share on the Host called Temp, with both the share permissions and ntfs file permissions set to Everyone - Full control. That means any user account can see it. Normally I connect from another PC, as I use the same account name and (no) password on all my PCs it just connects without asking for anything.

For my Linux VM i had to create an account with a password for it to use to connect, but that does allow it to use that Temp share.

Bree said:

I don't have a password for my local account on my Hyper-V host machine. Unfortunately Linux seems incapable of handling the concept that a Windows username can have no password, and insists on you providing one.

You could just give your Windows account a password, but I like the convenience of not needing one to sign in. One way round that is to create a local account on the Host just for Linux to use to connect and give it a password. On the Host you can grant that account appropriate share permissions and file permissions to give it the access you require.

I have previously created a share on the Host called Temp, with both the share permissions and ntfs file permissions set to Everyone - Full control. That means any user account can see it. Normally I connect from another PC, as I use the same account name and (no) password on all my PCs it just connects without asking for anything.

For my Linux VM i had to create an account with a password for it to use to connect, but that does allow it to use that Temp share.

If OP sets up ubuntu to run in enhanced mode, pretty sure it will see host shared folders without having to use any passwords rather than using network shares.

I will do a test to confirm.

cereberus said:

If OP sets up ubuntu to run in enhanced mode, pretty sure it will see host shared folders without having to use any passwords rather than using network shares.

I will do a test to confirm.

re. other post enhanced mode is not administrative mode - it is a special Hyper-V mode.
Not all linux distros will work in enhanced mode but Ubuntu 22.04 does (installed it this morning).
@Bree - Linux Mint can be set up in enhanced mode but you would have to google how. Main point is you need to install xrdp as enhanced mode in Hyper-V only works if guest OS has rdp server capability.


I can confirm enhanced mode and access without passwords works as I thought.

So, you have to set up ubuntu to use xrdp in enhanced mode.

This is a good tutorial how to do it.

How to Enable Hyper-V Enhanced Session for Ubuntu 20.04 VMs (nakivo.com)


Only slight issue is tutorial was set up for 20.04, and the wget link does not work in 22.04.

You have to click on blue downloads link in browser and it downloads install.sh in a 7zip file which you have to extract to the ubuntu downloads folder. You would need to install 7zip in ubuntu to extract file.

I actually found it easier to do this from windows and put install.sh onto onedrive (any cloud service will do). I then downloaded install.sh from onedrive in ubuntu using firefox to log into my onedrive account.


Otherwise everything else in tutorial works fine.

Then when you start up ubuntu, you get the standard hyper-v enhanced mode popup.

Click on show options, and then from menus, you choose which drives you want to access.

As you can see, I can now see my Windows shared folders - I did not need any passwords.

Ubuntu is so much better in enhanced mode - you can cut and paste to/from windows as well.

With a bit more effort, you can even enable sound.

xarzu said:

I think you are saying that you have not been able to connnect a shared folder between Windows Host with a Ubuntu Virtual Machine through Hyper-V. Is that right?

I repeat my point. You need to setup Ubuntu in Hyper-V enhanced mode and sharing is easy then.

Setting up Kali Linux in enhanced mode is very easy - see my recent post on Windows 11 Forum.

Installing Kali Linux in Hyper-V in enhanced mode AND sound | Windows 11 Forum (elevenforum.com)