Dial Up Networking Password Problems

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows 95
Microsoft Windows 98

Articles referred to on this page are located on the Microsoft Support Site.

IMPORTANT: This article contains information about editing the registry. Before you edit the registry, make sure you understand how to restore it if a problem occurs. For information about how to do this, view the "Restoring the Registry" Help topic in Regedit.exe or the "Restoring a Registry Key" Help topic in Regedt32.exe.

Problem Indications

When you try to save your password when you are making a Dial-Up Networking connection by clicking the Save Password check box, your password may not be saved. This problem can occur even when you successfully connect to the server, and when your password has not changed.

Possible Cause

This problem can be caused by any of the following situations:

Password caching is disabled.
One or more of the files associated with Dial-Up Networking is missing or damaged.
Your password list (.pwl) file is damaged.
The Rna.pwl file (if it exists) is damaged.
Automatic logon is enabled.

NOTE: This problem has been known to occur after installing the Windows 95 Password List Update that is included with Microsoft Windows 95 Service Pack 1. For more information about this update, see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q143003
   TITLE     : Description of Microsoft Windows 95 Service Pack 1 Updates

Possible Resolutions

WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

For information about how to edit the registry, view the "Changing Keys And Values" Help topic in Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) or the "Add and Delete Information in the Registry" and "Edit Registry Data" Help topics in Regedt32.exe. Note that you should back up the registry before you edit it.

Verify that password caching is enabled. To do so, use Registry Editor to view the DisablePwdCaching string value in the following registry key:

      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
         Policies\Network

   If password caching is disabled, the DisablePwdCaching string value has
   a value data of 1. To enable password caching, change the value data to
   "0" (without quotation marks).

Remove Dial-Up Networking, and then reinstall it. To do so, follow these steps:
a. Click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click Add/Remove Programs.
b. Click the Windows Setup tab.
c. Click Communications, and then click Details.
d. Click the Dial-Up Networking check box to clear it, click OK, and then restart your computer if you are prompted to do so.
e. Repeat steps A-C.
f. Click the Dial-Up Networking check box to select it, and then click OK.
g. If you are using MSN, The Microsoft Network version 2.51, reinstall this program. For information about how to do so, see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
```
          ARTICLE-ID: Q179604
          TITLE     : How to Manually Install MSN Components from the MSN
                      2.51 CD-ROM
```
Rename your .pwl file. To do so, type the following line at a command prompt, and then press ENTER
ren c:\<windows>\<username>.pwl <username>.xxx
where <windows> is the name of your Windows folder and <username> is the user name you use to log on to Windows 95. After renaming your .pwl file, restart your computer.
When the Enter Network Password or Welcome To Windows dialog box appears, type the password that you normally use, and then click OK. When you are prompted to confirm the password that you entered, type the password again in the Confirm New Password box, and then click OK.
NOTE: If there are no .pwl files present on the drive (for example, the user pressed the ESC key when prompted for a password as Windows 95 starts) password caching will not be enabled. The user must first log on to the network in order to create a .pwl file.
Rename the Rna.pwl file in the Windows folder. To do so, type the following line at a command prompt, and then press ENTER:
ren c:\<windows>\rna.pwl rna.xxx
where <windows> is the name of your Windows folder. After renaming the Rna.pwl file, restart your computer.
NOTE: The Rna.pwl file may not exist on your computer. This file is not required in some configurations.
Disable automatic logon. To do so, delete the AutoLogon string value from the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
```
         Network\Real Mode Net
```

MORE INFORMATION

For additional information about this issue, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q141858
   TITLE     : No Windows or Network Logon Dialog Box at Startup

For additional information about problems that may occur when you attempt to save passwords in Windows 95, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q135197
   TITLE     : Damaged Password List File Does Not Save Passwords

   ARTICLE-ID: Q137361
   TITLE     : Save Password Check Box Is Unavailable

   ARTICLE-ID: Q141858
   TITLE     : No Windows or Network Logon Dialog Box at Startup