How Do I create network passwords in win 2k pro SP4??

hey guys i have a old pc (p3 500mhz, 512mb ram) which i used for downloading files - it saves haveing to keep my main rig (which is noisy and in my bedroom) running at night

recently i reformatted the HDD and reinstalled win 2k pro SP$. before the reformat, if i (or anyone else) wanted to access the computer from across the network, they would be prompted for a password before they could gain access. this is what i want to happen however since the reformat this doesnt occur any more.

so how can i apply a password so that netwrok users must enter it each time in order to gain access o this pc?

N.B:
1) the admin account is the only account on this pc and has a password on it which must be entered to log on locally to the pc.

2) the guest account is disabled

3) all pcs in my house (6) are on the same workgroup

4) all pcs have a manual IP assigned to them (ranging from 192.168.1.101-192.168.1.106)

5) all the other pcs are running win xp pro sp2

6) in the sharing properties for the drives i want to shate across the network (for the downloading pc) i made it so only 1 user can access the pc at a time i want it like this

Typically on a workgroup you want the same usernames/passwords on each machine.

Here is an example:

Machine A:
username: bob / password doh

Machine B:
username: bob / password doh

Now lets say I am bob and I'm on machine a. I have a shared folder on Machine B that grants the username bob access. Since I am logged onto Machine A as bob, when I connect to the share on B, I already have valid credentials and wont be bothered with a login prompt when accessing the share on machine B.

For your needs, you say you want a login box to always appear. So on your file server, you want to create a file sharing account. Lets say the username will be filesharer. The user account will ONLY be on the file server. When people are at the workstation, they will not be on a fileserver username. Because of this, they will be presented with a login prompt asking them for username/password credentials. The person at the workstation will then have to type in the fileserver username and whatever password is assigned. They will then have those additional credentials and will be allowed to download data from the file server from a share which has the username fileserver in its Access Control List for that specific folder (Security Tab).

I do believe win2k has a similar remote access feature to the one found in XP, so try looking around in administrative tools. You can also use third party software. Threre's some free stuff here. I haven't tried any of those, so I can't tell you which one to use.

dude don't double post. Here is my answer again

On the File Server
1. Create local user accounts and assign passwords.
2. Set up shares, assign users to shares
3. Set security on those shares (read/write/etc)

You can assign users to groups and manage shares/security with groups.

Basically a user has to first have access to the share and then they need security permissions assigned.