Fix Windows 11 SMB Guest Access Error 0x80070005 – Network Shares 2026

This method works on Windows 11 Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions.

1. Press Win + R, type gpedit.msc, and press Enter
2. Navigate to Computer Configuration → Administrative Templates → Network → Lanman Workstation
3. Double-click Enable insecure guest logons
4. Select Enabled and click OK
5. Open Command Prompt as administrator and run:

gpupdate /force

Get-SmbClientConfiguration | Select-Object EnableInsecureGuestLogons

The output should show True. Test network share access immediately without rebooting.

Use this method when Group Policy Editor is unavailable on Windows 11 Home.

1. Press Win + R, type regedit, and press Enter
2. Navigate to the following registry path:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanWorkstation\Parameters

3. Right-click in the right pane and select New → DWORD (32-bit) Value
4. Name the new value AllowInsecureGuestAuth
5. Double-click the new value and set it to 1
6. Click OK and close Registry Editor
7. Restart your computer for changes to take effect

Get-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanWorkstation\Parameters" -Name "AllowInsecureGuestAuth"

Automated registry modification using PowerShell for batch deployment or scripting.

1. Open PowerShell as administrator
2. Run the following command to create the registry entry:

New-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanWorkstation\Parameters" -Name "AllowInsecureGuestAuth" -Value 1 -PropertyType DWORD -Force

3. Restart the computer or restart the Workstation service:

Restart-Service -Name "LanmanWorkstation" -Force

Get-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanWorkstation\Parameters" | Select-Object AllowInsecureGuestAuth

Instead of enabling guest access, configure proper authentication for better security.

1. On the SMB server, create a dedicated user account:

net user shareuser P@ssw0rd123 /add
net localgroup "Users" shareuser /add

2. Configure share permissions to grant access to the new user
3. On the client, map the drive with credentials:

net use Z: \\server\sharename /user:shareuser P@ssw0rd123 /persistent:yes

4. Alternatively, use Credential Manager to store credentials:
5. Open Control Panel → Credential Manager → Windows Credentials
6. Click Add a Windows credential
7. Enter server address, username, and password

dir Z:\
net use

Deploy the fix across multiple Windows 11 systems using a batch script.

1. Create a new text file and save it as fix-smb-guest.bat:

@echo off
echo Enabling SMB Guest Authentication...
reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanWorkstation\Parameters" /v AllowInsecureGuestAuth /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
if %errorlevel% equ 0 (
    echo Registry updated successfully.
    echo Restarting Workstation service...
    net stop "Workstation" /y
    net start "Workstation"
    echo SMB guest access enabled.
) else (
    echo Failed to update registry. Run as administrator.
)
pause

2. Run the batch file as administrator on each affected computer
3. For domain environments, deploy via Group Policy Preferences or SCCM