PC Win: "Remember Password" Option of WFW Mail Client
ID: Q130704
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The information in this article applies to:
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Microsoft Mail for Windows, version 3.2
***************************************************************
** - WARNING - **
** THE MIXING OF WFW and MSMAIL 3.2 DLL's HAS NOT BEEN **
** CONFIRMED, EDITED OR TESTED BY MICROSOFT. USE ONLY **
** WITH DISCRETION. **
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SYMPTOMS
In Windows for Workgroups Mail, when you select the menu Mail and
change password, a dialog box is displayed with a check box "remember
password". This article describes this feature and its usage.
On changing the password and checking this box, you are not prompted
for your password in subsequent sessions. However, after doing this if
you change your mind and want to be prompted to enter the password on
loading mail, how do you revert back ?
If you try changing the password and leave the box clear (not selected), on
loading mail the following error message appears:
Mailbox name or password is incorrect
On pressing enter, the 'sign in' dialog box is displayed and the
password field displays asterisks denoting the length of the previous
password.
MORE INFORMATION
To resolve this issue it is important to understand that the 'Remember
Password' option is actually a MS Windows for Workgroups feature that is
not provided with the MS Mail 3.2 Windows Client.
But if you are using the MS Mail 3.2 Windows Client in the MS Windows for
Workgroups environment, then you will have this option available
if the WFWG mail components are in use. Specifically, the WFWG
version of the MSSFS.DLL file has been enhanced to tie into the WFWG
password caching scheme.
Here are four procedures that may be used to resolve this issue:
- Replace the WFWG MSSFS.DLL with the Mail 3.2
MSSFS.DLL
- Delete the user's password caching file <username>.PWL
- Use the WFWG 3.11 Resource Kit Password List Editor to edit
the PWL file and remove the cached password for Mail.
- Write a null password for Mail in the PWL file.
Here are the procedures in more detail:
- If the MS Mail 3.2 Windows Client is being used
in the MS Windows
for Workgroups environment and the 'Remember Password' option is not
desired
the WFWG version of MSSFS.DLL (c:\windows\system\mssfs.dll
dated 11/1/93) can be replaced with the MS Mail 3.2 Windows Client version
of the MSSFS.DLL file.
The 'Remember Password' option will no longer appear in the logon dialog or
the change password dialog in the MS Mail 3.2 Client.
- MS Windows for Workgroups caching scheme stores passwords in a file
on the hard disk. The naming convention for the file is
<username>.pwl and the file is typically stored in the c:\windows
directory. If this file is removed from the hard disk the user will
be prompted for a password when attempting to access any resources
using passwords that were previously cached in the PWL file.
If the user desires to continue caching passwords with some resources,
then the user will need to provide the password when connecting to these
resources and once again select the 'Remember Password' or 'Save this
Password in Your Password List' option to have the passwords written to a
new PWL file.
- The MS Windows for Workgroups 3.11 Resource Kit provides a 'Password
List Editor' utility that allows a network administrator or user to remove
password caching for specific resources contained in a PWL file.
This utility does not display the passwords (which are encrypted) in the
file, but will display specific resources (shares, mail) which can be
removed from the PWL file.
This option enables an administrator/user to disable password caching for a
specific resources and does not require the user to recreate the PWL file
for other resources where password caching is still desired.
- If the administrator/user does not have access to the WFWG 3.11
Resource Kit then a null password can be written to the PWL file for Mail
and this will disable password caching for Mail.
The WFWG password caching feature does not work with Mail when a null
(blank) password is written to the PWL file. If a null password is written
to the PWL file (by changing the Mail password to null and
then selecting the 'Remember Password' option) the Sign In dialog is
displayed anyway. (Pressing the return key will take the user into Mail.)
Once this is done the user can change their password back to a non-null
password and not select the 'Remember Password' option. This will update
the MMF file to the new non-null password but leave the null password in
the
PWL file. The result is that the user will always be prompted for a
password (even though a null password is still in the PWL file) until they
once again choose the 'Remember Password' option while using the new non-
null password.
This procedure, like procedure number 1 and 3 above, also does not require
recreating the PWL file for continued caching of other
resources.
RESOLUTION
To insure proper implementation of Microsoft Mail for PC Networks Windows
Client on a Windows for Workgroups workstation,it is important to have the
most updated versions of the Mail 3.2 DLL's. There is an updated SETUP.INF
file available in WSETUP.EXE that can be download from the Microsoft FTP
Web site and used to ensure that the correct DLLs are actually copied to
the local WINDOWS and MAIL directories. See Q124953
for more information.
Additional query words:
3.20
Keywords : MailPCWin MailPCWFW
Version : WINDOWS:3.2
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type :