How can an unauthenticated user access a windows share?

http://serverfault.com/questions/51635/how-can-an-unauthenticated-user-access-a-windows-share

In my case, enabling the guest account and adding Everyone did not help (with a share on an older box with Windows Server 2008 SP2 in a domain and a Windows Server 2012 R2 machine from outside of the domain). After following the excellent guide posted by Nikola Radosavljevic, anonymous access finally worked in my scenario. Summary of steps: Adding Everyone, Guest and ANONYMOUS LOGON to the permissions of the share. Open the Group Policy Editor (e.g. by running gpedit.msc) Computer Configuration -> Windows Settings -> Security Settings -> Local Policies -> Security Options Accounts: Guest account status: Enabled Network access: Let Everyone permissions apply to anonymous users: Enabled Network access: Restrict anonymous access to Named Pipes and Shares: Disabled Network access: Shares that can be accessed anonymously: YOUR_SHARE_NAME