PC Win: "Remember Password" Option of WFW Mail Client (130704)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Mail for Windows 3.2
This article was previously published under Q130704
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**                          - 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:
  1. Replace the WFWG MSSFS.DLL with the Mail 3.2 MSSFS.DLL
  2. Delete the user's password caching file <username>.PWL
  3. Use the WFWG 3.11 Resource Kit Password List Editor to edit the PWL file and remove the cached password for Mail.
  4. Write a null password for Mail in the PWL file.
Here are the procedures in more detail:
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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 124953 for more information.
Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:10/28/1999
Keywords:KB130704
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