This
bug was discovered in 1995 and large numbers of Windows 95 Dial-up Networking
users have been staying up late at night pulling their hair out over why
the Save Password option in their Connect To dialogue box doesn't work.
Symptoms range from being able to select the box and it not working, to
the box being completely greyed out and inaccessible.
Option
available but not working
The
first thing to note when trying to fix this problem is that for the Save
Password option to work, you must successfully connect to the remote system
at least once with the option checked before Windows 95 will save your
password. This also means that if you have more than one connection profile,
you need to establish at least one successful connection with each profile
that you wish to save your password with, even if your password is the
same across all the profiles.
Option
not available (greyed out)
Some
users have had luck solving this problem by installing the Client for
Microsoft Networks. In the Control Panel, open the Network option. If
the Client for Microsoft Networks is not at or near the top of the list,
press the Add button, then choose Service, Microsoft, and then Client
for Microsoft Networks. Press OK until all the dialogue boxes are closed,
then reboot.
There
are a number of reasons why this may be occurring, and there are a number
of ways you can try and get around the problem. One method is to change
your Computer Name to the login ID you use for your Internet Service Provider
(ISP). You can modify your computer name by double-clicking the Network
icon in the Control Panel, then selecting the Identification tab (you'll
have to reboot for the change to take affect).
Sometimes,
uninstalling and re-installing Dial-up Networking can solve this problem.
In the Control Panel, choose the Add/Remove Programs option. Then go to
the Windows Set-up tab, and uncheck the Dial-up Networking option. Press
OK until all the dialogue boxes are closed, then reboot. Follow these same
instructions and re-check the Dial-up Networking option. Then try your
connection again.
The
last thing to try is deleting your Windows password file. Do a search
on your system for *.PWL, then delete or rename them. Reboot your system,
and you'll notice that Windows will ask for a user name and password to
log in. You're now re-creating this password information in your system.
You don't have to enter a password here if you don't want to use one every
time you log in, but you do need to enter a user name. This will rebuild
the password file, and may allow your Dial-up Networking to save your
dial-up password.