Starguide - A Practical Guide to Astro-Photography

I recently encountered a persistent issue accessing my ASIAIR device from a Windows 11 laptop. While other Windows systems (including older builds) connected successfully to the share \\10.0.0.1\EMMC Images on my ASI2600MC AIR, my laptop consistently failed — with errors such as “Access Denied” or “Extended network error”, and no prompt to enter credentials.

First, make sure that your ASIAIR device and your Windows PC are on the same LAN network and are not assigned to different workgroups. If you are constantly being rejected when trying to connect to the ASIAIR device and folders, this solution should help you fix the problem.

Notes: 

1. the network address 10.0.0.1 is used here as a substitute for the actual IP address of the ASIAIR in your LAN network and must be adapted accordingly to your network environment. However, if the computer is connected directly to the ASIAIR access point, 10.0.0.1 is the actual correct IP address.
2. Remote access to an ASIAIR internal memory or to an inserted USB stick does NOT require credentials. If your computer requires credentials when accessing the network address 10.0.0.1 (as was the case for me), it is because Windows has memorized this data from a previous attempt to access the ASIAIR. To delete this, you can enter the command: net use * /delete in Powershell (with administrator rights) and, if necessary, delete any existing entry for a drive like. Z: or \\10.0.0.1 in the registry under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Network.

After extensive testing and analysis, the root cause turned out to be recent changes introduced in Windows 11 24H2, though they don't appear in all Windows installations.

🧱 The Problem

Windows 11 24H2 now enforces strict SMB security defaults:

• Guest access is disabled
• SMB signing is required
• Unsigned or anonymous access is rejected silently (no credential prompt)
  
  

This especially affects devices like ASIAIR, which use simplified SMB configurations often relying on guest mode or lack of signing.

🛠️ The Solution (Tested & Working)

1. Open PowerShell as Administrator 
   (Press Win + X → choose “Windows PowerShell (Admin)”)
   
   
2. Enter the following commands:

• Set-SmbClientConfiguration -RequireSecuritySignature $false
• Set-SmbClientConfiguration -EnableInsecureGuestLogons $true

Confirm each with Y when prompted.

3. Connect with the ASIAIR, either:

• Map the Share Manually
  In Command Prompt (Admin):
  net use Z: "\\10.0.0.1"
• or: in Windows Explorer: enter the ASIAIR network address (e.g., 10.0.0.1)

4. No reboot required — access restored immediately!

✅ Cleanup (Optional After Use)

If you'd like to revert to more secure defaults:

Set-SmbClientConfiguration -RequireSecuritySignature $true

Set-SmbClientConfiguration -EnableInsecureGuestLogons $false

I hope this helps others struggling with ASIAIR SMB access under Windows 11. It’s a subtle issue with big impact — but with the right tweaks, everything works as expected.

Clear skies and smooth data transfers!

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