Microsoft: Enable Basic Authentication for WebDAV on Windows 7

If you are having difficulty using Windows 7 to connect to a Web-based application on an Apache/Linux-based WebDAV server, you may need to enable support for Basic Authentication for WebDAV on your Windows 7 computer. To do this, open Registry Editor and create the following new registry entry under HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WebClient\Parameters:

Name: BasicAuthLevel

Type: DWORD (32-bit) Value

Value: 2

If you do this, you should make sure the Web-application uses SSL since the Basic Auth password is sent in cleartext.

Note that the possible values you can assign to this new registry entry are:

0 - Basic authentication disabled

1 - Basic authentication enabled for Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) shares only

2 or greater - Basic authentication enabled for SSL shares and for non-SSL shares

The following Windows command can help you to automate the change:

@echo ##############################################
@echo ##### WebDAV Script by Andres Cheah #####
@echo ##############################################
@echo #####                                    #####
@echo ##                                          ##
@echo #                                            #
@echo off
REG ADD HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\WebClient\Parameters /v BasicAuthLevel /t REG_DWORD /d 0x2
net stop webclient
net start webclient
@echo ###You are ready to map the WebDAV drive!###
pause

Reference:
Enable Basic Auth for WebDAV on Windows 7
http://www.windowsnetworking.com/kbase/WindowsTips/Windows7/AdminTips/Security/EnableBasicAuthforWebDAVonWindows7.html