How to enable folder sharing. How to Share Files and Folders (Easy Way for Home Network)

We have already talked about how to create one in Windows XP or share access to it, so I will not repeat it.

Creating the same shared folder in Windows 7 is a little more complicated, so I'll show you everything in order.

I want to warn you right away. Never Do not share system folders such as the Windows and Program Files folder. This should not be done for security reasons.

• It's best to create a folder on your Desktop. Call it whatever you want. The name does not matter, as long as it was clear to all your network users. I usually name the folder Exchange.
• Right-click on this folder and select the link from the drop-down list Properties.

Go to the tab Access and press the button Advanced setup...

Check the box next to the entry Share this folder and click on the button Permissions.

In the field below the inscription Enter the names of the selected objects write the word Guest

• Assign permissions for the Guest by checking the boxes and clicking the button Apply And OK.

• Now go to the tab Safety and press the button Change...

• Next press the button Add

In the Windows operating system, you can connect shared access to a folder on a local home network to exchange data between computers using shared folders. This is a very convenient and fast way to transfer files computer-to-computer, without using external media (flash drives, external hard drives, memory cards, etc.).

In this article I will talk about creating a local network using the Windows 10 operating system as an example. Creating and setting up a local network in Windows 8 and Windows 7 is done in a similar way; these instructions are universal.

The article discusses the following option for using shared folders on a local network: several computers are connected to the router, connected via cable and wireless Wi-Fi network, united into a home network. A shared folder is created on each computer; all computers included in this local network have access to the shared folders.

On computers connected to the home local network, the operating systems Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7 (different OS, or the same operating system) can be installed, connected to the router via Wi-Fi or cable.

Creating and configuring a local network takes place in four stages:

• the first stage is checking the workgroup name and network card settings
• second stage - creating and configuring local network parameters
• third stage - connecting shared access to a folder on the local network
• fourth stage - data exchange over the local network

First you need to check the workgroup settings and network card settings, and then create a local Windows network.

Checking network card and workgroup settings

On the Desktop, right-click on the “This PC” icon (“My Computer”, “Computer”), select “Properties” from the context menu. In the “System” window, click on “Advanced system settings”.

In the “System Properties” window that opens, open the “Computer name” tab. Here you will see the workgroup name. By default, in Windows 10, a workgroup is named "WORKGROUP".

On all computers connected to this local network, the workgroup name must be the same. If the workgroups have different names on the computers you connect to the network, change the names by choosing one name for the workgroup.

To do this, click on the “Change...” button, in the “Changing computer or domain name” window, give a different name for the workgroup (write the new name in capital letters, preferably in English).

Now check your network card settings. To do this, in the notification area, right-click on the network icon (Internet access). Click on "Network and Sharing Center". In the Network and Sharing Center window, click the Change adapter settings link.

In the Network Connections window, select a network card, Ethernet or Wi-Fi, depending on how your computer connects to the Internet. Next, right-click on the network card and click on “Properties” in the context menu.

In the network card properties window, in the “Network” tab, select the “IP version 4 (TCP/IPv4)” component, and then click on the “Properties” button.

In the Internet Protocol Properties window that opens, in the “General” tab, check the IP address and DNS service settings. In most cases, these parameters are assigned automatically. If these parameters are inserted manually, check the corresponding addresses with your Internet provider (the IP address on computers connected to the network must be different).

After checking the settings, you can proceed directly to creating a local network in Windows.

Creating a local network

First of all, configure the local network settings in Windows. Enter the “Network and Sharing Center”, click on the “Change advanced sharing settings” item.

The Advanced Sharing Settings window allows you to change sharing settings for different network profiles. The Windows operating system creates a separate network profile with its own special parameters for each network used.

There are three network profiles available:

• Private
• Guest or public
• All networks

In your private network profile, under Network Discovery, select Enable Network Discovery.

In the File and Printer Sharing option, enable the Enable File and Printer Sharing option.

In the HomeGroup Connection option, select Let Windows manage HomeGroup connections (recommended).

After that, open the “All Networks” network profile. In the Public Folder Sharing option, select Enable sharing to allow network users to read and write files in public folders.

In the File Sharing Connection option, select the Use 128-bit encryption to secure sharing connections (recommended) option.

In the “Password Protected Sharing” option, enable the “Turn off Password Protected Sharing” option.

After completing the settings, click on the “Save Changes” button.

Repeat all these steps on all computers that you plan to connect to your home local network:

• check the workgroup name (name must be the same)
• check your network card settings
• In sharing settings, enable network discovery, enable file and printer sharing, disable password protected sharing

How to enable folder sharing

In this case, I created a folder named “General”. Right-click on this folder and in the folder properties window, open the “Access” tab.

Then click on the “Advanced setup” button.

In the “Advanced sharing settings” window, activate the “Share this folder” option, and then click on the “Permissions” button.

Select permissions to use shared folder data from another computer. There are three options to choose from:

• Full access
• Change
• Reading

To save the settings, click on the “OK” button.

Go back to the folder properties, open the “Security” tab, and then click on the “Change...” button.

In the window that opens, enter the name “Everyone” (without quotes) in the “Enter names of selected objects” field, and then click on the “OK” button.

In the folder properties window, in the “Security” tab, configure the permissions that you previously selected for the shared folder.

To change the permission for the “Everyone” group, click on the “Advanced” button. In the “Advanced security settings for a shared folder” window, select the “Everyone” group, and then click on the “Change” button to change permissions.

Setting up a local network in Windows is complete. In some cases, you may need to restart your computer for all changes to take effect.

Logging into your local home network

Open Explorer, in the “Network” section you will see all available computers connected to your local home network. To log into another computer, click on the computer name, and then click on the shared folder name to access the files and folders located in the shared folder.

The local network in Windows 10 has been created and configured.

Troubleshoot some network problems

Sometimes, after setting up the network, problems arise with accessing folders on the local network. One possible problem may be an incorrectly selected network profile. I encountered this myself on my computer. After reinstalling the system, I created and configured a local network, but my computer did not see two laptops connected to this network. From the laptop I could easily access the shared folder on my computer, but the computer did not see them at all.

I checked all the local network settings several times, and only then I noticed that my computer was running a public network, and not a private (home) network, like on laptops. How can such a problem be solved?

Enter the “Network and Sharing Center”, click on “Troubleshooting”. Select the “Shared Folders” section and run diagnostics and troubleshooting. At the very end, the application will offer to configure the network as private. Apply this fix, and then restart your computer. After performing this operation, my computer gained access to shared folders on laptops on the local network.

Often problems arise due to incorrect network configuration. Windows 10 has the option to reset network settings to default settings. Go to “Settings”, “Network and Internet”, in the “Change network settings” section, click on “Reset network” to apply the default network settings.

Other problems may arise; look for solutions on the Internet.

Conclusion

In Windows OS, you can create a local private (home) network between computers, organize data exchange using shared folders, and gain access to a printer. Computers on the same network can have different or the same operating systems installed (Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7).

Many of us have more than one PC at home with different operating systems. The need often arises. But if one of them runs Windows XP, and the second one, this becomes a problem, because... Windows 7 pays a lot of attention to network security issues (what can we say about then). It is almost impossible to access network resources from Windows XP without making additional settings.

To make the necessary settings, go to the menu “ Start", and from there to "Control Panel" and select from the list that appears "Network and Sharing Center"

In the window that appears, we see the name and map of the active network. To configure the network, it is necessary that the “Home Group” is not created; if it is created, you must exit it. If a homegroup has not been created, its status is defined as "Ready to create". Now we need to go to the menu item “Select home group and sharing options”.

In the window that appears, select "Change advanced sharing settings...".

After which a large list of settings will be displayed on the screen. To properly configure the network, we need to change the following parameters, as indicated in the picture:

We save all the parameters and open general access to the necessary ones, to do this, select the folder, right-click on it and select from the list that appears "Properties", in the folder properties, select the tab "Access". Click on the button "General access…".

In the window that appears, you need to select users and their level of access to the folder. In order for all network users to have access to the folder, you must add a user group called "All"(If it is not in the list, you must select it in the field at the top of the screen and click on the “Add” button).

Upon completion of these simple manipulations, press the button "General access" and a window appears on the screen with the specified network path to the folder. Now click on the button "Ready".

Attention!
If your hard drive is formatted with the NTFS file system, you need to either disable sharing or adjust the rights before reinstalling Windows, because If you open access to folders only for your account, you risk not being able to access them from the new operating system.

Many users, sooner or later, think about how to exchange files between two or more computers on a local network. As you already understood, in order to perform this action, you need to create a local network and all computers in it must be connected to one access point.

So, let's start sharing folders in Windows 7. For example, let's take several folders with different names.

Access is opened according to the following algorithm:

1. First, check your network sharing settings. To do this, right-click on the network icon near the clock on the taskbar. Select “Network and Sharing Center...” and follow the link “Change advanced settings...”;
   
   
2. Now you need to make all the settings in the same way as we will now demonstrate to you. Please note that some settings may have been customized initially, which is good. Once all the parameters are set as needed, click “Save Changes”. Remember that you must have administrator rights to do this;
   
   
   
   
3. The next step will be to create access. You can either limit the number of users who can edit/delete/add files to folders, or set full access (i.e., no restrictions at all), but we still recommend choosing the first option. To create open access, right-click on the folder and select “Properties”, and in them go to the “Access” tab;
   
4. In “Access” you see the “Sharing” button immediately highlighted - that’s what we need. Feel free to go to settings by clicking on this button;
5. In the settings window, you need to decide who you want to share access with. Select the desired option from the drop-down list and click on it. Then change the attributes (permission level) from “Read” to “Read and Write”. After that, click “Sharing”;
   
   
6. After this, you will see that the folder is available via public access. Below, under the folder name, you will see the full name of the folder - its path through which you can enter it from another computer connected to the network. Click “Finish”. After this, we continue the settings in the “Properties” window;
   
   
7. Click on the “Advanced settings” button and limit users to 2. Then save the changes;
   

We carried out similar actions with another folder, now we have several shared resources, and we can see the entire list in the “Shared resource name” drop-down list of the “Advanced settings” window.

In order to use a local network normally, you need to be able to share folders. In this material we will talk about how to share a folder in Windows 7, 8 or 10, and also tell you what settings you need to make on your computer in order for access to folders to work normally.

Setting up your computer before sharing folders

Before you open access to folders, you need to make sure that your computer is configured correctly. Otherwise, you will not be able to access the folders you need. To do this, follow the path " Start – Control Panel – Network and Internet – Network and Sharing Center" In this window you need to click on the link “ Change advanced sharing options».

After this, a window with sharing settings will open in front of you. In this window, all functions must be enabled except “ Password protected sharing" This function must be disabled and click on the “Save changes” button.

If you do not disable this feature, you will have to enter a password when trying to access the folder.

How to Share a Folder in Windows 7, 8 or 10

Sharing a folder in Windows 7, 8 or 10 is quite easy. To begin, right-click on the desired folder and select “ Properties».

After this, a window with the properties of the folder will appear in front of you. In this window you need to go to the “ Access" and click on the button " General access».

After this, a window will appear with the name of the shared folder. Here you just need to click on the button " Ready».

This completes access to the folder.

An alternative way to open access to a folder

There is also an alternative way to open access to folders. To use this method, press the Windows + R key combination and enter the command in the window that opens shrpubw.

After this, “ Create Share Wizard" With it you can quickly and easily share a folder. To start creating a shared folder, simply click on the “ Further».

The first step is to select the folder you want to share. Select the desired folder and click on the " Further».

The final stage is choosing folder access permissions. Select the folder access rules that suit you and click on the “ Ready».

This completes the setup. In order to open access to the folder, you just have to click on the button again. Ready».

If necessary, at this stage you can enable the function of re-running the “Share Resource Wizard”.