What does sharing computer folders mean? Setting up folder sharing

In this article I will tell you how you can access your computer from the network. Open access to a computer over a network to exchange information with it.

For example, you need to share a folder. Let’s say you’ve done this, you’re trying to access this folder from another computer, and you’re given a window asking you to enter your “login” and “password,” or it gives you an error that you don’t have enough rights, asking you to contact your system administrator.

You have two computers connected to each other, and you have a need to exchange files with each other.

• First computer: its IP address is 192.168.0.2
• Second computer: its IP address is 192.168.0.3

Create a shared folder on the first computer

Right-click on the desktop, a context menu appears => create => folder. " New folder", let's rename it to "shared access". Right-click on it and a context menu will appear => property. Switch to the “Access” tab.

Click on the “Sharing” button, a window appears that looks like this:

In the line where I write “Everyone”, you also write this word, then click on the “Add” button. Then below you will see the inscription “Everyone”, opposite it there will be a value “Reading”, click on this word “Reading” and select “Read and Write”, then click on the button “Sharing” - “Done”.

In this window, you need to check the box “Share this folder” and click on the “Permissions” button, after which a new window will appear:

In the “Allow” column you need to check all the boxes and click on the “Ok”, “Ok”, “Close” buttons. That's it for the addition public access finished for the folder.

Disable Windows Firewall

Go to Control Panel => Administration => Windows Firewall with Advanced Security.

Click on the “Actions” => “Properties” button, the following window will appear:

On the “Domain Profile” tab there is a “Firewall” item, by default it is “Enable (recommended)”, you select “Disable” and click “OK”. This is the disconnect Windows Firewall completed.

Local Security Policy

Configuring the “Local Security Policy”. Go to the control panel => administration => local security policy. The following window will appear on your screen:

In this window on the left there are security items “Local Policies” => “User Rights Assignment”. A list of policies will open on the right side, at this point we are interested in two items, in the screenshot they are highlighted in red “Access to this computer from the network” and “Deny access to this computer from the network”.

Accessing a computer from the network

Double-click on this line and the following window will open:

You need to add the “Guest” account to this window; to do this, click on the “Add user or group...” button, you will see a new window:

In which you click on the “Advanced” button and go to the following window:

In this window, you click “search”, after which “search result” will appear: in which you should find the “Guest” account, then click on the button “Ok”, “Ok”, “Ok”.

Deny access to this computer from the network

Double-click on this line and the following window will open:

In this window, you need to select the “Guest” account, click on the “Delete” button, and click the “Ok” button. That's it for the setup process. local policies finished.

Let's check the functionality of this method

We go from another computer to “my computer”, on the left there will be a column at the bottom, in which there will be an item – “Network”, when you click, a window will open on the left, where the computers of your work group will be indicated. Click on the first computer on which we created the “shared” folder and a window should open in which this folder will be. Just drag the file into this folder and it will appear on the first computer.

I hope this article was useful to you.

Setting up a computer-to-computer local network

Today, using both Windows XP, Windows 7, and Windows 8 in one home or small business is quite possible.

While Windows 7 and Windows 8 have similar tools for sharing files online, there are differences that might puzzle you.

Basics of file sharing on a local network

When installing or troubleshooting problems sharing to files over a home or small business network, the first thing you need to do is make sure that all computers on the network are elements of the same working group . There is an exception: if you have a laptop that is usually connected to corporate domain and is configured as a domain element, and you intend to leave it as such.

The default workgroup name for Windows systems is WORKGROUP. But you can use a different name. Simply put, the PC will see all systems in local network, which have the same common workgroup name. If you are joining a machine to a workgroup, in the settings Windows systems a master is provided.

To manually change the system workgroup name, call the System Properties dialog box (Figure 1). To do this, in the Control Panel, open the System section. On Windows 7 and Windows 8, click the link Advanced System Settings(Advanced system settings). Select the Computer Name tab and click the Change button to enter a new workgroup name (or new domain name or computer name).

Once you have your computers recognizing each other in Windows Explorer, you can start sharing files by designating files and folders to be shared. But more on that in a moment.

Use HomeGroups to Share Files and Folders Locally

Microsoft is counting on you to use the built-in features in Windows to share files. home groups (homegroups). These are essentially pre-configured groupings of shared files and printers. Homegroups are generally easy to set up, but they also have a number of limitations and potential performance issues. For example, XP systems cannot be joined to a homegroup. Transferring files using home group may be noticeably slower than over a standard workgroup connection.

Homegroups can be used in Windows 8.1, Windows RT 8.1, and Windows 7, with a few important caveats. In Windows 7 Starter, Windows 7 Home Basic, and Windows RT 8.1, you can carry out annexation to the homegroup, but not create her. In RT, you also won't be able to share local content with others. Systems installed as domain members can also be joined (but not created) to home groups.

Typically, Windows 7 prompts users to create or join a homegroup when the PC first connects to the network. Not so with Windows 8: When you set up a Windows 8.1 PC, a homegroup is automatically created if there are no other homegroups on the network. If there is another computer on the network with a homegroup, the utility will notify you and show a button Join now(Join now) (see Figure 2). If you click the button, you will be prompted to enter your homegroup password.

However, before you join a homegroup, I recommend clicking the "Edit" link additional options shared access" (Change advanced sharing settings). Advanced sharing settings dialog box ) allows you to configure resources for the network. The program offers three sections: Private (current network profile), Guest or Public, and All Networks. The organizational chart of this utility can be confusing; this is what is shown here:

• In sections Private(Private) and Guest or public(Guest or Public) you can specify whether to enable network discovery and file and printer sharing. You should leave these options enabled because, after all, you want your computers to see each other and share files.
• Chapter All networks(All Networks) is more interesting. Here you can set whether users on other computers can access Public Folders (we'll get to those shortly), and determine which devices on the network can stream media across the network.

To accommodate older devices, you can also downgrade the encryption standard used by the network. Finally, you can set whether password-protected sharing will be implemented on the current computer. If you enable this setting, users will need to have accounts on the computer to share files.

When you are done with the Advanced sharing settings dialog, you can click the Save changes button and return to the previous dialog. Click the button Join(Join now) and you will be asked to select which folders you want to share.

The Share with other homegroup members dialog box can be a little confusing at first. One thing to keep in mind is that you are not defining file types, you are defining folders saved in your user profile. Selecting Shared in the Video category, for example, means that only those files in your Video library or folder can be accessed by others. Videos saved in other directories will not be shared.

Click the Next button to join the homegroup. You will now be able to navigate within the shared resources of other computers when you go to the Homegroup section in Windows Explorer.

More detailed information You can find information about Windows HomeGroups on the HomeGroup page on the Microsoft website.

Sharing files over the network via folders General

Whether your system is connected to a HomeGroup, or just part of a workgroup, you can use the Public folder to share files with anyone who has access to your computer—on the network or locally. If you created a homegroup, the General folder will be used automatically. Otherwise, you will need to enable the General folder yourself.

Again, once you enable the Public folder, any files stored in that folder or its subfolders will be available to everyone who has access to that computer. Keep in mind, however, that the Public folder on each system is a separate folder, independent of the Public folders on all other systems. This is not a single shared folder accessible over the network.

Once you have enabled the Public folder, I recommend making it new Library(Library). Right click on her name and select Add to library(Include in library).

Share specific files and folders

I don't usually use folders Windows data by default, I think more convenient creation my own folder hierarchy. (Keep in mind that if you want custom custom folders to be automatically backed up using File History in Windows 8, they must be included in the Library.) Luckily, it's relatively easy to designate individual folders, subfolders, and files to share - for yourself, within a homegroup, or for other specific users.

On Windows 7, click (Share with) and then Individual people(Specific people); The File Sharing dialog box will open, similar to the one in Windows 8.

Interestingly, if you want to make a specific folder (other than the Public folder) accessible everyone on your network, you'll have to take a few extra steps. You must open the properties of the file or folder, select the Sharing tab and click Share.

Double-click a specific user's name and the Permission Entry dialog box will open (see Figure 7). You can also specify, among other things, whether the permissions also apply to subfolders and the files within them.

Windows 7 also allows you to set certain user permissions on files and folders, but this is located in a different place. Right-click the folder and select Properties, then select the Sharing or Security tab. On the Sharing tab, select Advanced Sharing and then Permissions. On the Security tab, highlight the username and then click Edit. (This works for Windows 8 too.)

Setting up shared files and folders manually will take some effort, but it will obviously allow you fine control over access and access levels to data on your PC. When you want to access something shared on another computer, you simply go to the Network section in the navigation bar Windows Explorer, click the Expand button next to the specific system, and open the file or folder you are looking for.

Cloud: organizing access to your own data

Using HomeGroups and Shared Folders makes it easier for others to access your data. This also allows you to access data on multiple computers on your local network. But an even more flexible solution is in cloud technology. Services such as Dropbox, Google Drive and OneDrive (Microsoft) make it extremely easy to sync data across multiple machines and mobile devices. You can also access your data using any Internet-connected browser, and you can share files and folders with other people over the Internet with relative ease.

But there are downsides to the cloud-based approach to storing files and folders—besides the necessity subscription fee when you go beyond the limits of free storage. For example, often you cannot grant different permissions different people. More importantly, you typically can't sync files between systems on your local network without having to upload the same data to the cloud, where, again, you're faced with potentially having to pay for storage.

There is no one-size-fits-all way to share data

To provide access to files and folders - to yourself and others - you'll probably use different methods for different purposes.

Using Homegroups makes it easy to share data located in specific Windows folders, especially if you don't have to set different permissions for each file and folder for different users.

Manually specify shared files and folders - and even disks - are best option when you want to tightly control access or if you prefer to store data in your own directory structure.

Finally, cloud storage - ideal option in order to synchronize files and folders on multiple devices and when you are not connected to a local network. As a bonus, you also have the option to do remote backup important data.

Found a typo? Press Ctrl + Enter

Instructions

Call the context menu of the folder selected for opening (sharing) on ​​the local network by right-clicking and use the “Properties” item (for OS Windows versions XP). Go to the " Access» dialog box that opens. Check the “Share this folder” checkbox in the “Network Sharing and Security” group. Type the desired value for the name of the folder to be shared in the “Share Name” line. Check the “Allow editing files over the network” checkbox if you want to allow other users to edit the selected folder. Authorize the application of the changes by clicking the OK button and wait until the palm symbol appears under the shared folder (for OS Windows version XP).

Open main system menu Windows version 7 by clicking the "Start" button and going to the "Control Panel" node. Expand the “Network and Internet” link and expand the “Network and Sharing Center” section. Use the “Change additional sharing settings” button and check the “Enable sharing, …” checkbox in the “Access to” section shared folders" Check the “Disable sharing with” checkbox. password protection" in the "Password protected sharing" section and authorize the command by clicking the "Save changes" button.

Call the context menu of the folder selected for sharing on the local network by right-clicking and use the “Properties” command. Select the “Sharing” tab of the dialog box that opens and use the “Advanced Settings” button. Type the desired name of the shared folder in the “Share name” field and check the “Share this folder” checkbox. Authorize the application of the saved changes by clicking OK (for OS Windows version 7).

Sources:

• Sharing folders and printer in Windows 7 and Windows XP

Some users create home locales networks. Typically, this process is carried out so that you can access the Internet from any equipment connected to this network.

You will need

• network adapter.

Instructions

In order to avoid large additional financial costs, focus your attention on already existing network. Configure one of your computers to act as a router.

Connect the Internet connection cable to one of the network cards. Turn on your computer (laptop), create and configure a new connection to the Internet.

Connect another network adapter to a second computer that is part of the local network. Open the settings of the network that appears. Go to TCP/IP Internet Protocol. Set for this network adapter permanent (static) IP address. Let's say its value is 134.134.134.1.

A shared folder in Windows 7 is one of the system directories that can be accessed by several user accounts, both locally and over the network. Most often, shared folders are used for sharing files, since everything that is placed inside them becomes available to all users who have rights to connect to this folder.

In Windows 7, by default, only one folder is created - C:UsersPublic ( System disk>> Directory “Users” >> “General”). Inside it there are thematic subdirectories: “General music”, “ General documents”, “Shared downloaded files”, “TV recordings”, “Images”, “Videos”, etc., as well as folders created by users and programs.

All accounts have equal rights to access the shared folder of this computer. You can verify this if you expand its properties and go to the “Access” tab. At the top of the window, where it says sharing network resources(files and folders), it says “Shared access available” and the button of the same name is active.

Clicking on this button opens a window with a list of accounts and groups. Among them there is a group “Everyone” with rights to read and write to this folder.

The owner, the Administrators group of this computer, can edit the list of users (delete and add) and change their permission level - read only or read and write.

Opening access to shared folders over the network

In addition to “Public” on Windows 7, you can open public access to any other folder. But in order for users from the network to connect to it, you need to enable the appropriate permissions for them.

• From the control panel, as well context menu network icon in the tray, go to “Network and Sharing Center”. Click “Edit additional” in the transition bar. sharing options."

• Expand the local network profile tab - “Work or Home” or “General” - depending on your settings.

• In the “Printer and File Sharing” and “Shared Folder Sharing” items, check the “Enable” checkbox and click “Save Changes”.

After this, other users on your network will be able to see everything in their network environment shared resources. To view your network environment on Windows 7, you need to go to the “Computer” folder and in the transition area click on the “Network” shortcut. Double click On a computer from this list, you can see all its shared folders, that is, folders to which public access is open.

Share any folder on your computer

User with administrative powers If desired, it can make almost any folder publicly available. To do this you need to change its settings a little.

• Open Properties and go to the “Access” tab of the selected folder. As you can see, in our example there is no public access to it yet. Click the “Advanced Setup” button.

• Check the box next to “Share…”, limit, if necessary, the number of simultaneous user connections and open “Permissions”.

• In the permission settings, as we can see, only one group is specified - “Everyone”. Here we can assign this group the desired access rights to our folder or, for example, delete it and add other accounts to the list. To do this, click the “Add” button.

• In the user selection window, you need to enter an account name. Usually Windows 7 itself finds the user by name, but if this does not happen, click “Check names”.

• In the next window, click “Location” to tell the system where to look for an account with the same name.

• Select the desired location from the list of available ones. In our example, there is only one – the local computer.

• If a user with this name is not found, the system will display a corresponding notification; if so, it will appear in the list of groups and users of the shared folder. All that remains is to give it to him necessary permissions access, and then save all changes.

• After these steps, the folder will become public (shared), and the network path to it will appear on the “Access” tab.

• You can find out that a folder is shared without looking at its properties: if you select it with the cursor, the “Sharing” icon and the corresponding inscription will appear on the bottom panel of the parent folder.

In addition to the above, in Windows 7 there is also quick access to permission settings for shared directories. This is the “Sharing” button at the top horizontal menu. By clicking here, you can quickly select which users are allowed to use the folder and with what rights.

How to open a shared folder in Windows 7

As already mentioned, you can get to a public folder on another PC by clicking on the “Network” icon in the transition area of ​​the “Computer” folder. If you need to use the folder often, you can create a shortcut to it on your desktop. In addition, the folder can be connected to the computer as network drive.

To do this, go to the “Computer” directory on your PC and top menu Click “Map network drive”.

Assign a letter to the new drive, click “Browse” and use File Explorer to navigate to the desired location. You can also manually enter the network path to it in the “Folder” line. The path is written like this: \Computer_name\Folder_name. If you do not remember this data, they are indicated in the properties of the shared directory on the “Access” tab.

To connect a network drive, click “Finish”.

After this, the disk will appear in the “Network location” section of the “Computer” folder.

You can log into a network drive under the user account of that computer or as a guest. If you are logging in as a user, enter your account name and password in the window that opens, and to be able to log in anonymous guest, need to:

• so that the guest account on the PC whose folder you are connecting to is activated;
• so that the guest has the appropriate permissions in the security and sharing settings of this folder.

Instead of a guest, you can set permission for the “Everyone” group. If this condition is not met, operating system remote computer will deny you access.

Enabling a guest account

To enable the guest account, open the control panel, select the applet “ Accounts users” and then “Manage another account”.

Select a guest from the list and in the next window click “Enable”.

Setting folder permissions

Open the properties of the shared folder and go to the “Security” tab. Here, in the list of groups and users, you need to add a guest. To do this, click the “Change” button under the list, in the next window click “Add” and then in the user selection window, in the field for entering names, enter “Guest”.

After saving the changes, on the “Security” tab in the folder properties, assign the desired rights to the guest. After this, it will be possible to remotely connect to the shared folder without entering a password.

In this article we will set up a local network between two or more computers with installed Windows 7 (Windows 8) that are connected via a Wi-Fi router. In fact, setting up a local network in Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10 is practically no different. Windows XP does have its own nuances; there are always some problems when setting up a network between Windows 7 and XP. But, more on this in a separate article, and it’s time to switch from Windows XP, it’s outdated.

It is clear that in order to set up a local network and share files, computers need to be somehow connected to each other. This can be done using a network cable, I'll enter direct connection two computers. But it is much more interesting to connect all computers through a router, which is now installed in almost every home and office. When connecting via a router, you can already set up a local network not only between two computers. You can connect all computers, and even mobile devices that are connected to one router, into a local network

For example, desktop computers can be connected to the router via network cable, and laptops - by Wi-Fi networks. It’s up to you what’s more convenient for you, and how it works out for you. It doesn’t matter whether the computer is connected to the router via Wi-Fi or cable, the local network will work. And it doesn’t matter what operating system you have installed, but I will show you using Windows 7 as an example.

And I will configure and display the network through a router to which my laptop is connected via Wi-Fi, and desktop computer. Both run on Windows 7. Now we will set up a local network between these two computers. We will also open shared access to folders and files. What is a local network between computers for? Mainly for file sharing. If you often need to transfer some files from one computer to another, then rather than running around with a flash drive, you can do this over the network. Well, you can play games online.

If your network also has a TV with a Smart TV, then you can configure access to movies on your computer from the TV. More details in the article.

Instructions for setting up a local network in Windows 7

Let me remind you that the computers that you want to connect to the network must be connected to the same router, or connected directly with a cable. Also, all the actions that I will show in this section must be performed on both computers.

Important point! If you want to set up a network through a Wi-Fi router to which some third-party devices are connected (for example, your neighbor), then after setup, he will be able to access those folders on your computer that you set up shared access to. Install a good one to protect your network. If you still need to connect to your router third party devices, but you want to set up a home network, then you can create a “guest network” for guests, as we did on the Zyxel router in .

One more thing. If you are setting up a network by connecting computers directly, without a router, then you will also need to set static IP addresses in the properties of the local network connection. If you are connected via a router, then you do not need to do anything additional, continue to follow the instructions.

1 First of all, we need to check that all computers are working in the same workgroup. This needs to be checked on all computers that will be connected to the local network.

We do this: press the key combination Win+R, and in the window that appears, specify the command sysdm.cpl. Click Ok.

Against Working group, most likely it will be written WORKGROUP. You can leave it. The main thing is that on other computers the workgroup should also be WORKGROUP.

If you want to change it, for example to MSHOME, then click the button Change, and indicate new group. Save the changes and restart your computer.

2 The second step is to change the sharing settings. We also perform these settings on all computers on the network. Now I'll show you what needs to be included.

Right-click on the Internet connection icon in the notification bar and open Network and Sharing Center. In the new window select Change advanced sharing options.

There will be two profiles. Home or Work, and General. Let's change the one that says current profile. You can make these settings for both profiles.

First of all, put the switch near Enable network discovery. Also, we turn on File and Printer Sharing, and turn on folder sharing. See screenshot below.

Scroll through the settings page, find and open the tab All networks, or General, and definitely disable Password Protected Sharing.

After these steps, it is advisable to restart the computer. These are all the settings, the local network should already be working. To check, you need to go to Explorer (My Computer) on one of the computers and open the tab on the left Net. All computers on the network will be displayed there. In the screenshot, you can see my computer, and another one from the network.

We can already log into the computer in our home network, there will be access to shared folders.

If you do not have computers on the network, or do not have access to a computer, then see the solutions at the end of this article.

Setting up file and folder sharing

As I wrote above, access to shared folders is already available. But, we may need to share access to some other folder, which is located, for example, on local disk D. This can be done without any problems. After we open shared access to the folder, all computers on the local network will be able to view the files in it, change them, and add new files to this folder (though this depends on what permissions we enable).

For example, I want to share the "Pictures" folder. To do this, right-click on it and select Properties. Go to the tab Access, and press the button Advanced setup. Place a tick next to the item Share this folder, and press the button Permissions.

In the window that opens after clicking the button Permissions, we need to set access rights to this folder. To ensure that network users can only view files, leave the checkbox next to Reading only. Well, for full access to a folder with the ability to change files, check all three boxes.

Click Apply And Ok. In the window Advanced sharing setup, also press the buttons Apply And Ok.

In folder properties, go to the tab Safety, and click on the button Change. Another window will open in which we click on the button Add. We write in the field "All" and press Ok.

Selecting a group All, and below we tick off the access points we need for this folder.

That’s it, after these steps, this folder will be shared with all computers on the network. It starts working without rebooting, I checked. Open this folder from another computer:

It's all confusing, until you figure it out... It was possible to somehow make these settings easier and more understandable. But everything works. It turns out that I have access to a folder that is located on another computer. And this is all over the air, since both computers are connected to the router via Wi-Fi.

By the way, this folder will also be accessible from smartphones and tablets that are connected to this Wi-Fi router. To view network folders on Android, I recommend installing ES Explorer, or using standard Explorer. Everything works:

Now we will look again possible problems and errors that can very often be encountered during the setup process.

Possible problems and errors when setting up a home local network

If any errors or problems appear during the setup process, then first of all disable your antivirus, and other programs that may block the connection. If the problem is in the antivirus, then you will need to add your connection to the exceptions.

• Computers from the local network do not appear on the Network tab. In this case, we check the workgroup and sharing settings on all computers. Open a tab in Explorer Net, right-click on an empty area, and select Update. Another important point, very often antiviruses and firewalls block access to the local network. Try disabling your antivirus for a while. You also need to make sure that there is a connection to the router.
• No access to the shared folder. Another problem is when we seem to have everything set up and shared access, but when we try to open a folder on a computer on the network, a message appears that we do not have access, do not have rights to access this folder, could not open the network folder, etc. Or, a username and password prompt appears.
  Be sure to check the sharing settings in the properties of this folder. There are a lot of settings, everything is confusing, perhaps something was missed. Well, again, disable the antivirus, it may block.
• A computer connected via Wi-Fi cannot be seen by other computers on the local network. Or vice versa. If your network is built from computers and laptops that are connected via wireless network, and via cable, then problems may arise with a certain connection. For example, laptops connected via Wi-Fi may not appear on the local network.
  In this case, pay attention to which profile you enabled network discovery for (settings at the beginning of the article). It is also advisable to assign home network status to connect to your Wi-Fi network. Well, be sure to try disabling your antivirus.

I think you succeeded. If you couldn’t configure something, then ask in the comments. Also, don’t forget to share your tips on this topic.