Windows XP: Sharing files

Sharing files

Published: August 15, 2006
If you have multiple computers in your home and they are connected through a home network, you can share files among your computers. That means you no longer have to copy files to a floppy disk or USB flash drive to transfer them to another computer. Once you configure your computer to share files, you (or another user with the appropriate permissions) can, by using Windows Explorer, open them from other computers connected to the network, just like you’d open files that are stored on a single computer. You can also choose to have folders visible—but not modifiable—from other computers on the network.
To share files on your computer with other computers on a network, you need to:
•Share a folder on your computer. This will make all of the files in the folder available to all the computers on your network (you can’t share individual files).
•Set up user accounts on your computer for everyone who needs to connect to your shared folder. If any of the accounts are Limited User accounts (unless an account is a Computer Administrator account, it is a Limited User account), follow the steps in Set permissions for files and folders to enable them to open your files.
To access shared files that are on another computer on your network, you need to:
•Connect to the shared folder from other computers on the network. This procedure is described in Map a network drive.
Note: By default, file permissions only allow your user account and administrators on your local computer to open your files, regardless of whether a person is sitting at your keyboard or at another computer. It may help to keep these three things in mind when setting up file sharing:
•Files have user permission settings.
•Every computer has its own user database.
•Some accounts are administrator accounts and some aren’t.
Configure your computer to share files

To share a folder on your computer so that files stored in the folder can be accessed from other computers on your home network
1.
Log on to your computer as an administrator. For more information, see Access the administrator account from the Welcome screen.
2.
Click Start, and then click My Documents.

3.
Right-click the folder that you want to share, and then click Sharing and Security.

Tip: If you want to share your entire My Documents folder, open My Documents, and then click the Up button on the toolbar. You can then select the My Documents folder.
4.
If you see a message that reads, As a security measure, Windows has disabled remote access to this computer, click the Network Setup Wizard link. Then follow the instructions in How to set up your computer for home networking. On the File and printer sharing page of the Network Setup Wizard, be sure to select Turn on file and printer sharing. If you do not see this message, skip this step and go to step 5.

Note: If you do not see the Network Setup Wizard link or the Share this folder on the network check box, your computer probably has Simple File Sharing disabled. This is a common change made to computers used for business. In fact, it happens automatically when a computer joins an Active Directory domain. You should follow these instructions to share a folder instead.
5.
In the Properties dialog box, select the Share this folder on the network check box.

6.
If you want to be able to edit your files from any computer on your network (instead of just being able to open them without saving any changes), select the Allow network users to change my files check box.

7.
Click OK.

Windows Explorer will show a hand holding the folder icon, indicating that the folder is now shared.
To connect to the shared folder from another computer, follow the steps described in How to map a network drive.
Note: By default, only you and other people with an administrator account on the computer sharing the folder will be able to open your files. To limit access of specific users with an administrator account on the computer sharing the folder, read How to set permissions for files and folders.





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