Follow the steps to Sharing the files
Your computers are already connected to a network — i.e., they’re
all already able to browse the Internet using the same router..
1 : Open the
Network and Sharing Center window by
clicking on the Windows orb in the lower left corner, and then either
right-clicking on Network and selecting “Properties”, or opening the
Control Panel and double-clicking “Network and Sharing Center.
2 : If your network type is “Public,” you need to change it to “Private”:
- To the right of the network name and location type, click Customize.
- In the Set Network Location dialog box, click Private, and then click Next.
- In the Successfully set network settings dialog box, click Close.
3 : Under “Sharing and Discovery” in the bottom half of the Network and
Sharing Center window, you need to turn all the settings from “Off” to
“On” by clicking on the down arrow next to each setting, clicking on
“Turn on …”, and clicking on “Apply.” But see some pointers below:
- For the “Password protected sharing” setting: you may want to leave
this “On” or turn “Off” at your discretion. (I turned mine off.)
- For the “Public folder sharing” setting:
- If you want to share the public folder so that other computers on
the network can access the Public share to open files, but not create
or change files, click Turn on sharing so anyone with network access can open files. This is the default setting.
- But if you want to share the public folder so that other computers
on the network can access the Public share to open files and also
create or change files, click Turn on sharing so anyone with network access can open, change, and create files.
4 : You’re done with the
Network and Sharing Center window. Close it via the “X” button.
5 : Click the Windows orb at the lower left corner of your computer, and click on
Computer
6 : n the
Computer window, navigate to the folder
containing the file(s) or folder(s) that you want to share — e.g.,
“Pictures” or “Documents” or a specific file or folder within. Note:
don’t open the folder itself that you want to share — just navigate to
the folder that contains this folder.
7 : Right-click the folder that you want to share, and then click
Share. The
File Sharing window is displayed. (Click picture for a larger version.)
8 : If you have password protected sharing enabled: Use the
File Sharing window to select which users can access the shared folder and their permission level. To allow all users, select
Everyone
in the list of users. By default, the permission level for a selected
user is Reader. Users cannot change files or create new files in the
share. To allow a user to change files or folders or create new files
or folders, select Co-owner as the permission level.
9 : If you have password protected sharing disabled (like I do): Click the drop-down arrow inside the blank field in the
File Sharing
window, and select the Guest or Everyone account. Click “Add.” Then for
that new account, click on the down arrow under “Permission Level” to
change it to Co-owner (if you want anybody to read and modify files) or
leave it at “Reader” (if you want other computers to just read but not
modify your files).
10 : Click “Share”, then “Done.”
CRITICAL NOTE: If you selected
“Everyone” when sharing a folder, you’re also making its contents
available to any computer that joins this network. Many households,
including mine, have wireless Internet via a wifi router. If you don’t
have
WEP encryption
turned on, then I could just drive up and park on the street near your
home, open my laptop, let it join your network via your wifi, and then
nose around through your files. It’s particularly important that you
have WEP encryption turned on for your wifi network.
