Password protect network share folder?

I can't seem to find a sleek easy way of doing this that works with windows 7. I haven't been successful with finding anything that pertains to windows 7 since most guides online are outdated.

I just want to have a folder shared on my main desktop "DAN-PC"
let's just give it the name \\dan-pc\locked

I need to make it so I can access it from my laptop when I am on the network, but I don't want it to be accessible by anyone else. In fact I'd prefer it'd be hidden also. However, if there is a program or some workaround to get it password protected, that'd be wonderful. I thought I had the knowhow to do this, but I have been unsuccessful and I've been getting frustrated with this, since everything I try doesn't work out. Too many things have been changed on the sharing side of things on 7 for me to figure this out.

--So basically. DAN-MOBILE needs access to \\dan-pc\locked somehow. And if possible, the folder needs to be hidden, yet still obtainable through typing in the address in the address bar.


thanks

Thank you, for the hidden part.

I'm not entirely sure how to add my laptop as a user on my desktop.

When I remove everyone, what name do I use to add my laptop? I don't have any other logins on my desktop other than "dan" and my computer name is dan-pc

My laptop has the same login name "dan" but my computer name is dan-mobile.

Do I add "dan-mobile" as a user on my desktop? I know this is sort of a stupid question, but I honestly don't do this often.

I somewhat understand, but when I try to access the folder, I'm not prompted with a login but a "windows cannot access \\dan-pc\sharename. contact your administrator to request access.

When you said to put the useraccount that i login to my desktop with, I didn't quite understand what you meant. Am I entering this in my users or using this on the prompt and which computer.

I apologize for not understanding this entirely.

I know they can ping each other and everything, I'm just using a vnc to control the desktop from up here. All the shares that are open to everyone work fine.

For whatever reason, typing in \\192.168.1.100\sharename$ lets me right in no questions asked

while going through \\dan-pc\sharename$ will just give me a window that says I am not allowed to access this folder even though it's the same folder I just accessed a second ago.

So technically, it works. I'm just not sure why not the easy way. I have the desktop on a static IP so I guess I can just keep this the same since it won't change. It just would have been nice to have the address the other way. I must be doing something wrong still.

The reason I was confused is that both my laptop and desktop have the same user name already, so I couldn't really add them on my user lists, since they have the same login. "dan"

Thank you for walking me through this however. :]

Just sounds like a SID and/or NAT issue. Since you're using technically the "user name" the system will then authenticate to it's SID, it sees the different SID and views your user name as a spoof. Since you're unable to UNC into the "machine name", it sounds like a DNS or NAT issue. The Everyone group should remove this issue, however you've already said you don't with to allow everyone. Due to that fact, I would suggest using a different user name for folder access. This will prompt a UN/PW prompt, but unless you use the 'everyone' group it's setup to do this in a "workgroup" environment.