How to share entire drives

[barend]

Using the WORKGROUP method on W7, because one of my laptops has XP.
I'm the only one using my net, so I want to open EVERYTHING on EVERY computer on my wlan.
Googling produced only results for folder sharing.
But that's not what I want: got a drive with 90 or so folders...

 

[Golden]

Hi,

Does this tutorial help at all?

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/53830-file-sharing-between-xp-w7-vice-versa.html

Regards,
Golden

 

[barend]

Printing the tut now, will read in coffee break...thanks for the link!
In the Old Days, sharing partitions used to be simple, but since MS tries to think for us instead of with us, too many constraints are laid...

 

[seavixen32]

Some good information here, check the links in the sidebar on the right: The Dangers of File & Printer Sharing | eHow.com

 

[barend]

Not interested in "dangers".
I just want to decide for myself, and shere everything.
And MS won't let me.
Duh...

 

[2xg]

Hi barend,

It can be such a hassle sharing files and other network resources over your network. Another option is a Network Attached Storage or NAS. A NAS is an external network hard drive; just plug it in to a Network Switch or to a Router’s LAN Port using a straight or a patch network cable.
Some NASs have a wireless capability, also with a Media Server built in which will allow music and videos to be streamed around the house; useful for the current wave of internet ready TVs etc .

Not interested in "dangers".
I just want to decide for myself, and shere everything.
And MS won't let me.
Duh...

Just a thought.

 

[WebMattR]

Every drive, by default, has the hidden share applied to it (i.e: C$), couldn't you simply give yourself permission to use those?

 

[strollin]

Yes. The C$ share (for the C: drive) shares the drive at the root which gives access to the subfolders. You can share the root folder of any drive .

 

[barend]

Thanks!
How do I do that?
Went to Advanced Sharing of my R: drive, and tried to share as R$ name.
Got a msg that was not possible because I was already sharing under that name, however I did not share it yet...

 

[barend]

Hi barend,

It can be such a hassle sharing files and other network resources over your network. Another option is a Network Attached Storage or NAS. A NAS is an external network hard drive; just plug it in to a Network Switch or to a Router’s LAN Port using a straight or a patch network cable.
Some NASs have a wireless capability, also with a Media Server built in which will allow music and videos to be streamed around the house; useful for the current wave of internet ready TVs etc .

Not interested in "dangers".
I just want to decide for myself, and shere everything.
And MS won't let me.
Duh...

Just a thought.

Thanks- food for thought indeed...something like an ad hoc LAN wide server right?

 

[WebMattR]

Thanks!
How do I do that?
Went to Advanced Sharing of my R: drive, and tried to share as R$ name.
Got a msg that was not possible because I was already sharing under that name, however I did not share it yet...

It's a default, hidden share done to all hard drives. Go to another machine, open a run prompt (windows r), and type in \\machinename\r$ and it'll hook you to the root of the drive.

 

[barend]

Thanks WebMattR, will try that.
Hope it'll also clear the subfolders on that drive...
And I hope I can make a permanent link from the other machine with $ sign...

 

[WebMattR]

You definitely should be able to, provided you have no issues authenticating to those machines (which, being your own, you shouldn't). Let us know if there's anything else you need help with.

 

[barend]

When I type \\NETBOOK\c$ I am presented with attached screen, I can enter the p/w (it's the same on all three computers) but what to enter as NAME ?

next to X is ACCESS REFUSED in Dutch...

 

[barend]

After all the $ fiddling for some reason my network does not work correctly anymore, so here's the situation:
BARENDNETBOOK has Windows 7 Starter
BARENDLAPTOP has Windows XP Pro
BARENDPC has Windows 7 Ultimate

All are member of WORKGROUP.
Both W7 machines are set to "Let Windows handle..."
On all at the roots of the drives are shared, at least.

FROM BARENDPC I cannot access anything on BARENDNETBOOK
FROM BARENDPC I can access everything on BARENDLAPTOP

FROM BARENDNOTEBOOK I cannot access anything on BARENDNETBOOK
FROM BARENDNOTEBOOK I can access everything on BARENDPC

FROM BARENDNETBOOK I cannot access anything on BARENDPC
FROM BARENDNETBOOK I can access everything on BARENDLAPTOP

Help, my head is spinning...
Any help greatly appreciated!

 

[2xg]

Try creating duplicate User Name and Password on all the computers that need access to share network resources.
How to create a new user account in Windows 7 and Windows Vista

You may also substitute the \\NETBOOK\C$ with the \\NetbookIPAddress\C$

 

[WebMattR]

To log into the machine, when you get that prompt, you want to use the name of the machine you're connecting to (i.e: if you're on your pc, and connecting to the netbook, it'd be barendnetbook\barend (or whatever your username is) and then the password).

Does that help? And when you say can't access anything, are you getting an error message, or the window you posted above wanting you to authenticate, or what?

 

[barend]

Tried everything, nothing helps.
Took out the XP machine, so both are W7 now, made a homegroup on both, entered the cryptic 10 digit password on both, all succesful.
Shared folders on both.
Ping OK both directions.
But still my pc can access the netbook, but the netbook can't access anything on the pc.
Everything I to access, even the root of c, leads to the no access message.
Only the printer connected to the pc works.
So I'm out of options it seems...

Is there a simple program that takes the pain away?
Found a Cisco program that proposes to do just that, but it's expensive and seems awfully complicated itself...

 

[barend]

Just found out that the only folder (no matter what I share on the PC) I can access from the Netbook is the PUBLIC folder (c:\users\public).
Should this tell me something?

 

[WebMattR]

That may be a limitation of Windows 7 Starter. Either that, or your firewall/av on the other machine is restricting it.