Networkin my 2 machines--wired

RoWin7 · 21 Nov 2018

Wired, only 10' apart
Verizon FIOS
Actiontec M1424WR rev. 1

2 machines HP and Gateway, both mine. I've had HP (in my sig) a few years, just inst. Win7 in Gateway, and trying to network them. I'm a newbie networking on 7, although I did it many times on XP.

1--My network is already called RSNETWORK. Gateway wants to call the network "Home group."
Both machines see the router/modem, but have diff. names for the same network. Huh?

2--I want ALL files to be available to both computers, plus the printer, which is now on HP.
Gateway wants to share only:
D drive, which is all data
J drive, which doesn't exist, but won't delete
AppData folder
Users folder

3--I want no password, don't know if it's required, Gateway insists on a PW, and closes the Network folder if I don't put one in.

4--Going through the agony of UAC again, both machines visible in Network, but Gateway won't let me open the HP folders. There's no "Open as admin" in the context menu.

dg1261 · 22 Nov 2018

IME, it's difficult or impossible to do what you want with no passwords. It could be done with XP, but it's not so easy with Win7--presumably because it's more secure. While you can share certain folders without using a password, I don't think Win7 allows you to share the root (e.g., the whole C drive) without a password. I've also run into problems and confusion with certain system or user folders if there's no password, so to avoid confusion over which folders can and cannot be shared without a password, my rule of thumb is to just always set a password.

If you're willing to accept that, then try this technique. On each machine you'll need to set a user pswd, add a Windows credential for the other machine, and configure the shared resource.

On PC-A, set a pswd-A for user-A
On PC-B, set a pswd-B for user-B
On PC-A, add a credential for PC-B:
1. go to User Accounts (where you add/change your pswd)
2. in the left pane click "Manage your credentials"
3. click "Add a Windows credential"
4. enter IP address of PC-B (e.g., \\192.168.1.100), user-B, and pswd-B
5. click [OK]
On PC-B, add a credential for PC-A the same way
On PC-A, share the C drive:
1. open "Computer", right-click the C drive, select Properties
2. click the [Sharing] tab
3. click the [Advanced Sharing...] button
4. tick "Share this folder"
5. use "c-drive" for Share name, and click [Apply] button
6. click the [Permissions] button
7. give Full control to the "Everyone" user
8. "OK" your way back out
On PC-B, share its C drive the same way

If you're lucky, the shares might now show up when you browse the "Network", but IME that method is hit-or-miss, so I usually prefer to setup a shortcut on each Desktop to the other:

on PC-A, right-click a blank area of the Desktop, select "New Shortcut"
type PC-B's IP and the share, ala "\\192.168.3.100\c-drive", click [Next], click [Finish]
on PC-B, do the same to add a shortcut to PC-A

Footnotes:

PC-A and PC-B can use the same usernames and passwords; I'm just referring to them differently for the sake of clarity.
I find Step 3 is the easiest way to make the credentials persistent, so you don't have to retype them every time you reboot the computer.
I've used IP addresses in step 3d, though you should also be able to use the Computer names if you wish. If you use IPs, make sure you set your router to always give it the same IP.
I usually recommend sharing folders instead of the entire C drive, but if you wish to do so it can be done.
Use whatever name you want in 5e. I'd discourage using "C" because you'll end up confusing yourself between the C drive and the C share.
Of course, all of the above assumes the two PCs are on the same network and can ping each other.

Hope this helps. You can tinker and do certain steps differently if you want, but this is one method I've found to work fairly consistently.

Barman58 · 22 Nov 2018

Passwords are an essential these days, not to keep out family members from your "stuff" , but a much more serious reason - "Scum on the net"

The way that Windows, [and other systems], work means that any malware will run with the rights of the user that they take over to do their damage. Even a simple password, [8-10 Characters including letters numbers & symbols], will provide a useful extra guard against attack.

In the case of networking it can prevent a virus or worm or other malware from "jumping" between systems.

As for the set up for a small home network my method is to create an identical user on each system, set sharing options to "on" on all systems and turn on Discovery - that should be enough to allow sharing of the personal folders, [Documents, Music. Video, downloads Etc], without any issues. to hare any additional folders is a two part process, you need to "share" the folder [Tree], and ensure that the NTFS access permissions are set to include the User that needs to access them.

Microsoft has done all the work for you with the standard user folders so it's best to use them, [there are also the public folders which are available to everyone]. Using the standard functions to set a network will automatically set up the built in Windows firewall but you need to allow sharing through any 3rd party firewall so check documentation.

There is also the option on Windows 7 of setting everything to use the Homegroup setup for sharing which is simple to set up to share the standard folders, but as Microsoft is no longer supporting this it's best to use the workgroup system (always check and set the workgroup on each system to the default workgroup or a personal setting [It's often a good idea to switch off Homegroup options as they can confuse matters]

samuria · 22 Nov 2018

By default drives have a hidden admin share which you can access as an admin user by using a $ is d$ c$ trying to add another share gives problems

RoWin7 · 22 Nov 2018

That's too complicated, DG1261. I already did away with Music, Videos and Downloads because I always have my own designated folders on the D partition, which is all data.

Suppose I just want to access limited folders, the D partition(all data) and my own ID in "Users" w/o a PW?

Barman- Sharing options and "discovery are already on. By "identical users" you mean just the same name? That would be confusing when I'm copying data between machines.

RoWin7 · 22 Nov 2018

samuria said:

By default drives have a hidden admin share which you can access as an admin user by using a $ is d$ c$ trying to add another share gives problems

What's "$ is d$ c$ ?"

Barman58 · 22 Nov 2018

Identical users would be as you say the identical user name, and password (the password would normally be stored by the system, so is not an issue in reality)

Barman58 · 22 Nov 2018

Also with the dta folders being stored on the D: drive, yo can use the location tab on folder properties to link eg. Music to a music folder on D: and this would mean that those programs that expect to save can still do so, but will actually save to the data drive.

I've been doing this myself since the pre beta of win 7 without issues

RoWin7 · 22 Nov 2018

I have both D drives and the Users folders of each machine Sharing now. Gateway still won't let me open the D Drive on the HP, although it lets me open the Users folder. Because it's a drive, not a folder? Do I still need a PW? It's not asking for one.

RoWin7 · 22 Nov 2018

~~I have a 2nd problem.~~ RESOLVED

On the Gateway I was trying to wipe the previous installation of Vista as I installed the new OS. It belonged to someone else and there's nothing to save. I wanted it wiped clean. The machine felt it was wiser than me and saved the entire C drive in a folder called Windows.old, all 91 GB. It's asking for SYSTEM permission to delete any of the system files.

An easier way to wipe out 91 GB?

I know you're an expert in these things. I'm going through the same frustration with UAC as I did on this computer 2 years ago. Otherwise I wouldn't be here on a holday evening.

Security's fine, but I don't know how people who don't use forums (the majority) can figure out how to access their files. What's the point of an admin acct if you don't have permission to do anything?

Checked my bookmarks for "Take ownership" links. Resolved.

Now back to the network problem. I just realized there's probably a tutorial here.