Sharing Win 7 folder with Vista user on network

I've read dozens of variations on this question, and dozens of solutions. I'm left with one problem I can't resolve and maybe someone can shed some light on it. I have a file folder on my desktop machine that I must be able to access for read/write from two laptops on my network. The desktop is Win 7 Home Premium. One Laptop is Win 7 Home Premium and the other is running Vista. I just recently switched the desktop from 32 bit to 64 bit Win 7 and prior to that the share had been working for years.

Since the switch, I can access the folder from my Win 7 laptop with no problems. On the Vista machine, I have two IDs (one for me, one for my wife) and I can access the desktop folder from my Vista ID with no problem. But, can't access it using my wife's ID. When I try to map the drive, the error message indicates the folder is not accessible and I might not have permission to access the folder.

I've set up a separate ID on the desktop and used that to access the folder from my ID. I try the same thing for my wife's ID (logging on with the separate ID), but that doesn't work. I've compared the network parameters at the Vista end for the two accounts and see no difference. On the laptop, the separate ID set up for the folder has permission to read/write. I'm at a loss as to what could be different. All ideas appreciated.

Solo said:

I've read dozens of variations on this question, and dozens of solutions. I'm left with one problem I can't resolve and maybe someone can shed some light on it. I have a file folder on my desktop machine that I must be able to access for read/write from two laptops on my network. The desktop is Win 7 Home Premium. One Laptop is Win 7 Home Premium and the other is running Vista. I just recently switched the desktop from 32 bit to 64 bit Win 7 and prior to that the share had been working for years.

Since the switch, I can access the folder from my Win 7 laptop with no problems. On the Vista machine, I have two IDs (one for me, one for my wife) and I can access the desktop folder from my Vista ID with no problem. But, can't access it using my wife's ID. When I try to map the drive, the error message indicates the folder is not accessible and I might not have permission to access the folder.

I've set up a separate ID on the desktop and used that to access the folder from my ID. I try the same thing for my wife's ID (logging on with the separate ID), but that doesn't work. I've compared the network parameters at the Vista end for the two accounts and see no difference. On the laptop, the separate ID set up for the folder has permission to read/write. I'm at a loss as to what could be different. All ideas appreciated.

The following link shows how to add read/write access for the Users folder, you would need to do this on the machine's main User folder that you are attempting to access from the wife's machine.
HDD sharing

This assumes that you haven't locked down this folder from a subfolder higher in the hierarchy. I can't the user permissions for the subfolders so can only hope they are default.

chev65 said:

The following link shows how to add read/write access for the Users folder, you would need to do this on the machine's main User folder that you are attempting to access from the wife's machine.
HDD sharing

This assumes that you haven't locked down this folder from a subfolder higher in the hierarchy. I can't the user permissions for the subfolders so can only hope they are default.

Thanks, but I have no interest in seeing what's in the User folders. I have a single folder named Data which has been in existence (and shared) for many years. Everything of value goes there where it can be quickly and easily backed up. All I want to do is to be able to access this single folder from the PCs on my network as I've been doing all along.

whs said:

In this thread there are another few tips.
https://www.sevenforums.com/network-s...ndows-7-a.html

Well, it would be nice if everything made sense, but I guess it isn't necessary. Reading the thread you referenced, the only thing I hadn't tried was sharing the entire C drive with Everyone. I did that and it worked perfectly. From the Vista machine, I can either share the entire desktop C drive or just the Data folder I'm interested in. Many thanks for pointing out this thread to me. I think I've tried everything but the point mentioned there. Now we can stop running back and forth with a thumb drive!

Jacee said:

If nothing else, you could copy it to a CD/DVD and download it to the Vista computer.

I didn't mention this - the total folder size is 194 GB. Online updates are required.