Sharing files and drives over a home network using Windows 10 on both compters. How do I set this up?

Open Start > Settings > Network & Internet > Status

Scroll to the bottom

Click Network and Sharing Center

Click Change advanced sharing settings

Expand All Networks

Under Password protected sharing

Switch between 'Turn on password protected sharing and Turn off password protected sharing'

Then choose 'Turn off password protected sharing'

Then click 'Save changes'

To ensure both machines can see each other, all you need to do is ensure both machines are in the same Workgroup. To do that:

Open Start, type: view advanced

Hit Enter

Select the Computer name tab

Click Change

Enter your workgroup name. Repeat the same step on all the computers you intend to network together. Restart when prompted. Make sure both machines are connected.

Launch File Explorer on the Taskbar and click Network. You should see the other computer(s) appear in Network Explorer. If not, you’ll get prompted to Turn on network discovery and file sharing. Depending on the type of network connection, click the appropriate option. Press F5 on your keyboard or the refresh button in the Address bar for the window to populate with available computers and resources.

To access resources on another computer, simply double-click it. You might be prompted to enter credentials to access the resources of that computer.

Once you have authenticated, you should see all the resources available. In this case, I have a shared folder available called Documents which I can browse.

Troubleshoot Networking Issues in Windows 10

If you are unable to connect to a computer on a network, ensure appropriate sharing settings are enabled. To do that, right-click your Network connection in the Notification Area and click Open Network and Sharing Center. Click Change advanced sharing setting. Make sure to enable these settings for each of the following:

Private –

Turn on network discovery (check Turn on automatic setup of network connected network devices)

Turn on file and printer sharing

Allow Windows to manage homegroup connections

Guest or Public –

Turn on network discovery

Turn on file and printer sharing

All Networks –

Turn on password protected sharing

Once these are enabled, try browsing again.

Sometimes there might be a conflict on the network; you may need to renew your IP Address because a lease has ended. An IP Address is the name suggested as an address for your computer networks. It provides an easy way for your computer to access the Internet and other computers/resources.

Basics you can try:

Restart your computer; this can resolve some of the most common network issues.

If your connection is via a wired network (Ethernet), check that the cable is plugged in and secured properly.

If you are on a wireless connection, try switching to a wired connection and try connecting again.

Advanced troubleshooting:

Press Windows key + X Click Command Prompt (Admin) At the command prompt, enter the following command, then hit Enter

ipconfig/release

then

ipconfig/renew

then

ipconfig/flushdns

exit the command prompt

If you continue experiencing problems connecting networks or the Internet:

Press Windows key + X click Command Prompt (Admin) At the command prompt, enter the following command, then hit Enter

netsh winsock reset

Hit Enter

Exit command prompt, then restart your computer and try accessing resources again.

Excerpts from:

https://www.groovypost.com/howto/connect-netowr...

Why not just move what needs to be shared to the Public folders?

To be honest, the C:\ should not really be shared, in fact that is a security risk.

Hi Jim. I'm Greg, an installation specialist and 8 year Windows MVP, here to help you.

Have you completed all the steps here? https://pureinfotech.com/setup-network-file-sha.... There are alternatives included.

Since in order to access files on the other PC it must be turned on, another option is to sync your shared files in the cloud so that they are easiliy accessible on both PC's whether they both are turned on or not.

To do this I move my needed User folders - Desktop, Documents, Pictures, Downloads, etc - into OneDrive from their Properites> Location tab. I do this on all my PC's so that my full set of User folders are accessible on all my PC's in real time, and also via the internet on Onedrive.com. See http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wiki...

I hope this helps. Feel free to ask back any questions and let us know how it goes. I will keep working with you until it's resolved.

Thanks so much for this detailed reply.   I had actually already done all of this before adding my post to the community.  But I am still having problems, so of which I have already partly solved.

Example:  On my C: drive, I have chosen all the options you have in you reply.  But on my wife's computer you can see the C: drive is listed under my computer in the network section of File Explorer. But when she clicks on the icon, a message pops up saying that she does not have access to this resource and to contact the administrator to set up access. 

The way I have my C: drive set up on my computer is that I have one folder that has all the sub folders that contain all of my files, documents, pictures, spreadsheet, etc.   If I right-click that folder on my computer and set the properties so that folder is shared by everyone and save those changes, then when she opens the network resources in File Explorer on her computer she now sees that folder under my computer in her network resources.  If she clicks that folder, it opens and she has access to all the files in that folder as well as all of the sub-folders in that folder.  So this seems to have fixed the issues for her to have access to all the files on my C drive. 

However, on her computer, she has all of her files, documents, pictures, etc. in folders which are all on the root of drive C.  So when I try to look at her C drive from my computer, again I get the message about not having access to her drive.  But if I go into her computer file explorer and set up share on a folder in her C drive, then that one folder will show up on my computer and I will get access to that folder.  So I guess I have to set up share on everyone of her C drive folders to be able to access them on my computer.  This is a royal pain since she has about 50 data folders on her C drive! So it will take a while to set up each one to share.  But that way does seems to work

So thanks again for all you very detailed instructions.  They certainly helped me to be sure that I had all the setting correct on both computers.