Want to Connect 2 Win 10 PCs over Wi-Fi to share files. They do not recognize each other.

Question

This is mainly about my wife’s and my Windows 10 PCs and trying to get them to recognize each other over our apartment Wi-Fi.  The purpose of that is so they can back each other up.  We used to do that in our old home using Windows 7, and early versions of Windows 10.  After a version update in Windows 10, while still in our old home, the PCs no longer recognized each other. A frequent error message was lack of permission.

On my PC, because of failed attempts at setting up communication between the 2 PCs, I have multiple Windows accounts on the PC in different names.  Some are “Microsoft Accounts” and some are “Local Accounts”.  I think syncing the PCs has to be between just one account on each PC.  I cannot get the PCs to recognize each other so I can back up our data files.

Both PCs have Microsoft 365 so Microsoft must be recognizing both PCs.  I have all the passwords. But we have too many accounts and I am afraid to delete any of them. I am confused with “Microsoft” and “Local” accounts.  I think only 1 account on each PC is signed into Microsoft 365 running Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more.  Those are the 2 accounts I want to recognize each other.  They probably must be the Microsoft accounts.  I have no interest in using Microsoft OneDrive because of privacy concerns.  Our hard drives are partitioned and we have set up logical drives D to H to store our data. The partitioning was never a problem when the system was working in our old home.  The PCs were communicating with each other until Windows 10 was revised.

The photos associated with my account on my PC are not consistent. I see one photo in Settings/Home but just a stick figure when I click on the Windows icon at the extreme bottom left of my screen. On my wife’s PC, the photos are consistent on both her account and mine.

I have been using Microsoft operating systems since DOS 2.1

***Moved from Windows / Windows 10 / Internet and connectivity***

Answer 1

Hello ,

Thank you for posting in Microsoft Community forum.
Based on your description, here are some suggestions to help you resolve these issues:

1. Make sure you're signed in with the same Microsoft account on both computers. You can view the account you are currently logged in to in Settings > Accounts. If you want, you can add or change accounts on another computer.
   While you are apprehensive about deleting your account, it is advisable to clean up unnecessary accounts to reduce confusion. You can keep a Microsoft account and a local account to make sure they're the same on both PCs.
2. Make sure both computers are connected to the same Wi-Fi network and the network is set to "Private".
3. Make sure network discovery and file sharing are enabled on both computers.
4. Make sure that the permissions for the files and folders you want to share are set correctly. Right-click on the folder you want to share, select Properties > the Share tab, make sure Share is selected and the appropriate permissions are set.
5. If the above steps still don't solve the problem, you can try resetting the network settings. Open a command prompt as an administrator and enter the following commands:
   netsh int ip reset netsh winsock reset
   Then restart your computer.
6. Regarding the issue of inconsistent photos you mentioned, it may be due to account settings or sync issues. Make sure to check your account information in Settings > Accounts and try to re-upload or change your profile picture.

I hope the information above is helpful.
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to let us know.

Regards,
Jill Zhou

Answer 2

Jill,

Thank you for what looks to be a very thorough and hopeful solution to my issue. I intend to tackle it when I have a clear few hours, print out what you wrote, be sure I have all the passwords, and follow the instructions as best I can.

I did fix the photo issue a few days ago, and get back to you on the connectivity issue in a few days.

David