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If you have more than one computer in your house, you probably have been confronted with the need to share files between the computers.
To share files between computers, you will need to make a small network, and while this is very easy to do, we do see people sometimes that are intimidated by it.
The most important thing when networking your computers is that they need to be connected to a switch, router or wireless router. Wireless routers have become very popular recently with people wanting to connect their pc or laptop to the internet without the need of an ethernet cable and should you have a router at home, your network will work fine. The IP addresses and subnets should be handled by the router so we won't get into those right now.
Keep in mind that for your network to work, that you either have to have your ethernet/network cable plugged in to your computers or have them connected wirelessly to the router. If this is not the case, your network will obviously not work.
Getting Started
Windows Xp makes the network set-up a breeze. Open Control Panel and find the "Network Setup Wizard" icon and open it.
After pressing "Next" a few times, you will be shown a screen that will ask you which connection to use to connect to the internet. Just choose the recommended option and press "Next" again.
The next screen will ask you to name your computer and to give it a description. Just make sure to use names that accurately describe the computer. This will make your network easier to work with and you won't get confused when transfering files later on.
I simply choose to give my desktop pc my own name.
The next screen will prompt you to name your network. Again, simplicity is the best thing and for this example I choose "Homenetwork" (since it's a home network). Windows reffers to this name as the "Workgroup name".
After this you will be asked if you want to turn on file and printer sharing. Well, since the main reason of this network is to share files, I suggest you to click "turn on file and printer sharing".
When you press next, the wizard will show you your settings and will give you the opportunity to go back and change something if you want to. If you are happy with your setting, click "Next" and the wizard will apply your settings. This will take a few seconds and then you are done.
Remember to repeat these steps on every computer that you want to add to the network. Just make sure that the workgroup name is the same on every computer or laptop!
Sharing Folders When you are done running the wizard on the other computers, you are ready to share folders on your network. Note that you can also share an entire drive if you want to, so it's not only limited to folders. For this example I am going to share the "My Documents" folder from my desktop computer.
To share the folder, right click on it and go to "Properties". Go to the "Sharing" tab and click the "Share this folder on the network" box. If you want to be able to modify a file in this folder while working on another computer on the network you'll have to click the "Allow network users to change my files" box as well.
After you click apply, the folder will be shared across your network and will now show a hand holding the folder. This means that the folder is being shared.
If you want to access the other computers on your network, you can do this in a couple of ways. First, you can go to "My Network Places", then click on "Entire Network", followed by "Microsoft Windows Network".
When you open the "Microsoft Windows Network" you should see your network right there. It will be an icon of 3 connected computers with your network name underneath.
When you open your network, you should see all the computers that are within this network/workgroup. Note that they should be turned on and that they should be connected via ethernet cable or wirelessly. If the pc is turned off or the network cable is unplugged, you will not see it show up here.
For this example I added 2 computers to my network, my desktop which I called "Dave" and my laptop.
When you double click on the desired computer, you will see which folders are being shared. A shared folder will have a pipe like image beneath it.
You can now open these folders and access your files from another computer. There is also a faster way of accessing your folders over the network. You can open the "Run" program and in the address you can type "\\" followed by the name of the computer. So, if I want to access the shared folders on my desktop, all I do is go to "Run" and type \\Dave and press "OK". This should bring you to the same location. (Dave was the name of my desktop in this example)
Mapping a drive
If you are going to access a shared folder or shared drive a lot from another computer, it will make sense to "Map" this folder or drive. After you map it, it will show up in "My Computer" just like if it was a drive on your own computer. You can just double click it and open it and it will save you the hassle of going via My Network Places.
To map a folder, open "My Computer" and then click "Tools" and "Map Network Drive".
You can now browse for the folder that you want to be mapped. Pick the shared folder or drive that you want and press "OK"
The folder will now show in your My Computeras a "Network Drive". Even though this folder or drive is located on another computer, you can just open "My Computer", double click it and open it as if it was located on that computer itself.
Should the network not work properly, check to make sure if no third party firewall is blocking the traffic. Also check if the router or switch is working properly and if all computers have the same workgroup name and have the file sharing turned on.
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