Anilrgowda

In this tutorial, I will show you how to setup a file sharing server on your local Microsoft Network.
First of all, to enable sharing on a Microsoft network, all computers that will access a shared resource must be in the same Workgroup or Domain.

To check this, go to Control Panel - System. Choose the Computer Name tab like shown bellow and check the Computer name and Workgroup.

Computer names must be different in order to identify themselves in the network; they must share the same workgroup to access network resources in that segment.
The computer description box is not mandatory; it gives you the possibility to write a small text that will appear next to your computer's name in order to identify it easier on the network (you can put something like "The computer next to the door" for example if that's the case).
If you want to do any modifications, choose the Change button and edit any information as needed.
Be sure to do this on all the computers, to check if the informations are ok.

The next step is to create the sharing directory on the computer that will act as a server.
As a best practice, go to the root directory (C:\) and create there a folder that will be shared accross the network.
Right click on it and select Sharing and Security.

Now select 'Share this folder on the network' and give it a share name. If you have older computers running legacy operating systems like Windows 95/98, give the folder a maximum of 8 charachters in the name. Otherwise, use any name you'd like.
If you want to use this folder for uploading purposes too, check the "Allow network users to change my files" box. This will mark the folder with the read/write permissions, and any user accessing the network can put, get and create files in that shared folder.


Click Ok and you are done for the server side.
As far as the client side, you can find the resource in several ways.
The easiest is to use Map network drives. Open an explorer, click Tools

Select Map network drive. Choose the letter you want (usually Z and then the path you'd like to use.
The path to a shared resource looks like this: \\computername\shared_folder\
Click ok and then Z: will be in the My Computer interface, linking to the shared folder on the network.

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