2. Sharing the Public Profile Folder
There
is a very simple way to share files and folders with other users
without using a homegroup, which makes this a simple solution if your
network includes computers running older versions of Windows.
The trick is to use the folder named \Users\Public
on the drive that contains Windows. If you enable Public Folder
Sharing, this folder will be readable and writable by everyone on the
network.
To enable sharing the Public folder, follow these steps:
1. | Click
the network icon in the taskbar and select Open Network and Sharing
Center; or click Start, Control Panel, View Network Status and Tasks
(under Network and Internet).
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2. | Click Change Advanced Sharing Options.
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3. | Locate Public Folder Sharing, and select Turn On Sharing. Then click Save Changes.
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Tip
In
previous versions of Windows, the public folder was listed in the [My]
Computer display as “Shared Documents.” It’s not this easy to get to in
Windows 7, so if you use this sharing method, you might want to create
a shortcut to \Users\Public on your desktop for easy access. |
This
makes the folder available to anyone who can connect to your computer
over the network. Next, you must make it possible for people to
connect. You can do this in either of two ways:
Leave
Password Protected Sharing turned on. Each of the other users on the
network will need an account on your computer. You can create
individual accounts, or you can create a single account, set a password
on it, and have all the other users use that name and password when
they go to use your computer’s shared folder Users\Public. (The folder’s full UNC name is \\computername\Users\Public, with the actual name of your computer substituted in place of computername.)
Caution
If
you use this second option, be careful only to let trustworthy people
connect to your network. If you have a wireless network, you must have WEP or WPA security enabled on it. |
In
the Change Advanced Sharing Options screen, turn Password Protected
Sharing off. Now, literally anyone who can connect to your network will
be able to read and write files in your computer’s shared folder Users\Public.
Once
the Public folder has been shared, you must move or copy files or
folders that you want to share into the Public folder structure.
3. Sharing Your Own Folders
To
share a folder that’s inside your user profile (for example, a folder
inside your Documents folder), without sharing an entire library, just
right-click the folder or file in any Windows Explorer view and select
Share With.
The entire \Users
directory structure is shared by default on Windows 7, so all that’s
necessary is to let Windows change your file’s or folder’s permissions
so that network users can see it. This is called “sharing in place.”
Just follow the steps:
1. | Locate your file or folder in Windows Explorer. Right-click it and select Share With.
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2. | If the Homegroup options appear, select one of the two Homegroup options. This makes the folder appear in everyone else’s Homegroup listing. If
you want to customize access to the folder, right-click it again,
select Share With, Specific People.
If the Homegroup options don’t appear, select Specific People.
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If you later want to stop sharing this file or folder, right-click and select Sharing With, Nobody.
4. Sharing Folders Independently
To share a folder that isn’t inside your user profile folder, follow these steps:
1. | Locate
the folder in Windows Explorer, or to share an entire drive, select the
name of the CD-ROM, floppy, USB, or hard drive from the Computer view.
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2. | Right-click the folder’s or drive’s icon and choose Share With.
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3. | If the Homegroup options appear. (Be sure to select one of the two Homegroup options first, even if you intend to customize access to specific users).
If the only option is Advanced Sharing, select it and skip to step 4.
If the Specific People option is available, and you are okay with
having the folder’s share name exactly match the folder’s actual name,
select Specific People .
Otherwise, press Esc to remove the menu, right-click the folder’s or
drive’s icon, select Properties, and select the Sharing tab
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4. | If
you are okay with having the folder’s share name exactly match its
actual name, click the Share button.
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5. | Click Advanced Sharing. Click Share This Folder, and correct the share name as desired.
Tip You
can prevent other users from seeing your shared folder when they browse
the network by adding a dollar sign to the end of the share name, as in
mystuff$. They must know to type this name to use the shared folder. This technique alone does not prevent anyone from seeing your files if they know the share name. |
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6. | You can enter a comment that will appear when people browse to this folder over the network, if you wish.
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7. | To
set permissions, you could click the Permissions button and edit the
network access permissions using an interface similar to the one for
editing NTFS file permissions.
In
Windows 7, it’s easier to avoid the Permissions button; just click OK
to create the share, then click the Share button to change or add to
the permissions. With this method, Windows will adjust both network and file permissions to match your selections. It’s a lot easier, and it’s sure to give you the results you want.
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8. | Click OK to close the dialog box.
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If you later want to stop sharing the folder or drive, follow these steps:
1. | Locate the folder or drive in Windows Explorer. Right-click it and select Properties.
Note If you are canceling sharing of an entire drive, you may notice that in Windows 7, the administrative share C$, D$, and so on is not listed. You can safely uncheck Share This Folder and the administrative share will not be canceled. |
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2. | Select the Sharing tab, and click Advanced Sharing.
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3. | Uncheck Share This Folder, then click OK.
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Alternatively,
you can locate the folder, right-click it, and select Share With,
Nobody. However, this not only removes the share, it may also remove
file permission changes.
If
you go to edit a file in a folder you’ve shared on the network, and
receive an error message indicating that the file is in use by another
user, you can find out which remote user has the file open by using the
Shared Folder tool in Computer Management. You
can wait for the remote user to finish using your file, or you can ask
that person to quit. Only in a dire emergency should you use the Shared
Folder tool to disconnect the remote user or close the file. The only
reasons I can think of to do this are that the remote user’s computer
has crashed but your computer thinks the connection is still
established, or that the remote user is an intruder. |
