[win7] Network sharing files and printers

[Lamp0]

Ok so I have three Windows 7 computers(two laptops, one desktop with a printer) I am having a great deal of trouble getting a consistent, easy to use network setup so I can browse files and use the printer between these computers.

I have tried setting up a Homegroup, but it seems very fickle; the printer is often detected as not connected and sometimes other machines in the homegroup don't appear, yet that machine will appear on the other machines

Also If my user on the desktop is not logged in on the desktop I can't see it on the homegroup on my laptop so I have to go and login, which is annoying.

Also what is with the "lock" icon that comes up on some folder icons? It seems to indicate that the folder is not shared, yet lots of folder aren't shared and don't have this icon until you specify "share with... nobody".

Any help with this would be great! Thanks!

[BeerFan]

You haven't mentioned anything about your network configuration. How are your PCs and printer connected?

[Lamp0]

The printer is connected to the desktop and the desktop is wired to a router, the other machines connect wirelessly to the router.

[Lamp0]

Can anyone help?

I mean HOW is it so difficult to set up a decent network on windows 7?!?!

RIDICULOUS!!

Now I have this...

What is this?!

Very frustrating.

[BeerFan]

Have you shared the printer from the desktop?

From your Devices and printers list, right-click your printer and select Printer Properties. Click the Sharing tab, then select the box to share the printer.

Also, from the Network and Sharing Center, go into your Advanced Sharing Settings and make sure that Network Discovery, & File and Printer Sharing are enabled. Do this from the laptops as well.

Last, make sure that the user account you're using to connect to the files or printers exists on the host PC as well as the connecting PCs, and has been granted access to the shared items.

[+BudMan MVC]

Not a fan of homegroups - I understand they were trying to make it easier for the normal user. I personally think it has been an utter failure, they made it way more complicated than it needed to be. Why they brought IPv6 into the mix is beyond me!

I would make sure you have homegroups disabled and just use normal file sharing. You don't have to be logged into a machine for that to work ;)

Most of the issues with file sharing come down to firewalls -- are you running a 3rd party one, antivirus suite, etc.?

First thing I would do is verify you can ping the the computers by name, if not name then IP -- once we have ping working (connectivity verified) with IP, then we can work out any name resolution issues.

From there we can work out the permissions problem that would prevent access to share.

[mattygdot]

Throwing it out there but what about AP Isolation... potentially?

[Lamp0]

Have you shared the printer from the desktop?

From your Devices and printers list, right-click your printer and select Printer Properties. Click the Sharing tab, then select the box to share the printer.

Also, from the Network and Sharing Center, go into your Advanced Sharing Settings and make sure that Network Discovery, & File and Printer Sharing are enabled. Do this from the laptops as well.

Last, make sure that the user account you're using to connect to the files or printers exists on the host PC as well as the connecting PCs, and has been granted access to the shared items.

1. Printer is shared and everything. I can see it in devices but it's faded out.

2. Yep all this is on. It was all working fine a few days back.

3. But this was never necessary before. I would simply go to network and login as an admin and have access to that users files. I can share files like this between other machines.

Not a fan of homegroups - I understand they were trying to make it easier for the normal user. I personally think it has been an utter failure, they made it way more complicated than it needed to be. Why they brought IPv6 into the mix is beyond me!

I would make sure you have homegroups disabled and just use normal file sharing. You don't have to be logged into a machine for that to work ;)

Most of the issues with file sharing come down to firewalls -- are you running a 3rd party one, antivirus suite, etc.?

First thing I would do is verify you can ping the the computers by name, if not name then IP -- once we have ping working (connectivity verified) with IP, then we can work out any name resolution issues.

From there we can work out the permissions problem that would prevent access to share.

1. I have no Homegroups set up. Out of a desktop and 2 laptops (all win7) my laptop to the desktop is the only time I get this error. my Laptop is also the only 64bit. But I can go to the other win7 laptop with no issues...

2. I am using windows firewall and MSE. Should I turn them off?

3. I can ping fine with name or IP.

Throwing it out there but what about AP Isolation... potentially?

What's this?

[+BudMan MVC]

^ possible, but sounded like it was working on and off? But sure that is a common cause to sharing between wireless and wired or wireless to wireless sure.

Quite often I see that wireless is on the network next door for why they can not access their wired stuff as well ;)

edit: Well if you can ping by name and ip, then that is not an issue.

do a simple

net view \\dell-pc

if that is the name from box your want to access the share with.. You get access denied error 5?

Do that from the dell pc as well so we can see your shares.

If you just getting access denied, error 5 - then from a cmd prompt do a simple auth

net use * \\dell-pc\sharename /u:dell-pc\usernameondellpc passwordofuserondellpc

keep in mind that blank is NOT a password. This will map next drive letter open to that sharename

[Lamp0]

I did net view \\dellpc and got error 5

I then did net view \\mylaptop from the dellpc and it showed me my shares.

[+BudMan MVC]

So did you then auth to the dellpc with a user account from dellpc

what is the output of net view \\dellpc on the dellpc -- what do you have shared and what are the permissions on the shares?

What accounts are you logged into on the different machines. Its common to use passthru, ie same username and password on both machines - this can be used to give access to shares with automatic auth via matching credentials, etc.

[Lamp0]

Ok yes! The auth thing worked.

Now I have a "network location" under "my computer" on the laptop. I can also now access the dellpc under "network" with out the error.

But why do I need this "network location" for the dellpc and not the other laptops?

net view \\dellpc on the dellpc shows the printer and the users folder as shared. what are the permissions I need to check?

Also the dellpc doesn't ask for any username or password on when being acessed from one of the laptops. For either of the laptops to access each other I just click the machine under network and give the username and password.

[+BudMan MVC]

Comes down to your share permissions or username and passwords you have on your boxes.

Are you sharing to everyone or anonymous? What are the ntfs permissions as well. Share and ntfs are different permissions.

Everyone group does not = anonymous depending on your OS and or if you have made a registry change, etc.

UAC can also come into play in accessing. If you auth while elevated as administrator, you may not be able to access while not elevated. And vice versa - depending on some settings that might be set you maybe not be able to access an admin share, ie c$, d$, admin$ -- these were turned off starting with vista - have to set registry to allow them again.

There are lots and lots of things that can come into play.

But very simple -- you need to set the share and ntfs how you want, and then you need to auth with an account on that machine that is allowed under the permissions you set. Be it your prompted when you try and access, or if you send the auth in one command like the command I showed you.

So by default you might create a session to the machine as guest, guest has been denied access! So your screwed until you kill that session and then auth with an account that has permission. You can only ever be authed to machine from another machine with one account at a time.

If you don't have at least 1 share open to guest -- your going to get denied, and once that session is there your never going to be able to auth as a different user.

[Kelxin]

Also on Windows 7 make sure both computers network connections are set to either Work or Home, if doing a homegroup, the best is to have them set to home. I've seen people have intermittent issues where they would have a laptop that would work fine when it was hard wired in (with the hard wire set to a home network) but when they changed to wireless nothing would work (because the wireless connection was set to public) If you have both adapters enabled, and the laptop is both on the wireless and hardwired with two different network preferences setup, it can cause all hell to break loose.

[Lamp0]

@BudMan

Alot of that probably goes over my head. I don't really know what permissions should be or what I change them to or under which window. I tried comparing permissions of the shared Users folder between each machine and there is nothing different that I can see.

I tried to just set up a homegroup but still the dellpc won't let my laptop access it.

ugh... this is just frustrating.

EDIT: ok I think I did it. Don't ask me how exactly, but I can simply go properties>sharing>advanced sharing>share this folder and I can access files between with all machines.

That's good enough for me.

Thanks BudMan & others for your help!

[+BudMan MVC]

"I can simply go properties>sharing>advanced sharing>share this folder and I can access files between with all machines"

Yup that is how simple it is suppose to be!!

And what share permissions are listed there?