- You haven’t listed your Wifes laptop and OS build. Yes it’s 11 Home but what build? Press Win key + S type “winver” press enter.
- You haven’t given any indication of what you have tried and where it went wrong.
- You can’t really expect people to compact a (now somewhat) complicated process into 4 steps. At least not unless you advise us on (2) and we can see an obvious place it fell over for you. It actually could be simple (hopefully
) if we know that.
This tutorial will show you how to see the computers you want on your network in Windows 11. When computers on the same network and workgroup are discoverable, you can see them in File Explorer > Network. This allows you to share what you want among the devices connected to the network...
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Answer to Question #1
My wife and I are both running Windows 11 Version 25H2 OS Build 26200.8737.
Answer to Question #2
Prior to my original post, I followed so many different guides, instructions, and tutorials, it would be impossible to describe everything I tried and everything that went wrong.
Here are the last set of instructions I followed and the outcome on each computer...
Follow these step-by-step instructions to get your computers connected.
Step 1: Set Network to "Private" Windows has extra security for public networks.
You must change your network profile to Private.
Open Settings (press Windows Key + I).
Go to Network & internet.
Select Wi-Fi or Ethernet (whichever you use).
Click on your active network connection.
Change the Network profile to Private.
Step 2: Turn on Sharing Network Discovery lets your computers see each other.
File Sharing allows you to open files across them.
Open the Windows Start menu, type Control Panel, and press Enter.
Go to Network and Internet > Network and Sharing Center.
Click Change advanced sharing settings on the left menu.
Expand the Private network section.
Turn on Turn on network discovery.
Turn on Turn on file and printer sharing.
Expand All networks and turn on Turn on sharing so anyone with network access can read and write files.
Step 3: Share a Folder
Now, choose exactly what you want to share.
Right-click the folder you want to share and select Properties.
Go to the Sharing tab.
Click the Advanced Sharing button.
Check the box for Share this folder.
Click Permissions.
Select Everyone, check the Allow boxes for Full Control/Change/Read, and click OK.
Step 4: Access the Folders
Now it is time to access your files from the second computer.
On the second computer, open File Explorer.
Type two backslashes followed by the first computer's name into the address bar at the top (e.g., \\ComputerName) and press Enter.
WHICH I DID NOT DO BECAUSE MY WIFE'S PC ICON IS PRESENT ON MY COMPUTER AND MINE ON HERS.
To find your computer name, open Start, type hostname, and press Enter.
If prompted, enter the Username and Password used to log in to the first computer.
When I click on her computer icon from my computer, I get "Enter Network Credentials" which I have never been able to do.
When I click on my computer icon from my wife's computer, I get "Windows cannot access \\JIMHP" and when I hit diagnosis, I get a list of instruction generated by IA that claims it usually makes mistakes. AI has never solved a tech problem only went around and around in circles. Oh, Now I know exactly where you are. Yada Yada Yada. Around and around.
Answer to Question #3
Why can’t I expect someone to have a straight forward step-by-step process to properly set all relevant parameters/settings?
I hope the information in #2 is insightful. My experience has been: people read what I have done, say it was either wrong or incomplete, and then say, let's start at the beginning. I truly hope the information I provided saves you time needed to assist me.
