Network Help Please

Yes, I’m living been living under a rock. And I know Zero about networking. Since the days of floppies, my networking has only been by 'Sneaker-net' between my desktops.

I’m also new to laptops, just getting my first one. It took a lot of help from SevenForums it get it hooked up via Wi-Fi, as I know zero about that, too.

I'm beginning to see more uses for the laptop, like light photo and video editing, so networking might be a handy idea. (I have many terabytes of data in my desktop...)

My desktops have Win 7 Pro & Home Premium, and the laptop has Win 11 Home.

In a way, I’m still OK with an external HDD for a sneaker-net, but it would obviously be simpler to just edit the stuff directly on my main desktop (Win 7 Pro) from the laptop.

I just don’t know how to do this.

Is there a simple, easy, and secure way to do this?
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You can use remote connection software like TeamViewer.

Take a look at Brink's tutorial HERE.

OK, I got the laptop to see my main desktop. It sees it twice: once as a computer and once as a media server.

When I click on the computer icon, I get the error below. I have absolutely No idea what it's asking for: a router user name/password? A computer user name/password?

How do I get in?

TDKMate said:

OK, I got the laptop to see my main desktop. It sees it twice: once as a computer and once as a media server.

When I click on the computer icon, I get the error below. I have absolutely No idea what it's asking for: a router user name/password? A computer user name/password?

How do I get in?

Click to expand...

Go into all of your Network Sharing Settings and "Turn Off Password Protected Sharing"

Great! Almost there I guess. On my Win 7 Pro desktop, I turned it off as suggested. From the Win 11 laptop I can now get in, but only see my desktop’s printer, Users, and Virtual PC. But no data, and none of the multiple drives on the desktop or the files on them. (Which is the same thing I see if I click on the networked desktop while on the desktop.)

I also did the same for laptop (Turn off Password…) and now the desktop can ‘see’ the laptop, but it’s only a blank screen…
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It doesn't share everything automatically. All you've done at this point is get the 2 computers recognizing and talking to each other on the network. You now have to designate what you want to share from each computer to the other.
There is simple file sharing and advanced file sharing. Between two Windows 10/11 computers simple file sharing works great, but back when I had a Windows 7 computer and a windows 10 computer trying to share files, I had to use advanced sharing to get it to work.

To share a folder-Right click on the folder you want to share, select properties, Sharing tab, click advanced sharing. Tick 'share this folder', click permissions, Under 'group or user names' make sure it says Everyone in the Object Names box. Under 'permissions for everyone' tick all 3 'allow' boxes. Apply OK.
(Note: if you want to share all your personal folders you can browse to C:\Users\ right click on your user name and share the same way)
You can also share a Drive by using the same method but DO NOT share a system drive (where Windows resides),

Once you do this whatever folder you shared should show up on the other computers & have full read/write rights

Thanks.
In between my “Honey Do” things, I’ve got a lot of time messing with various settings/names and still can’t get it to work. For testing I picked the SnagIt screenshots folders in both the laptop and my desktop computer. I did as instructed: Sharing tab, click advanced sharing. Tick 'share this folder', click permissions, Under 'group or user names' make sure it says Everyone in the Object Names box. Under 'permissions for everyone' tick all 3 'allow' boxes. Apply OK.

The first two attachments are from the laptop, the next two from the desktop, all from Sharing tabs.

The next are errors from the desktop.

Hopefully these will help...
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OK Before we deal with the shared folder let's first make sure each computer can see the others correctly on the network. In each computer, go to file explorer. Expand Network in left pane. In each computer, both it plus all the others should be listed. Are all computers listed?
If Yes, that means the computers are talking to each other

IF NO use this tutorial, checking after each method to see if the computers see each other. I will tell you it is not always easy to get windows 7 and windows 10/11 to talk to each other.
https://www.wintips.org/fix-windows-10-network-computers-not-showing/#:~:text=[Solution] Network Computers not Visible in Windows 10,the Network Discovery is enabled. ... See More.

Once this is done you deal with sharing your folders.
The last 2 screenshots do not look right to me so I think you added an entry rather than using the instruction I put in my first post. Follow it exactly. To start over for that Snagit folder-Right click on folder- Sharing tab- Advanced Sharing. Uncheck the box “Share this folder” and click OK. Here is what you should see. This is my shared user folder.
On the third screen you do not add anyone else because you already have the 'Group or Username' set to EVERYONE. If you want to restrict who you share with turn on password protected sharing.

(Before I forget, and I don’t know if it matters, but under folder Properties in both computers, the Read Only Attribute is set to on. I can uncheck the box, click Apply, exit, and come back in and it’s checked again…)

“Are all computers listed?”

Yes, as show in the first screenshots. On the laptop Screenshot I included the Error msg I get when I click on the folder that’s on the desktop. I get the same error on the desktop, too, clicking on the laptop folder.

(Oh, just now I made a text document on the laptop and tried to print it. The networked printer show in the attachment is not listed under Select a Pinter in the Print dialog on the laptop.)

Hopefully I did it right this time. The rest of the attachments are of the Properties from both computers, first the laptop then then the desktop.
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OK- we'll deal with that read-only in a minute. Tell me if you can access the USER folder successfully.

Yes… and no. Tons of folders come up, but in spot checking a lot of them, they are at least 95% empty. I did find a (very) few files scattered about, like I’m listening to an mp3 on the laptop from the desktop right now.


Same for viewing the laptop’s Users from the desktop.

If you cannot access the USER folder either and get the same message, in laptop go to settings-system-troubleshoot-other troubleshooters-run the one next to 'shared folders'. Try accessing snagit again.

If you still can't let's try accessing the windows 7 computer by ip address to see if it makes any difference.
On windows 7 open cmd prompt and type ipconfig /all Make note of its ipv4 address.
From the laptop in search box and type \\xxx.xxx.x.xxx (that ip address) and then click on search result above

Sorry I was writing my post while you were writing yours. The reason you are seeing all those folders is you shared the ENTIRE Users folder instead of your individual User folder. You miss-read post 7. Unshare that folder and then share just C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME .

You cannot access the Snaggit folder because it is at the root of your C: drive. You are not allowed to share from there.. To resolve this issue, go into the Snaagit app and change its default save location to be someplace within your user profile. Once you do, you may need to move all your files from the current folder to the new location. The new folder for Snaggit should use the same attributes of your user folder (ie-if user folder is shared then this folder will also be shared) Otherwise share Snaggit folder at its new location..

Regarding the printer, you have to install it on the laptop before you can ever print to it. Windows 11 driver package here Epson XP-830 | XP Series | All-In-Ones | Printers | Support | Epson US

tutorial here

Hi. Thanks for the tip and link on the printer. The odd thing on the laptop Users sharing is I really don’t remember doing that. Also, there is no option to Un-Share as seen in the attachment. Also in the Users properties, it’s Shared with Admin, which I for sure did Not do; second attachment..

I don’t know how locations / libraries work in any version of Windows, but the best I can tell is that my “SnagIt Screenshots” folder is under Users\[me]\Documents\SnagIt Screenshots as per the address line in Explorer when I click there. But I didn’t capture it in the last screenshot.

I also discovered that SnagIt made its own folder, “SnagIt Shots”, under Documents. I do not use this folder.
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TDKMate said:

Click to expand...

That's normal. To un-share click 'Advanced sharing' and un-tick the 'Share this folder' box.

Then what is that folder in post 12 named Snagit Screenshots?

Unsaved Captures Versus Saved Captures
An unsaved capture will be visible in the Snagit Library, and is saved as a .SNAG file in the Snagit Datastore folder. With the default settings, the capture will remain in the Library until the user deletes the file.

A saved capture will be visible in the Snagit Library, and is saved in the format the user selects when saving the file (for example PNG or JPEG). Once the file is saved, it will be moved from the hidden location where unsaved captures are stored, and saved wherever the user selects.

Tip!
If you plan on needing to be able to re-edit your saved captures, it is a good idea to save a second copy of the capture as a .SNAG file. See this support article for more information.

Snagit Datastore​

The Snagit Datastore is the physical location on the computer where unsaved captures are stored. By default, this is a hidden location. To move the Datastore location (Snagit 12.4.1 and later):

1. Open the Snagit Editor.
2. Snagit 2018 and later: Click Edit > Editor Preferences > Library.
   • Snagit 13: Click File > Editor Preferences > Library.
   • Snagit 12: Click File > Editor Options > Advanced.
3. Click the folder button to select the new location for the Datastore folder.

At first I was amazed with (I have a lot of terabytes of data on the desktop ...) you have to record it all on hdd external if there are pictures and videos and only have programs on the desktop so how to boot your computer, sorry but I'm not clear I read your post carefully and it caught my eye. I'm sorry.

I have to apologize; even though I try hard not to, I far too often don’t explain things too well. As a result, I turned ‘SnagIt’ into a red herring. Being a new laptop, the SnagIt folder was the only folder that I had data in; that’s the only reason I picked it.

So I figured I’d start fresh. I created a new folder on the laptop named “New folder to share” and dropped a sample photo into it for data. I put it in C:\users\[me]\New folder to share.

I followed the steps:

“To share a folder-Right click on the folder you want to share, select properties, “

Check.

“Sharing tab, click advanced sharing. “

Check.

“Tick 'share this folder', “

Check.

“click permissions, “

Check.

“Under 'group or user names' make sure it says Everyone in the Object Names box. “

Check.

“Under 'permissions for everyone' tick all 3 'allow' boxes. Apply OK.”

Check.

I get the same error (first attachment).

So for giggles, I wanted to see if I could see the folder’s permissions on the laptop FROM the desktop. As in the second attachment, the Current owner could not be displayed, but offered an option to Change the owner.

I gave it a try and got the error seen in the third attachment.

Oh, and I Un-Shared Users on the laptop per Bree’s tip.