[RESOLVED] Win7 to Win7 share folder

[JuggaloBrotha]

So I've never come across this, but I have 2 computers:
Dell Inspiron Desktop, Win7 Home Premium SP1 x64
Dell Inspiron Laptop, Win7 Home Premium SP1 x64

What I need to do is share a folder on the desktop computer with the laptop, I haven't shared a folder on a non-pro windows computer since the Win98 days and I usually have a specific account for the shared folder on my home computer (Win7 Ultimate SP1 x64) but here's what I've tried.

By default in Win7 when you share a folder it's shared to 'Everyone' with read-only access by default, so I changed it to allow Modify and Full control too. I've also set the network sharing to not use password file shares. On the laptop when I browse the network I can see the folder listed, but when I try to open it I get the "resource can't be accessed" error message, which is confusing because I would have thought the read-access would at least work.

So then I started googling and I noticed that whenever someone wants to share a folder, in any manor, none of the windows defaults actually work. You need to create a 2nd account on the computer (no big deal cause I have several on my desktop just for file sharing) and while it's a pain to not have the create user stuff in the computer management on a home premium computer, I was able to create a regular user account with the same name as the laptop (with a password) and I set the networking settings to share using a password, then I went to the folder, removed the 'Everyone' and put in the new account and everything but now whenever the laptop tries to connect to the desktop, I get the "can't access the resource" error right away and I also noticed that the shared printer no longer works on the laptop either, so the desktop's refusing print jobs now too. So what am I doing wrong?

I also noticed that Home Premium doesn't have a group policy editor either, so how do I make it so the new account isn't able to log in locally? I don't want windows to prompt for an account to log in to which it's doing now, it should auto-login to the default admin account (no password set) like the laptop still does.

I hope I've explained the situation clearly enough, I miss the days where you could just create an account (doesnt even need a password to be set) in the computer management, set it to be a non-local login account in the policy editor, share the folder for the account and it just worked, but other than the Ultimate edition all of that seems to be missing and it's amazing that MS doesn't really have an equivalent for these basic windows management tools.

[Mxjerrett]

Attempt to remove the "Everyone" account and re-add it. Also you can attempt to change the ownership of it as well.

[stanav]

Win7 makes file sharing a lot easier via the HomeGroup feature. The only down side of it is that it doesn't work on pre-win7 OSes. HOwever, since both of your computers are running win7, you should have no problem using HomeGroup. You just need to create the HomeGroup in 1 computer and join the other computer to it. Once that is done, you can share any folders with your HomeGroup by right click on it and select the appropriate option.

[JuggaloBrotha]

I ended up needing to do a clean install of windows on this computer, so I installed Win7 Professional x64 instead which allows me to create folders and share them like I need to.
I still can't believe the Home Premium has the users & groups part of Computer Managements taken out & the severe lack of being able to right click a folder, select share & specify the account to share it to.

[Lord Orwell]

its worse than that. while home premium supports home groups, it won't create them. You have to use a professional install to create the homegroup for the home premiums to connect to.

[Nightwalker83]

@JB, Did you have problems with sharing when permissions were involved? From what I remember of when I was setting up sharing between either Win7/Vista or Windows/XP I did (forget which, it was although you should be able to find the thread by searching).

[JuggaloBrotha]

@JB, Did you have problems with sharing when permissions were involved? From what I remember of when I was setting up sharing between either Win7/Vista or Windows/XP I did (forget which, it was although you should be able to find the thread by searching).

No, I knew what permissions I would need because my own home desktop computer (Win7 Ultimate) is set up similar for my laptops, I just couldn't figure out how to do it with the crippled home premium edition desktop computer my parents have.

What bugs me the most is that I can't help but think, ever since XP (the Home vs Pro, or as I call it "in the house" vs "at work on the networked domain") it seems the idea of having multiple devices and sharing files (without the use of internet programs like DropBox) in the home is becoming more and more of a rarity, like just because I have a desktop computer, 2 laptops and a tablet at home doesn't mean I don't want to share files or printers. I can understand my Droid tablet not being able to share with the windows computers (though I really wish it could & I wish I could use the networked printer on it too) but the most commonly distributed edition of Win7 doesn't even let you share a folder unless it's one of the 4 "homegroup" folders... it's stupid having no flexibility unless you buy a higher edition of windows just to get something that came out of the box in the Win95/98 (hell even ME had it and that was one of the worse OS ever made). Luckily I had an unused Win7 Pro x64 key laying around at home I could put to use.

Sorry for the rant, I just don't get why even MS deliberately removing the most basic of file sharing from the most common editions of windows. To copy or move a file from Win7 to Win7 (or from any version of windows to any other version of windows) when on the same home network should never require a program like DropBox.

I know google's policy is to have each device separate, mostly because they want you to put everything on their cloud servers so that they have copyright of your material despite any copyrights you have on it simply because you put your files on their server(s) so it is now their files to use however they wish.

[Lord Orwell]

it's not missing. It's just completely a pain in the rear to get working. The easiest way to get it to work is have a password set up on every computer and have them on the same network. Under network and sharing center all networked computers should show up. Double clicking on one of them should automatically give you access to the public documents folder after you log in with a valid user name and password. Note that this can be blocked if your network is set to public. Every type of network in 7 has its own sharing settings for default and public is set default to block it. an "unknown" network will be seen as public and the only way i know of to fix that is run the homegroup troubleshooter.