[RESOLVED] filesharing with 1 desktop 1 laptop, Win7

Hey all.
I have a desktop with DSL internet, use a wired connection from the router back to the desktop, then use wireless for my laptop to share that internet connection.
Both run Windows 7.

All I want to do is to set up a permanent system for file sharing back and forth for pretty much any folder on either machine.

I've read 20 articles on numerous ways to do it, but don't know the best and easiest way. I'm not trying to share internet connections and would prefer not to share files over internet. I guess that means using some kind of networking cable. One thing I couldn't figure out is that the desktop already uses its network card to connect to the router, so there is no way to plug an ethernet cable between computers.

Can somebody give me all the steps (like even a six-year-old couldn't mess this up) so that I can connect the computers whenever I'm at home and then have the ability to conveniently move files back and forth (preferably without somekind of shared folder or location).

Thanks all.

you have to set a password on each computer because file sharing requires it... sort of.
You then right click your main hard drive and share everything under share options.
You'll have to click "advanced sharing" and assign it a name. Make sure to edit the permissions to allow everyone access, not just admins. This is the "sort of". Everyone can easily be given read access but write access can require more work, and if you set things wrong here, you won't be able to even access the folder unless you have a user account password set. It's easier just to have the password set in the first place. Plus don't forget in some places you don't have write access without an admin password even from the same machine.

A partial sharing is much easier in win7. You can set up a homegroup and tell it what folders to share.

right. how do I connect the computers physically?
My network card is being used for the ethernet cable to the router/modem.
Does that mean I can't have internet connected?
Also, I'm only looking to copy files from one computer to the other, so I shouldn't need write permissions, right? I would just copy the files from the "other" computer each time rather than pasting into the "other" computer.

I can't imagine why you want to share everything (that includes system files, windows dir, program files dir...) between computers... Probably only want to share user data though.
Anyway, since both computers are running win7, you can use the "HomeGroup" feature of Win7, it's very easy to set up and you can share almost anything you like.
1. In computer 1, click start button and type in "homegroup". Click on "HomeGroup" entry when it shows up.
2. Click on "Create a HomeGroup" and follow the wizard's instruction.
3. Write down the password. If you don't like the password that windows automatically generated, you can change it after you have done creating the HomeGroup.
4. Go to computer 2, click start then type in "homegroup". Click "HomeGroup" when it show up.
5. Click on join and type in the password (the one you wrote down when you created the homegroup in computer 1)

Now, you can customerize what to share between the 2 computers by right-click on the folder(s) and choose to share with HomeGroup.

Don't worry about the connections. If both of your computers are connected to the router (doesn't matter it's wired or wireless), they will find each other just fine.

ok.
but just to be clear.
the connection to the router is thus:
the desktop has a wired connection to the router (which is connected to the modem) for internet
the laptop connects to the internet via the same router, but wirelessly

are you saying that they use the same router to establish this connnection?
and if so, does that mean that they are somehow connecting through internet?


Sorry for my ignorance on the subject. Networking is one thing I've never bothered to learn.

Yes, the computers connect to one another via the router and no, they do not connect through the Internet. The internet is on the WAN side and the computers are connecting on the LAN side of the router.

sounds too good to be true.

I've been thumb driving between computers. It's ok on the desktop, but the laptop literally takes hours to fill up an 8Gb thumb drive. It would be faster to burn discs.

Thanks both. I'll try it when I get home from work.

no.
this didn't work.
I can go into either computer and go to homegroup and create a homegroup and get a password, but then when I go into the other computer, there is no "Join Now", only "Create a Homegroup"

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wengang

no.
this didn't work.
I can go into either computer and go to homegroup and create a homegroup and get a password, but then when I go into the other computer, there is no "Join Now", only "Create a Homegroup"

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I am going to do something i don't normally do and assume both computers were on and not in standby mode and connected to the internet.

doesn't matter. create one and then set the password to something that matches all of them. It randomly generates a bs password but you can change it to something easy to remember. I have mine set to "homegroup". You may have one or both of your computers (probably the laptop) set to think your network is public instead of private. This will automatically disable all sharing. When you set up homegroup it may ask you to fix this. Basically it doesn't matter which computer creates the homegroup because homegroup doesn't have a central server. You can have every single computer "create" a homegroup and as long as you set the key to the same thing on every system afterwards, they will all belong to the same group.

once you have homegroup working, all you have to do is right-click on any folder and there is a "share on homegroup" option right there on the menu. Make sure you set homegroup to share documents as well. This is unchecked by default.

I'm at work so I can't check it right now, but I know that both computers have connections set to "home network" or whatever the right term is, not public place or the other options.
On the desktop, the connection is listed as "Local Area Connection". On the laptop, the connection is listed as NETGEAR. This is the name I gave when I originally set up the router so that the laptop could use internet. I assume the settings for that reside in the router since I've never had to set it up again since the first time.

Are you saying that if I set up the homegroup on the desktop, wait for the password, change it to what I want, then do the same thing on the laptop (using the same password) that they will in fact be in a homegroup with sharing enabled?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wengang

Are you saying that if I set up the homegroup on the desktop, wait for the password, change it to what I want, then do the same thing on the laptop (using the same password) that they will in fact be in a homegroup with sharing enabled?

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You just create a HomeGroup on 1 computer, doesn't matter which one you pick, but if I'd pick the one that is being left on more often, which normally the desktop. You can create only 1 HomeGroup within a single subnet so if you create it on the desktop, you won't be able to create it on the laptop until you remove the HomeGroup from the desktop.
After you have created a a homegroup, you can change the password in homegroup options. Once you're happy with the password, it's time to join the other computer to this homegroup.
Go to the other computer and click start button, type in "homegroup" and click on "HomeGroup" when it shows up in the program list. Since a homegroup already exists in the subnet, you cannot create a homegroup on this computer. Windows won't show you the option to create a homegroup like it did on the other computer. All you see is a "Join Now" button which when clicked, it'll prompt you for a homegroup password. Just type in the password you had for homegroup on the other computer and that's it.
Really simple. You can't go wrong.

Hey Stanav

what i'm saying is that it isn't behaving as you say. I set up the homegroup on the desktop, click on all the file types to share, then a password appears. I write it down. I go to the laptop. I open homegroup, and it is just like the desktop. The button says create a homegroup, not "Join Now". I then removed the desktop from the homegroup. I went to the laptop and set up the homegroup, got the password. Then back to the desktop, it says "create a homegroup", not "Join Now". I never get to a point where there is a "Join Now".

To be perfectly clear, I have not set up a network of any kind, other than simply connecting my computer as mentioned before. I have DSL internet, comes out of the wall into the modem, out of the modem into the router. An ethernet cable comes out of the router into the desktop's network adapter. That's internet. It has a static IP address that has to be set up in the router, not in the IPv6 settings, which (I'm at work right now), I think are set to default.

Then there is the laptop. It automatically finds the router when I turn it on, and thusly connects to internet.

That's all the networking I've done. Is there something I need to do before doing this homegroup thing. It seems too easy and so far isn't working.

I turned off the firewall on both machines temporarily to see if that was it, but it was the same.

All right.
After a couple of weeks away from the issue (spent getting married and going on my honeymoon!), it occurred to me that both the laptop and the desktop had the same computer name, and on a hunch, I added -Laptop to the laptop's name and restarted. It worked.
Join Now button came up and I was able to set up the homegroup.
Thanks all.

well that would definitely do it. Homegroup (and for that matter home networking) uses samba which goes off the name of the computer.