Hi I recently brought a wireless network and I am sharing internet via it, but I want to also share files. Can anyone help me because I seem to have file and printer sharing enabled, but how do I actually see the files from the other comptuer on my computer? What exactaly do I have to do any help would be great thanks.

Hi,
Here is a link:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/networking/learnmore/bowman_05february10.mspx

Scroll down to the heading "How to set up a wireless network".
See if you have done these steps so far. Then, the next heading is "How to set up another computer" for file sharing.

Some more links. If you give us your Windows version, it would help.

XP - http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;304040
More XP - http://www.theeldergeek.com/quick_guide_to_simple_file_sharing.htm
Various - http://www.wellesley.edu/Computing/FileSharing/Windows/

Make sure all computers are in the same workgroup (http://www.lancs.ac.uk/users/iss/network/instructions/graphics/xpname-2.png) first then share a folder on one machine.

To change Workgroup names: http://www.onecomputerguy.com/networking/xp_network.htm#name

Assuming that your network is setup properly, you need to select a drive or folder that you want to share, right click, select sharing and turn on sharing for that drive/folder. You then go to a PC that you want to access that folder from. Open My Computer and from the Tools menu, select Map a Drive. You then browse your network and you should see the shared drive. Select it to assign the shared resoource as a drive letter on the remote PC.

Look at the links LT and NEED included for more details. The link Fred gave you has to do with setting up security, not file sharing. Another good site for networking tutorials is www.practicallynetworked.com

Hello, so to get things straight, I want to share my files from my computer (1) so that computer (2) & (3) can see them and share them. So I as computer (1) right click the folder or drive I want to share (I did this) and allow it to be shared (I did this). Is that my part over? So comp (2) and (3) should now be able to go into there 'my computer' and tools and click map network drive and see the folder I want to share? Because this is not happening right now, maybe I'm doing something wrong. On these comps I see nothing and the network path I try to find the folder on is not found.

Thanks for any help.

You need to also make sure that File and print sharing is turned on for ALL PCs and that they are all in the same workgroup.

Ok let me tell you a little bit more about our network at the moment, we are using belkin wireless, to share internet. This is working. So now we want to share files, do we need to use the wizard to setup something? As we didn't need to do this for sharing the net through belkin, which says u can also share files and printers and so on too. In this case I'm not 100% sure we have the network setup properly because we did not run the wizard or enter workgroup name, we just used the belkin setup wizard.

How about you try following some of the advice and steps given to you in thread? Have you done any of that yet?

Double click "My network places", either from your start menu or within "my computer" (with folders showing - View -> explorer bar -> folders) Can you see your or the other computers when browsing My network places? You may have to double click "entire network" "and workgroup" etc. Post back telling us what you can find (if anything)

Another thing you need to know is that with windows 2000 and XP workgroups, all computers need to have the same user account on each machine (with the same password)

To check this go into control panel from the start menu (possibly via "settings") and open the users & passwords icon. Make sure all computers have the same users and passwords on them.

Please clarify what versions of windows you are using.

Yes, all computers are using the same workgroup name, internet is being shared fine, file sharing is on all computers, but when I try and map network drive, I can apply a drive I want to use, but when I have to select the folder, it shows none even though on my computer I have set one to share on the network.

Sorry I am using XP, I'm am just going to try this, to make sure I'm doing the right thing, so on computer (1) the username and password needs to be the same as on comp (2) and on comp (3).

It helps yes!

Ok so I have just made the user and pass the same on all computers, and all computers are logged into that account. And to answer what I see when I try and map the network drive

My network places
- Entire netowork
- Microsoft windows network
- Home
- (nothing else under home (which is the name of the network group)

Right, I need you to post with the IP address and subnet mask of all your computers. To find this, right click " my network places" and select "properties", then Right click your network connection (wireless in this case, but normally "Local area Connection") and click properties. Then select the TCP/IP and click the properties button. This will either tell you that the computers are set to automatic, or there will be numbers in the boxes.

Post back with the settings for each one.

Comp (1) the main one with the router is set to automatic using

IP: 192.168.2.2
Sub mask: 255.255.255.0

Comp (2)

IP: 192.168.2.3
Sub mask: 255.255.255.0

Comp (3)

IP: 192.168.2.4
Sub mask: 255.255.255.0

PS.

I notice on comp 1 the local area is what is being used, on comp 2 is wireless network, local is unplugged it says and for comp 3, both using wireless network would this create a problem.

Now, to check connectivity use the ping command.

From the 1st computer
Start -> run -> cmd (& press enter)

From the command prompt (black window)

To ping computer 2
Type "ping 192.168.2.3" & press enter

To ping computer 3
Type "ping 192.168.2.4" & press enter

You can perform this test on all the computers, pinging the others using their ip addresses, this will confirm whether you have a basic connection between the computers or not (firewalls, can hinder this although the internet works).


Reply with the results

Comp (2) sent 4 and received 4 when I ping, comp (3) sent 4 and lost 4.

Do the same thing from comp 2 & 3 (try to ping the other two).


Assuming comp3 has internet access it sounds like it has a firewall stopping the lan access to it.
Setup shared folders on all 3 computers, for testing purposes and check the network places to see if any come up under "home" workgroup

Ok I forgot to mention, comp 3 has loads of problems, missing files and everything could this affect the network (even though internet is working on it). The idea was to share the files from comp 3 on the other 2 comps so we could format comp 3 without losing the files.

Anyway comp 1 and 2 are OK, so even if that affects the network comp 1 and 2 should still be able to see and share files?

I have asked to share a file from comp 1, and a file from comp 2 but still nothing shows in network places.

Also in my network places, if I try and view the workgroup computers I get access denied error does this have anything to do with it?

You still need to test with ping from comp2 & 3!

Ok, so I check all computers, the comp with 192.168.2.4 does not ping from comp 1, and from that does not ping comp 1. So basically I think comp 1 and comp 3 are not communicating. What does this mean I have to do?

Hi, I'm getting somewhere, I can now see some shared folders in the network places. I have shared some files from one computer, but certain files on another I try to share it says "disk may be write protected or file may be in use" does anyone know how I can get around this?

As far as comp3 goes, assuming comp2 can ping comp1 then it sounds like you have a firewall active on comp3 stopping lan traffic. If this is the case, disable it. If you're concerned about the internet, disconnect it from the router while you test. When you've disabled the firewall on comp3, do another ping test to comps 1 & 2, also test from comp1 & 2 if you can then ping comp3.

As for the other problem about "disk may be write protected or file may be in use", this could have arisen when you set the user names and passwords, here is a link to describe taking ownership of the folder you are having problems with.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308421&sd=tech

Ok, so i check all computers, the comp with 192.168.2.4 does not ping from comp 1, and from that does not ping comp 1. So basicly i think comp 1 and comp 3 are not communicating. What does this mean i have to do?.

That is an odd IP. Generally, broadband routers assign IPs in the range of 192.168.1.x. For it to use a 2 in the third quartile would have to mean you set it up to use a different setup. Using a different 3rd quartile might upset your subnetting.

The main problem now is sharing the actual files, I have the shared folders showing up now, I have even taken a few files from these folders, but more files say file in use or the disk is full or write-protected.

I have tried what Microsoft says to do, but I cannot get no success from that. The computer I am trying to take files from has got many errors and problems this could affect the way the files and folders are used and accessed? If so I'm stuck because the idea was to get the files safe and re-format that computer.

If you're going to wipe comp3, share a folder on comp1 or 2 and copy the files to there from comp3!

That's the plan, I have taken several files from this comp, but 90% of the files it says are being used or wirte-protected so I can't put them on another comp, I just need to find out what is using them or why they are write-protected which is stopping me from sharing them.

Log on as the original user of the computer, and create an identical user account on comp1 - then you should have access to the files!

Ok so does this user account need a password? Because at the moment it don't have one, if so I set the same password for both?

Yes, its probably to do with the permissions set for the files owned by the original logon user. Either set a password or have none, but make sure they are the same on both computers.

Hey, just to let you know all seems to be OK now, however there is one computer which I can take files from, but on that computer can't access the computer which is taking its files. Says access denied, I have set the firewalls to recognize the ip's of all computers and so on, what else can I do, because it worked for some computers but not for others.

Its probably something again to do with user logons and file permissions. It's quite a tricky subject when you get in to it!!

If you can live with it, I would just use one user account on all three computers. If you don't need a password then that's fine. Have a browse on the web for NTFS, Permissions, "take ownership" and "Folder security". I'm sure that you'll find a lot to digest, certainly more than I can reasonably go into here (cop out I know :))

Good Luck, I'm glad you've managed to copy the files you needed.