# Advanced Windows 7 Network File Sharing Guide



## RoutedScripter (Jan 31, 2011)

Okay , here it goes:  used Win7 Ultimate x64


Goal: I want to share "Public Documents" folder in Public user. Or any other folder , 

First: (you obviously are "administrator user" from the get go/ not the hidden account)
Second: All computers must have these same settings below, exactly.

*** All computers must be in the same "Workgroup" , default is "WORKGROUP"
You can change this in system settings under "Computer Name" , do not use domains if you don't know what they are for and how to use them.



1  - Disable  "Simple file sharing"(XP) / "File Sharing Wizard"(Win7) in Folder Options

2* - Disable Windows Firewall service (i only use router firewall) - you may need to configure it if you want it enabled (you need to allow internal Ip's to be allowed)
2* - Disable Homegroup Provider and Homegroup Listener service (useless junk)
2* - Completely Disable UAC in User Account Control (useless junk) (it will nag you throughout the whole process)



4 -  Home And Work Advanced Network Sharing Options:

-Turn *ON* network discovery
-Turn *ON* file and printer sharing
-Turn *ON* sharing in the Public folder sharing section
-Turn *ON* password protected sharing
-Select 128 bit
-Select "users and passwords" - no homegroup. 



4* - You may want to disable sharing of "Users" folder after you confirm these options , disable it since it's not the right way, the solution suggest enabling "sharing in the Public folder section" but it's working weird, you may also try not even turning on "sharing in public folders" , but i used this just maybe it may do something else to some who knows where permissions or what, anyways i don't think it's needed since it's visible action is completely wrong (it shares every user , not just public)



5 - search for "netplwiz" in start menu , run it and remove any Homegroup's ($Homegroup_User$) that may be existing,  also edit your own account to remove "HomeGroup$". Select your account to be in *"Administrators"* group radio button.
You don't need to deselect "Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer" - leave that selected since it makes your computer to log in your account automatically - plus it's not needed to make networking share work.



- *restart the computer-s 
*



6 - Create Shared folders using this: Also make sure , there is FULL control under both "Everyone" - in the share permissions and the source folder permissions.



streetfighter 2 said:


> Let's have a look at that process shall we?
> 
> All your computers already have a common account called, "Everyone", which doesn't have a password and reminds me of the village bicycle .  But "Everyone" isn't explicitly linked to all your folders.  So let's fix that...
> 
> ...



--- Make sure "Public Documents" (or any other "Public ...") folder has "Everyone" permissions (full control)


- *restart computer-s
*

7 - Open network and try to open all other found users except your self , (YOU MUST DO THIS ON ALL COMPUTERS , EACH WITH EVERYONE ELSE)  - this is the stupid context part - it will ask you for credentials , user and password , but it makes it sound like it requires a user and pass from the current PC > no , you must enter the other User's username and Password that you're connecting to (not hidden admin account) , and choose "Save credentials" , you must know the passwords of all of the computers (or ask those people to type it for you) , once you authenticated everybody with everyone , saved credentials , it's done.


**- If you don't detect some users before making the "7" point above , this is expected network behavior it's bugged and that's how it works before it's all done , so you need to type "\\[Example_Computer_Name]" (without quotes) of the user that does not "detect" (in the bar above the window) , not really, they're there, only the network window has hard time refreshing and displaying them - stupid code 


*** - If you connect to them but it throws out some error codes and you try to  diagnose problems it shows this:




- for example like this , reportedly , you need to remove Speedbit Video Accelerator (for youtube) , since it's making this , or you need to configure , its not known what or if configuring makes it work , but you should try reinstall this after you made the process , 
if you really need this program (yeah it makes youtube videos load as much as 3-4 times faster)



- With this full access it will no longer take ages to display/refresh computers in network , thank god. 
Remember , no homegroup , im really sick of microsofts braggings and dumbings down , ofcourse *everyone* makes homegroup since it's in the installer as "the best way to share" blah , homegroup is stupid with it's "password" and it does not work if the clocks aren't synced (a problem that lost an afternoon of my life  ) - plus the options never solidify, homegroup just tunes up what will share and there's always stupid music and picture folders everywhere because homegroup forces them to share.. whatever.


If there's a need for more images , ask.


Sources:  (obsolete/outdated)

http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en/w7network/thread/14c9cf97-ac52-48bc-a730-284de284d353


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## erixx (Jan 31, 2011)

looks great, will read it sometime in the future (yeah 

Ah, Windows 7 build-in Firewall has no (bad) effect whatsoever on home networking: it seems clever enough, lol, no need to disable it. (Which is dangerous anyway if you consider that just anybody on the net can read this and make a security mess of his home network. Your suggestion to disable it: I would mark it as "Only for Advanced Users") Same goes for UAC.

Absolutely agree that Homegroup sucksbigtime, what a fiasco!


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## yogurt_21 (Jan 31, 2011)

funny, I have no issues with homegroup whatsoever, even accross winxp, winvista, and win7


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## DRDNA (Jan 31, 2011)

yogurt_21 said:


> funny, I have no issues with homegroup whatsoever, even accross winxp, winvista, and win7



Me either but, I hear a lot of folks say homegroup makes file transfers slower...I am not sure about that first hand tho.


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## erixx (Jan 31, 2011)

Homegroup issues start when you alterate windows folders by default (My docs, etc etc) (I have all 'MY' folders out of the OS harddrive. Homegroups then loses them, recreates them on c:, etc. a mess.


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