How to Set Up a Small Network with Windows XP Home Edition (PART 7) (814004)

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Part 7. Sharing Folders

Advantages of Sharing

When you turn on file sharing, you can determine what resources are available in the network. All the computers on the network can use the resources that you enable for sharing. For example, you can enable the following resources for sharing:

• Folders
• Drives
• Printers
• Internet access

Resources that are not set up for sharing remain private.

There are many advantages to sharing devices and files:

• You can easily copy or move files from one computer to another. You can share work on files on different computers.
• You can access a single device, such as a printer or a ZIP drive, from any computer.
• One Internet access point is sufficient for several computers to use the Internet at the same time.

Sharing Files

When a computer allocates resources, it assumes server functions. Any computer in a peer-to-peer network workgroup can do so. You must configure file and printer sharing for a computer to act as a server. You set up this functionality when you installed the network card. Therefore, you can already share a file or files that you want to use on other computers. To share a file, follow these steps:

1. Locate a folder on the computer.
2. Right-click the file that you want to share, and then click Sharing and Security to view additional settings.
   
   
3. The next two windows only appear when you are setting up your first shared item. Windows notifies you that sharing data presents a certain security risk. Therefore, remote access is turned off by default. Click the Security warning message, click Just enable file sharing, and then click OK.
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Now you can share data. Click Share this folder on the network, and then type a share name. You can use this name later to access the data. The share name and the folder name do not have to be the same.
   
   
5. Specify whether the data that is accessed over the network can be changed, and then click OK.
6. The icon for the shared folder appears with a picture of a hand:
   
   
   
   

To access the shared folder, click Start, click My Computer, and then click My Network Places. You can access the shared folder in the following ways:

• Directly on the top level
• Hierarchically on the computer level

When you open My computer, the shared resources for all the computers in your small network are listed next to each other. You can find the required folder under Share_name on Computer_name.



If you entered a computer description when you assigned a computer name, you must search for Share_name on Computer_description (Computer name).

If you work your way down to a specific computer in the network, you will see only the shared resources on this one computer. Click View workgroup computers, double-click the computer names (either as Computer_name or as Computer_description [Computer name]), and then search for the name of the shared file.





If you click Allow network users to change my files, you can view, copy, move, change and delete files in this folder on any computer in this network. You can add new files and access subfolders and files.

You can use the same method to share whole drives, including the following drives:

• Hard disks or partitions
• CD ROM drives
• ZIP drives

To stop sharing, right-click the file that is shared, click Sharing and Security, and then clear the Share this folder on the network check box. When you do so, this resource no longer appears under this computer name. However, the folder link directly in the network environment remains. It is no longer available unless you set it up for sharing again. When a user tries to access the folder, they receive a "No access" message.



Your network is now fully functional. If you have already set up an Internet connection, optimize the configuration. Make sure that File and Printer Sharing and Client for Microsoft Networks are turned off in the dial-up connection (only here). and make sure that the Internet connection firewall is turned on. A dial-up connection to the Internet does not use these services, and the firewall provides some protection against malicious users. To optimize the configuration, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Control Panel, and then click Network Connections.
   
   
2. Right-click the dial-up connection, and then click Properties.
   
   
3. Click the Networking tab, and then click Advanced to confirm the following settings:
   • The Client for Microsoft Networks check box and the File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks check box are not selected.
   • The Internet Connection Firewall check box is selected.
     
     
     
     
4. Click OK.