Share folders and printers in the network

After you have designed your own computer network, you can share files and printers between computers. In this tutorial, I will show you how to do so. We assume that you already know how to set up a network. In case you don't know how to set up the network, please refer to our guide on how to design a network using a broadband router. In that article we also explained how to share your Internet connection.

Before continuing, you must pay attention to how the network has been set up. Using a broadband router is the most preferred way because it works as a hardware firewall and is capable of preventing access to files from outside the Internet. If you have set up your network in this way, please go straight to the problem that I will cover in this article: how to share files and printers.

However, if you do not use a router, you need to be careful when sharing folders. Depending on how you set up your computer network, people outside the network can access the files differently. We will explain how to protect your computer against threats in another article, so if you don't use a broadband router, read this guide to learn how to prevent people In addition to being able to access your files.

So what is the issue of sharing? It is the ability that people on other computers within the network can access resources inside the machine, which are files or printers.

All tutorials are based on Windows XP. The same way of sharing files and printers working on previous versions of Windows is similar, but the exact names of the options may vary slightly.

Allow sharing

The first thing that you need to do on the computer you want to allow file and printer sharing is to check if the sharing service is installed. Go to Start > Setting > Network Connections and double-click the network card installed on the computer.

Figure 1: Double-click the network card installed on the computer

On the window that appears, click Properties .

Figure 2: Click Properties

In the next screen, you should check if the ' File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks ' option is enabled, see Figure 3.

Figure 3: Check to see if the file and printer sharing service is installed

If this service is not installed, you need to click Install > Service > Add > select File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks , then OK .

Once you have installed this service, you can fully share files and printers. Note that this service is not required on other computers and can still access files or printers located on your computer.

Share folder

You can share any folder on your computer so everyone can access all the files inside it. It can include a folder on your hard drive, a partition of an entire hard drive, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, USB flash drive and even a floppy drive. Any device identified as a drive by the operating system can also be brought to share.

To share a folder or drive, simply right-click it and select Sharing and Security . In this example we will share the entire D: drive. As I mentioned, it is possible to share only one folder in the hard drive.

Figure 4: Select Sharing and Security on the folder you want to share

In the window that appears, click ' If you understand the risk but still want to share the root of the drive, click here '.

Figure 5

In the next window, you need to check ' Share this folder on the network ' and name this share on ' Share name ' (in the example ' Shared_Data '). That is the name of the shared folder from your computer that every computer in the network will see. If you want to allow people to modify files, cut and paste new files into this shared folder, you just need to enable ' Allow network users to change my files '.

Figure 6: Allow folder sharing

Click OK and the shared folder will be accessible from other computers on the network.

Now, after sharing a folder, we will show you how to access it from another computer.

Access the shared folder

To access shared folders on your network, click My Network Places , the icon on the Windows desktop. Double-click on the shared folder you want to access and that's all you need to do.

Figure 7: List shared folders in the network

If a folder that you know has been shared is not listed in My Network Places - this is a very common problem, press F5 on your keyboard. This is the shortcut for you to perform the 'refresh' function.

If the shared folder you want to access still does not appear, click on ' Add a network place ' (first item on the left column), then on the window that appears, click Next > Choose another network location > Next . In the next screen, you can tap the network by clicking Browse . This way will allow you to find the computer and shared folders you want to access. However, sometimes Windows does not list the full shared computer or folder here. If this is the case, you can perform additional sharing of the folder by entering its location in the Internet or network address box, using the machine_folder_name_folder name structure. In the case of this example, we enter GabrielShared_Data , because Gabriel is the computer name where the shared folder is located and Shared_Data is set for the shared folder. Click Next to finish this utility.

Figure 8: Ask Windows to access the shared folder

All shared folders available on the network are accessible from any Open / Save / Save As dialog box, via the My Network Places icon. Therefore, you can open a saved file in the shared folder via a favorite program.

You can assign a drive letter to a shared folder. This allows easy access to shared folders. For example, instead of browsing through My Network Places, your shared folder will be accessible by F:. To do that, open My Computer > Tools > Map Network Drive .

Figure 9: Path to assign drive letter to shared folder

In the screen that appears, you can select the drive letter and shared folder to assign to the drive letter. In this example we have assigned the Shared_Data shared directory as a Z: drive, so this folder will be accessible with the Z: drive on my computer. You can also tick the ' Reconnect at logon ' checkbox if you want this agreement to be reset when you restart the computer.

Figure 10: Assign a drive letter to a shared folder

Figure 11: Shared folder is accessible by Z:

If you do not want to continue this setting in the future, right-click the drive on My Computer and select Disconnect from the right-click menu.

Share the printer

Printer sharing is also very easy. You just need to go to Start > Settings > Printer and Faxes , right-click the printer and select Sharing .

Figure 12: Path for printer sharing

In the window that will appear, check ' Share this printer ' and enter a name for the shared printer in the Share name box. This will be the name of the known printer for other computers on the network.

Figure 13: Printer sharing

Click OK and the printer will be ready to be accessed by other computers on the network. See how these computers can access the shared printer.

Access to shared printer

To print via a printer located on another computer on the network, you first need to install it on your computer. To do this, go to Start > Settings > Printers and Faxes > Add a printer (the first item in the left column). Click Next on the next screen that will appear, on the second screen, select ' A network printer, or a printer attached to another computer '.

Figure 14: Install network printer

Click Next and you will see there are three options. Select the first option ' Browse for a printer ', to locate the printer. Then click Next .

Figure 15: Installing a network printer

In the next screen, you need to browse to the network to locate the printer you want to install on your computer. Click Next and answer Yes when you have a question that the utility will ask.

Figure 16: Installing a network printer

In the next screen, you will be asked if you want to set up this printer as a default printer for your computer. If your computer has no other printer attached, you should answer Yes . Then click Next and in the next screen click Finish .

Figure 17: Select the default printer on this computer

After performing these steps, the network printer will be installed on your computer. Using it is very simple, completely the same as performing on a printer installed on a computer, and accessible from all programs.

Figure 18: Network printer after installing in the computer