Setting up network shares without a server.

[Yeo695]

As silly as this sounds, I've never in my life setup network sharing using Windows 7 integrated Homegroup sharing. I assumed it would be simple step by step "just keep clicking next" kind of thing. Well I managed to mess it up and have no idea what I'm doing at this point. This is on my home network and planned to share a partition. I have 2 desktops and an HTPC. So here is what I did

 

 

1. I setup my main desktop (We'll call it Computer A) with the Homegroup and partitioned the drives I plan to use as NAS. I shared and named (SharedDrive) the partitioned drive on this machine. Made sure Security and Permission was set to allow everyone and authenticated users.

 

2. I join the other 2 devices (Computer B and C) to the Homegroup using the security code that computer A provided when the Homegroup was created.

 

3. I attempt to go to \\ComputerA\SharedDrives from explorer on ComputerB but said nothing was found. Went to Network in explorer and seen that both ComputerA and ComputerC are listed as network devices. Double click on them and it says permission denied.

 

4. Restart all machines, check over the settings and try using the "map a network drive" option. Still no luck.

 

5. Google'd the sh*t out of Homegroup and Homegroup Drive Sharing and the only info I can find are just copy and pasted versions of the same article on 45 different websites.

 

 

Anyone see anything wrong? Also is there any software out there that could simplify the process? I was thinking of setting up bitsync.

[ADMaster]

Hello,

I know this does not answer the question...

 

I use standard windows file sharing at home and just make sure I have an account with the same username and password on each PC.

 

There is also a reg tweak to enable the admin $ shares as well.

 

I have never used home groups either. Is there a reason standard shares won't work for your case, or did you just want to give home groups a go.

 

Cheers