Posts Tagged ‘Workgroup Name’

Mapping Drives Within A Network

February 20th, 2010



One thing that everyone should do, whether it is a home or business network, is map shared folders to other computers in the network. This enables users to create shortcuts of the shared folder, provides for quick access and ease of use. Once the shared folder is mapped it will appear as a network drive under “My Computer”.

First thing you have to do is enable file sharing for a particular folder:

1. Locate the folder you wish to share.

2. Right click on it and then left click “Sharing and Security”.

3. If you see an item that says to enable file sharing, click that at this time.

4. Then select enable file and print sharing.

5. Select the check box that says “Share This Folder On The Network” and “Allow Network Users To Change My Files”.

6. Click “Apply” and then “Ok”.


So now, that folder is able to be seen by other computers on the network. Now the next step is very important. This is where alot of people run into problems. Every computer on the network MUST have the same WORKGROUP name. To find the workgroup name, right click “My Computer” then left click “Properties”. Now click on the “Computer Name” tab on top. There you will see the name of your workgroup. The Microsoft default is MSHOME or WORKGROUP. You are allowed to change it in this box as well. Again, make sure all the computers in the network have the same workgroup name.

After that has been confirmed, now go to the computer(s) where you wish to access the shared folder. Here are the steps to map it to that computer:

1. Right click “My Computer”.

2. Left Click “Map Network Drive”.

3. The top line will contain the drive letter the computer is going to assign to the mapped drive.
You can change this to whatever letter you like that is not currently being used.
4. Click “Browse”.

5. Select your Workgroup name and click the + sign next to it.

6. Now select the computer name from which the folder is being shared from.

7. Finally select the shared folder and click “Ok” and then click “Finish.”

A new window will open up displaying the shared folder. You can close that out. Now your mapped drive can be found by opening up “My Computer”. It will appear under “Network Drives” with the letter you assigned it. From here you can create a shortcut of that drive and it will place it on your desktop.

By: John Vizaniaris

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How to Setup File Sharing in Windows 7

January 12th, 2010



If you have multiple computers at home and want to network them together to share files and devices then this article is for you! In this article I’ll show how to setup file sharing in a mixed environment consisting of Windows 7 and Windows XP.

The computer that will be sharing (serving) the files will be the Windows 7 computer. The computer that will be accessing the shared files on the Windows 7 PC will be a Windows xp computer. This article assumes that you either:

A: have your internal software firewalls disabled since they can often obstruct network access. Only do this if you access the internet through a router (or a wireless router).

or

B: know how to allow network access to your internal subnet. Since you’re reading this article it’s pretty safe to assume that you have no idea what I’m talking about in point B. Just go ahead and turn off your firewalls (for now at least).

On your Windows 7 computer:

1. Click the Windows globe on the bottom left (the old start button).
2. Right-click “Computer” and click properties.
3. Take note of the Workgroup name.

On your Windows XP computer:

1. Click Start.
2. Right-Click “My Computer” and click properties.
3. Click Computer Name.
4. Click Change.
5. Select Workgroup.
6. Type in the same workgroup name.
7. Click Ok twice.
8. Reboot.

Back on your Windows 7 computer lets share your documents folder to everyone in your workgroup:

1. Click Start.
2. Click Computer.
3. On the left window, under libraries, right-click documents and click share with: specific people
4. Click the drop down.
5. Select Everyone.
6. Click Add.
7. Click Read and change it to read/write
8. Click Share
9. Select My Documents
10. Click Next.
11. Sharing your documents may take awhile depending on how many have.
12. Click Done.

Back to your Windows XP PC:

You may now access documents on the Windows 7 computer by

1. Opening your “My Computer”.
2. Click “My Network Places” on the left.
3. Click “Entire Network”.
4. You should now see the name of your Windows 7 computer.
5. Double click the Windows 7 computer and you’ll see any shared files plus any shared devices.

You can follow the steps above to share any other files or folders on your Windows 7 computer.

By: Matthew Rizos

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