Vista File Sharing
step by step

It seems that there is considerable difficulty and consternation caused by the improved security features built into Vista networking.  Microsoft seems to have chosen to tightly lock down network security and leave it to individual users to unlock as much as they feel comfortable with.

I put a new system together and installed Vista Home Premium on it. The system connects to my personal network through a wireless connection. My network consists of computers running WIN XP-SP3, Vista Business, a notebook running Vista Home Premium, and a fileserver running Server 08-64 bit. Once properly configured, all the computers can see and change the files located on the new computer. The computers are all members of a Workgroup named; “MSHOME”. The newly built computer is named; “Judy-PC” and a folder; “Downloads” has been shared so all can fully access (read, write, change, delete, add) any files stored there without using a password just like was possible with earlier versions of Win XP.

As mentioned, the systems come defaulted to network locked down. First thing to check is whether it is a Public or Private network. Often times, users will notice that only one folder appears on the computer when it shows up on the network. That folder will be named "Public". If this is the case, then you're close to having this working. Change the network type to private and any other shares will also appear. Change this by right clicking on the Network Icon that will appear on your Desktop, or if not there, then open Windows Explorer and right click on it there.

Things may appear a bit counter-intuitive here, as some may be led to believe that “Private” is more tightly locked down than “Public”. That isn’t the case here though. Public would be for places like a motel or public hot-spot. You normally wouldn’t want unrestricted access to your files when hooked to such a network. If you were hooked to your own private network, where you could severely restrict access to who was connected, then you could loosen security and allow freer access. Click the “Customize link and this window will allow you to change the type of network location

After you have made the needed changes to the type of network, take the opportunity to turn on Network discovery, File Sharing, & Public folder sharing. Turn off Password protected sharing.

Once you have things configured there, you can click on the “View Full Map” to see a graphic representation of your network connections:

You’ll notice that the one machine that’s running XP, shows up separate from the ones on the map. “Grain” is the name of the wireless access point that Judy-PC is connected through. X64-08 is connected through the Linksys router/hub, and DualCore is connected through a cascaded hub that is located in my farm office. That hub is connected via Ethernet cable, to the Linksys. Here, things are greatly simplified if you set all your computers to be on the same Workgroup.

Now we need to share the desired folder – in this case it will be: C:\Downloads. Right click it and then left click the Share … selection on the pop-up that appears. When you make that selection, this window comes up:

If you want to allow anyone on the network to access the share, click the drop down arrow and choose Guest, and then click the “Add” button. Now you will need to set access permissions for this user:

Select Guest and then click the drop down arrow in the permissions column. Selecting Co-owner, as I have here, allows full access to anything in the shared folder.

The next step is to see if the new share shows up in your network neighborhood. When we open the Network Neighborhood (or My Network Places) it should list all the visible shares on your network:

In this instance, our newly created share hasn’t appeared yet. As best as I can tell, when the new share doesn’t appear, it’s because the computer is waiting for a master browser to be elected that will list all the visible shares. Some have suggested turning off the browser service on all but the most current and normally left on computer. That’s not necessary if you force a master browser election. Easiest way I’ve found to do this is to just manually map the newly shared resource. Click the Tools | Map Network Drive selection on the menu bar and you’ll see a dialog:

Manually type two backslashes “\\” the PC name, another backslash”\” and the shared folder or     \\judy-pc\downloads . There should be no spaces between the backslashes and the resource names.

You should now have old fashioned XP type open access to the folder. Bear in mind that these settings are not advisable if you often carry your PC to a place where it will connect to a Public type connection.