I'm trying to set up file sharing from my desktop to my laptop but I'm having hella trouble in doing so. First off, it's been years since I've even bothered to make an attempt at it so I'm a little out of practice. Secondly, I haven't done so since Windows 2000 Pro and it's not at all how I remembered it. Through a little googling I have discovered that it is entirely different all together. (thanks Bill, really appreciate that.. ever heard the saying "don't fix it if it's not broke?" ) What is this SFS crap and why is it not that simple? All I want to do is make a folder or two on my desktop available across the network to my laptop. Is that possible? And if so, can someone please assist me w/ this. Between the two I'm running Xp's Media Center and Xp's crappy *Home edition (*I think that may be my problem) And as you may have already guessed, One is wired (desktop) and the other is wireless. (notebook) Any help will be appreciated.. google just isn't helping me much this time.
Theres loads of help files out there if you search on google but basically check the items below if you hit problems. I prefer to do it manually rather than let windows do it for you. Im using XP home edition without any problems and have networked across to a dual boot linux machine with shared- folders
Just remember.......
1) The name of the network must be the same across the whole domain ( or in your case on both lapdog and desktop)
2) Make sure that your firewall has allowed for the network to be filtered through - if using ZoneAlarm create a network zone using an ip range say 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.5
3) Right click folders that you wish to share across the network and set the properties for sharing ( I usually click the "I know what im doing and i want to share my folder" bit)
Im no expert with networking myself but I hope this points you in the right direction.. !
I appreciate the reply but that's just it. I found a lot of these links last night as well and they all try and make it seem like it's just that easy. I must have some incompatibility issues between the two systems is all I can figure. I even tried unloading my security software on both machines last night and nothing, still cant see it. I have a thoery though, tell me what you think.(this may not have a d*** thing to do w/ it) The media center pc is formatted in FAT32 and the desktop is formatted in NTFS. Seems like I read somewhere that this could cause problems. All I know about FAT32 is it's better for linux and less secure for windows. That is the extent of my knowledge on the two... lol So while some of you are laughing.. I'm busy establishing the worst migraine of the year. Anyways, other than that I can't imagine wtf the problem is. I really miss Windows 2000 now. Maybe it didn't have "Simple file sharing" but it was a whole hell of alot easier than this. I remember having file sharing set up in a few clicks of a mouse back then. I would really hate to format the laptop at this point but thats probably my next step. I didn't like the way they set the partitions up anyway.(due to this I was already considering formatting) Not only is it formatted in FAT32, but they equally divided my hard drive right down the middle. Why would I want to do that? It might be great if I had plans to dual boot but w/ only 100gigs.. I don't really consider that an option. Anyways, I do appreciate the feedback but I'm still not able to see the other pc in "my network places" and I'm still unable to see any folders from one pc to the other.
Im pretty certain you cannot share folders between fat32/ntfs. As far as linux/ntfs filesharing goes I am running PClinuxOS 2007 beta and can access all ntfs partitions without any problems. If you went that way you could convert the fat drive across to ntfs which can be done without formatting. As for the partition in your hard drive, could you not download a copy of norton partition magic on demo and join the drive back up. Just remember to back any data up first !
Wow! talk about a time saver!.. I had no idea you could convert a drive over so easily. "convert (drive_letter): /fs:ntfs" Is definitely worth remembering.. As far as partition magic goes, I have yet to try it but I have known it's out there. I was not aware what all I could do with the free trial alone but I do know I can't afford to purchase the program at the moment. I think it has to be pretty important to you to shell out $70 bucks for it. I just don't see me getting my $70 dollars worth just to create a partition. I mean really, couldn't I just install linux onto a drive creating a new linux partition. Then go back into windows, Control Panel/Administrative Tools/Computer Management/Storage/Disc Management and delete the newly created linux partition and reformat that volume to whichever I prefer? Or what if I didn't install linux at all.. what if I just went through the same motions on windows and deleted that partition right through disc management. Could I not take the un-used space and format it back into one drive.. turning say "C" and "D" into just "C" Wouldn't that work? Without using a $70 dollar program? I know it sounds like a lot of work but the fact that I just did for free what I could have done for $70 bucks sounds like it may be worth the extra steps. Although it would be great to have the program still yet. Anything that saves you trouble on a pc is well worth it's salt. Once again I have to thank you for the CMD quickie. I did not know you could change a drive so easily.
Hi there, you could go into the administration panel as you suggested but I have a feeling that doing it that way the data on the drive will be lost. I thought about the norton trial method for merging the partitions without loosing data (although I would certainly back up anything important just in case anything does goes wrong) doing it this way you would have to tranfer all the data from partition B to partition A, then delete partition B once the data has been transfered, then finally expand partition A to fill the drive.
