Do this on all the computers in your network.
Set Profile Account Password
First set a password on your profile account in Windows if you don't have one already. If you are going to be sharing files over a network, a little bit of security doesn't hurt. You can have Windows save this data when you first access your network. It will ask for the name of the account you are trying to access and the password for that account. Check the option to save it if you desire.
Type sign-in options in your search bar and click on it in the menu. Then click on Password and then Add. Then you'll be asked to type your new password and retype, click next and you'll be asked to choose security questions.
If you want to create a password and bypass the security questions then use the command prompt as mentioned here.
Read: https://davescomputertips.com/how-to-add-change-password-with-command-prompt
Enable Network Sharing
Next you'll need to enable Network Sharing. Type Manage advanced sharing settings in the search bar and click on it in the menu. In the window that opens, in the Private section, click on Turn on network discovery and if available Turn on automatic setup of network connected devices.
Then enable File and printer sharing by clicking on Turn on file and printer sharing.
Click on Save changes.
Name Your Computers And Network
Then you probably want to name your computers and set a name for your network. It's a little more secure than using the default, WORKGROUP.
In the search type View advanced system settings and click on it in the menu , click on the Computer Name tab. Then the Change button. Type in a unique name to identify the computer and a Workgroup name. The Workgroup name must remain consistent on all of your computers for them to communicate with each other.
Click OK. Then Apply and OK again. You'll get a welcome to the group message and a prompt to restart. Restart your computer. Once restarted, congratulations, your network is set up. One more thing to do, share files and folders.
Sharing Files And Folders
You can share your entire hard drive but it's not recommended for security reasons. So here's how to share a file/folder. Right click on a folder.
In the menu that opens, click on Give access to and then Specific people...
In the Choose people to share with box, the first line next to the Add button is usually blank, click on it and select Everyone from the list And then click on Add. Everyone will appear in the box below it.
Next to it, you'll probably see the word Read. If you want people to be able to see the files but not change them, leave it on read. Otherwise click on the word Read to change it to Read/Write (this is always my choice). Or remove it all together. Then click on the Share button.
So finally you will get a Your folder is shared message. Click on Done.
Now when you go to File Explorer and click on your Network, you should be able to access the shared folders from your network.
Sharing A Printer
Go to the search bar and type Printers and scanners. Click on it when it appears on the menu list. Do this on the computer with the direct printer connection. Click on your printer as listed and click on Manage in the drop-down menu.
Then click on Printer properties. In the window that opens, click on the Sharing tab and select Share this printer. I also have Render print jobs on client computers checked. Then click on OK.
Now, go to another computer on your network and type Printers and scanners in the search, and click on it in the menu. You should then see the Add a printer or scanner option next to a square with a plus sign. Click on it. Wait a bit to see if it can pick it up. Also, make sure your printer is powered on at this point.
My printer is hooked up to my Asus directly, and I’m going to start by connecting up my Gateway desktop. On my Gateway, I clicked on the add printer option. It couldn’t find it. I got the message, The printer that I want isn’t listed. So I clicked on that line.
This opened up a box with different options to install your printer. I chose the Select a shared printer by name. Couldn’t find my printer with the browse button so I started typing in the IP address of my printer, my IP address for my Asus, in my case: \\192.168.0.4\. When I got to this point the auto-complete option dropped down with the full printer path, so I clicked on it: \\192.168.0.4\Canon MX490 series Printer, then Next.
It started looking for and installing the drivers. When finished, I clicked on next.
Then I got a You’ve successfully added Canon MX490 series Printer on 192.168.0.4 message. With the option to print a test page, which I did. And it worked. I clicked on Finish.
So now, I have to try to hook up one of my laptops and try this with the wireless. I went with the Acer Aspire 5315. It’s slow but it works.
So I ran the same procedures, going to printer and scanners, clicking on add printer, adding the IP address manually, but it came up with a unique error. Windows couldn’t connect to the printer. Operation failed with error 0x0000011b.
An online search suggested it was caused by a Microsoft update. I could try to hunt down the update and uninstall it but decided to just add the registry tweak.
Run this solution on all PCs in your network. I didn’t do this on my Gateway, if it ain’t broke… Open the registry editor by typing regedit in the search, and click on it in the menu. Proceed with caution, as always. Navigate in the Registry to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print, right-click on the right-hand side of the editor and click on New, DWORD (32-bit) Value and type RpcAuthnLevelPrivacyEnabled. Its default value is 0 so leave it at that. Restart your system.
Otherwise, create a text file with the following:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print]
“RpcAuthnLevelPrivacyEnabled”=dword:00000000
Save it with a reg extension. Then double-click to add it to the registry. Accept all prompts. Restart system.
I did this on both my Asus and my Acer laptop. Now when I tried to access the printer on my laptop it didn’t give that error message anymore but it did complain about not being able to find the drivers. Luckily, I had the CD that came with the printer and installed the drivers with no problem. And my laptop can now see my printer and it works. I successfully printed up the test page.
Now, two more laptops and one more desktop to go. Repeat these procedures for all computers that you want to be able to access your printer.
Troubleshooting
And yes, you will have trouble, this is Microsoft after all. :-) I still have problems with my network. Just a few days ago it completely vanished. My Gateway desktop comes and goes and until I figured it out, I couldn't print through any of my other computers on my network.
Read: davescomputertips.com/how-to-fix-network-error-in-windows
Reset your network: davescomputertips.com/how-to-reset-windows-10-network
Check to see that you have files/folders set to share by typing \\localhost in the top address bar in File Explorer.
Check that these services are running:
Type services in search, Right-click each of the following services, select Properties, if they're not running, select Start. You could also set the Startup type to Automatic or Manual. All of these services are set to manual on mine but are running:
Function Discovery Provider Host
Function Discovery Resource Publication (manual Triggered)
SSDP Discovery
UPnP Device Host
If you set Function Discovery Resource Publication to automatic you will probably end up with a new device listed – set to manual Triggered.
Read: davescomputertips.com/remove-microsoft-publication-service-device-host
Make sure SMB 1.0/CIFS File Sharing Support are installed.
Type Turn Windows features on or off in search. In the Windows Features box scroll down through the list and find SMB 1.0/CIFS File Sharing Support. There may be a small black square before the name, this means only certain components are installed. Click on the little plus sign before that. Make sure SMB 1.0/CIFS Client is checked. Some suggest also checking SMB 1.0/CIFS Server as well.
On mine only SMB 1.0/CIFS Client is installed and this doesn't seem to be a component of Windows 7 at all. Check boxes if needed, click OK. Wait until finished installing. Restart system.
That's basically how to set up a network. And a few hints when you have problems.