The Windows 8 ribbon-based
Windows Explorer has certainly changed the way of organizing files and folders, as one can easily find all the basic and advance
file management options without having to search through
Organize and Windows Explorer
right-click context menus. Apart from ribbon-based Explorer and extra
tools to manage files and folders within a directory, Windows 8 comes
with simple, yet more
secure file sharing feature, allowing users to share files
and folders with users on public network, as well as Homegroup and Work
network groups. Just like previous Windows versions, including Windows 7
and Windows Vista, you can easily establish connection with PCs running
Windows 8, and start transferring data without having to manually set IP
addresses. Since Windows 8 File Sharing feature is an improved version
of Window 7 Sharing, it includes some additional file sharing parameters
to make shared files secure from external attacks. In this post, we
will guide you through the process of sharing
Users and
System folders across the network, so that you can easily transfer files to network PCs, and share your system folders with Homegroup users.
The process of sharing files across the
network in Windows 8 is similar to Windows 7. The only difference that
you will notice while connecting your PC to network is that Windows 8
doesn’t prompt you to create or join Homegroup/Work network group.
Therefore in order to share system files and folders on the network, you
have to first create a network group, and then allow
share object (like
HomeGroupUser$) to access shared files and folders.
Before you begin sharing files and folders, make sure that you’re
logged in to Windows as Administrator, and PCs connected on a network
are on a same workgroup. To view the workgroup, open Computer Properties
dialog and check PC’s workgroup from
Computer name, domain and workgroup settings section.
Share Folders From ‘Users Profile’ Locations & Local Drives
If you want to quickly share a folder residing in local drives or User Profile folders, open
Properties dialog from right-click context menu, and then head over to
Sharing tab. From
Network File and Folder Sharing section, click Share to open
File Sharing dialog. Now, select
Everyone from drop-down menu, and click
Add.
This will add
Everyone group in File Sharing list, and allow you to change folder access permission. Using
Read pull-down menu, you can give read and write permissions to users, and remove
Everyone group from the File Sharing list.
Once done, click
Share to share the folder on the network. It will open a separate dialog, allowing you to email and copy the shared folder link.
Now, you can access the shared folder from any PC connected on the network.
Share Folders from System Wide Locations
It’s worth mentioning here that Windows 8 require you to change
folder permissions in order to share system folders. You will notice that
Share option in File Properties –> Sharing tab is disabled for system folders; you can only use
Advanced Sharing
option to share system folder with Homegroup users. It’s advisable to
join a Homegroup (or other network group) before start sharing system
folders. For this, right-click network icon in Windows 8 system tray,
and select
Open Network and Sharing Center.
From left sidebar, click HomeGroup followed by Join now. it will open
Join a Homegroup wizard, asking you to specify types of files that you
want to share with Homegroup users.
Once you’ve specified the types of files, enter the Homegroup
password (accessible from PC where Homegroup was created) to connect
your PC to Homegroup network group.
Once you’re connected to Homegroup users, it shows all the shared libraries, devices and
file types.
Now, right-click the system folder you want to share with others, and from
Share with menu, select
Advanced sharing.
It will take you directly to
Sharing tab to customize the sharing permissions. Now, click Advance Sharing.
First off, enable
Share this folder from top-left corner of dialog box, and then click
Permissions.
Upon click, it will open
Permissions window, allowing you configure file access permissions for existing groups and users, and to include required Users/Groups to
file access
permission list. Since we need to set file access permission for
HomegroupUser$ object, so that users who belong to Homegroup network
group can access the files and folders. To begin, click Add.
This will open
Select User or Groups dialog. Here, you need
to enter the object name(s) that you want to add to permission list. In
order to easily include the homegroup user object name, click Advanced.
It will open Advanced view for selecting
Users or Groups. Click
Find Now, and then select
HomeGroupUser$ from search results. Once done, click OK.
This will add
HomeGroupUser object to
Select Users Or Groups window. Now, click OK.
Upon click, it will add the HomeGroupUser object to File Permission
list, allowing you to configure file access permission. Just select the
HomeGroupUser group, and enable
Full Control checkbox from
Allow column, present in
Permission for HomeGroupUsers$ section.
Once done, click Apply followed by OK. It will take you to
Advanced Sharing
dialog. Clicking OK will share the system folder across the network.
You may need to reboot the PC to let Homegroup users access shared
system folder.
If you get ‘Windows cannot access the <shared folder name>’’
message while accessing the shared system folder from a remote location,
make sure that
Network Discovery and
File Sharing options are enabled in
Advanced Sharing (accessible from Network and Sharing Center).
If all else fails, try taking ownership of system folder by following the steps mentioned here, and then share the system folder to access it over the network.
![sshot-2010-09-03-[00-08-28]](http://www.howtogeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/sshot20100903000828.png "sshot-2010-09-03-[00-08-28]")
