Sharing print and file services

Sharing print and file services

After a PC is configured as a part of a network, the user can grant other users on the network access to folders, files, or devices on the PC. Some minor dangers exist in sharing files, such as unknowingly sharing a virus across the network or others using your disk to save large files that would fill up their disk. However, this is an excellent way to avoid printing or copying files onto a disk in order to share a file or to share the wealth of that nifty new color laser printer you bought for yourself.

To set up file and printer sharing on a PC, follow these steps:

1. Double-click the Networks icon on the Control Panel.

2. Click the File and Printer Sharing button.

3. Select (place a check in the box) the option or both options you wish to enable. Your choices are "I want to be able to give others access to my files" and "I want to be able to allow others to print on my printer(s)." Notice the careful wording in these options. Just because you enable the options doesn't mean that all of your files and printers are immediately available to the world. You still need to grant permission and set up passwords.

4. Click OK a couple of times to close the boxes and restart the PC.

Sharing files

At this point, the File and Printer Sharing services are loaded, but nothing is really shared.

To share files with other users on the network, use the following steps:

1. From the Windows Explorer, right-click any folder. Only folders can be shared. So, if you don't want to share all of the files in a folder, you'd better move the files you don't want to share to an unshared folder. Choose Sharing and complete the level of sharing and security you want for this folder. You may assign a password to read-only or to full-access levels of sharing.

2. Any share you create will appear on the Network Neighborhood under the PC's Computer Name, which is the name specified on the Identification tab of the Network properties window (the one opened from the Network icon on the Control Panel). If you want a more descriptive name, change it.

Sharing a printer

Here are the steps used to share a printer:

1. Open the Printers folder from either the Setting menu or the Control Panel.

2. Right-click the printer to be shared and choose Properties to display the properties window for the printer. Choose the Sharing tab.

3. On the Sharing tab, enter the share name of the printer and a password if you want to control who has access to the printer. Click OK.

4. The printer will not appear on the Network Neighborhood under the PC's name.

Instant Answer If you click the Network Neighborhood icon and no PCs are shown, check to see that you have enabled printer and file sharing and that other PCs on the network have also set up resources to be shared.