Sharing files on a network

What is file sharing?

File-sharing is the activity of making files available to other users over the network. File-sharing allows the computer users from the network to use the same files (to read, view, write or modify, copy, or print them).

What is file sharing good for?

Commonly performed on computer networks, the File sharing is an easy and quick way to transmit data.

How to Share Files on a network?

Do you want to share some of your files across a local network? Either you want to share individual files, an entire folder or even an entire Windows device you will have to follow the next steps; it is simple like ABC’s and will take you less than one minute.

1.    The first thing you have to do is to ensure that Windows XP Simple File Sharing is enabled. (see How to Enable/Disable Simple File Sharing in Windows XP)

2.    Open Windows Explorer (or My Computer), locate the file, folder or drive folder you want to share and select it – click once on its icon Note: Microsoft Windows does not allow for a single file to be shared, it must be the directory or drive that the file is within.

3.    Choose “Share this Folder” option from the File menu or right-click on the specific folder and choose the "Sharing and Security…" option. A new Properties window will be displayed.

Note: If this option did not appear on the menu, ensure that a valid file or folder was selected in the previous step.

4.    In the Network tab, click the Share This Folder option in order to enable sharing of this resource.

Note: this allows all other computers on the local network only to access the file, but not to modify them. If you want to give others permission to modify these files, check the "Allow Network Users to Change My Files" box.