Ideal Setup For Shared Folders??

[Ares]

Ok i need some advice here.

What is the ideal setup config that i should use for my lan network? I've got 2 pc's running win2k pro and another running xp pro. All computers are networked (through a router). What i'd like advice on, is the most ideal, yet still somewhat secure, way of having the SHAREFOLDERS setup on the computers.

I'm new to the whole networking thing, so i'm learning as i go. Some friendly advice from those more knowledgable would be great. Here's what i need to be capable of doing on the Lan. It's pretty simple (atleast right now it is).

I'd like to have a folder set up on my computer that can be accessed by the other computers. I'd like the other computers to be able to retrieve files (copy them to their own hd's) and edit the files in my share if they need to (like if there's a word doc or txt file, etc.). If there's anything i want to share with those computers i'd simply drop my item in the sharedfolder and thats it. I'd like each computer to have a folder like this, so that we all can do that. Also, i'd like to be able to put a file in the other computers whenever i need to.

So, what is the best most ideal way to go about doing this? What are some things i should keep in mind? Any advice or help is appreciated greatly. Should i have it setup so that you have to log in with a password, etc.? What are the different ways i could go about setting up these folders?

 

[chesman]

first of all, is this private at home? if so, privacy is not a great big thing to worry aobut.

here is how you will make a share on each of the computers so that the toher two has access.

ok, i will call the computers win2k1, win2k2, and winxp.

ok ,first of all, this is the same forall the computers, so i will tell you once.

we will use win2k1 in the example.

on win2k1 create a folder to act as the share. place this wherever you want, i prefer right on C:, but thats jsut me, you can have it in My Documents or wherever, this does not mater.

once you have it created, you are going to right click it, and select propeties from the drop down box. once the properties sheet is open slecet the shareing tab.

in the sharing options, click the radial button that says 'Share This Folder' once activated, type in a proper name for the share and click ok. Now it is open for anyone to grab on the network.

ok, now on wink2k2 and winxp, right click My Computer' and select 'map network drive' from the drop down menu.

in this screen, you will see a few things. hre are the stepst o conect to that share on win2k1:
1: select a drive leter. prefferably one above f:
2: type in the name of the share (if you know if) it would go like this \\name of the win2k1\share name

once this is done, make sure you click the 'recooncet on logon' button, so that the shareis always there.

then click ok, and.....


your done

so repeat this for the other computers and you are set.


Ches
Have a great day

 

[Ares]

Well here's how its been setup. Each computer has a specific shared folder in c. It's C:\Shared. I right clicked on them and made them a shared folder. The only thing i didn't do was "map network drive" on each of the computers. What does this do?

Each computer is set up with login names, as well. I think the security settings are too high or something because sometimes from the other win2k pc i cannot get into the folder without typing the login name of one of the users. For instance, i cannot get into the other win2k pc without typing the administrator login and password from my pc. Additionally, when the other computer accessed my pc's shared folder last night, the files inside it could not be saved onto that pc. They could only be viewed but not retrieved/transfered. I'm going to mess around with this today and see if i can get it set better.

 

[HoLoCroN]

When you "map a network drive" you basically assign a drive letter on your computer to the shared resource in the network.

For example. lets say you want to map the C:\share on your WinXP machine, when you map the drive (And enter the correct share name/location \\WinXP\Share) You will have that share available as a drive letter, lets say your E:\ (This could change).

The computer assigns a drive letter to that share for future uses (You dont have to always type in the path).



In my case, I have my server and a few workstations. Win2k Sever, WinXP Pro Workstations (WinXP Home CANT be setup as part of a Domain).

I have the C:\ mapped on my server to all of the workstations on my domain. (Actually its C$ - $ means it is a hidden share, ALL MS Windows OS (Except Win9x) have the C:\ shared by default using the C$ share )

It makes it easy for me to back up data whenever I need to.

 

[Ares]

So, it assigns a drive letter to the other computer's C drive and it works like a tree? Is that how it is?

I guess i'll have to do that to all the pc's here. Right now i've got major issues. I read through the lousy windows help files and they were no help to me. All i ended up doing was screwing up all the permissions and security settings for my shared folder on my machine. Now i can't even access them through administrator which is pretty rediculous.

I've got a simple task, all i want is to share a folder on each computer without having to login each and every time and without having to manually change the permissions/security every single time i throw a file in there to be shared. Instead, i'm getting no where at all.

 

[Ares]

This is a total joke. Now i can't even rename or modify my own files that are sitting in the shared folder. I'm logged in as admin and the file permissions are blank. I clicked the button on the folders permissions/security to reset all the files inside it, so that they'd all be the same (so i thought). All it did was screw everything up now and i'm going to have to delete the whole folder and everything in it. How can something so simple be so difficult to achieve. All it is is a shared folder. Give me a break!

 

[Ares]

I'm sitting in the chatroom if anyone wants to help me figure out how to fix any of this. I'm at a total loss right now just staring at my shared folder dumbfoundedly.