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OK, so my wife and I are looking forward to my retirement in just over a year. We are already having computer sharing issues evenings and weekends. When I retire, this will only compound so while we can still afford it, we decided to get a laptop. Something I never envisioned I'd ever need. Wanting to get something that wouldn't be obsolete by the time I retire, I decided to go big.
I bought a Lenovo Ideapad 700. a 17 inch screen and a nearly normal keyboard. It has a windows 10 operating system just like my desktop computer. I've spent an evening (Friday) and a morning and half an afternoon (Saturday) trying to network them together to get file sharing.
I've tried to activate remote desktop, simple homegroup and actual network. I'm getting seriously frustrated. I can get my laptop to see the desktop, but it won't respond to any attempt to connect with it. One of the problems may be that the laptop shows its network to be the name of the router and the desktop shows its network to be network 5. I have no idea where the name network 5 came from. I can't find any way to access it from my laptop and no way to access the other network from my desktop.
All I really want to do is access my writing efforts on the desktop from my laptop. Is that too much to ask?
Windows 10 help is spotty. I can't seem to even find a question on any forums that match my problem. Has anyone here come across anything like it?
Comments
It might be easier to get a large thumb drive
and use the sneaker net option. I can get a 8Gig thumb drive from Micro Center for under $4. Their larger sizes are also very economical.
You also wind up with backups as a bonus.
cloud storage.
Use cloud storage for your files. then you can access them on both computers no problem. The thumb drive is a good idea as well. that was my first thought.
Jessica Marie
P.S. I'm dying for a new Laptop. I am so jealous.
cloud storage
like microsoft one drive
or dropbox
or google drive
I actually use dropbox, it's free, secure and you can access the files even on a different computer just by going to the website and logging in
Stupidity is a capital offense. A summary not indictable.
Window 10 version
I have a notebook computer and a desktop machine. To share files between them I set up shared folders on each machines and then put shortcuts to them on the desktops. Right click on the folder you want to share/access click properties. On the sharing tab, pick advanced sharing and give it a share-name. Off the top of my head I don't remember if I had to set the security to everyone for access or not (I'm sick at the moment so brain is mushy).
Remote Desktop requires Windows 10 Pro on at least one of the machines if they are both Home version it won't work. Then it will only work in one direction.
Best I can do tonight with mush brain :)
{{Hugs}}
Frank
P.S. I do share my documents folder on OneDrive so both machines have the same files and I can get at them online if i want.
How are they connected?
How are they connected physically* to each other? What plugs in to what? They need a common network point to connect. And that component in combination with the software & settings controls the interactions.
*Yes the Laptop's connection is the WiFi Router.
Assume for arguments sake that the router's antenna is the physical connection to laptop.(yes that is an over simplification)
~Hypatia >i<
(--edit--)
PS.
*Yes points above (to post that was made while I made this one)*
Did You set up any folders to share? You can't share if there is nothing set to share.
Connection
They are connected through my router. At first the laptop was connected through WiFi, but when I had trouble with them showing up on different networks, I switched the laptop to a wired connection. The strange thing is that my desktop shows as being connected to "Network 5" while my laptop shows as being connected to a network with my router name.
Last night, I thought I was getting somewhere when I went in on the desktop to take another shot at setting up a common home group and as I opened the home group tab the computer reported seeing another home group on my network, and asked if I wanted to join it. I got the password and entered it and as it was connecting, it informed me that it no longer could detect the home group.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Sharing files on each computer
What you probably have not done yet is set up the permission on the desktop so that the laptop can access the files. Also it sounds like the desktop and laptop may not be in the same work group or subnet (hard to say without knowing the settings you have on each).
Although all the above suggestions are very good ones, possibly better solutions than what you are trying. Since backups are quite well the most important thing a writer can have.
Personally I have my writing software on my laptop and my desktop, then all my files are kept on a portable drive that I can plug into either one. Every 10-20k chunk of words get backed up on another drive and onto google drive both.
The one thing I would not recommend is using thumb drives as the main storage of your files as they do tend to die without warning and while losing a couple chapters may not be that painful, think about losing 2 or 3 novel length stories.
We the willing, led by the unsure. Have been doing so much with so little for so long,
We are now qualified to do anything with nothing.
Ergh. There are so many
Ergh. There are so many different things I could say that I'm not going to say many of them at all, at least not here.
Here's my quick suggestion on how to get things functional.
First, if you're stuck with Windows 10, I'm sorry. It's a stable OS, but there's a LOT of work to do to it to make it work well. The first thing to do, in my opinion, is not related to sharing. Go to www.ninite.com and select the programs you want to install, but absolutely get 'Classic Start'. That'll make it easier to get into the control panel, plus programs.
Second, you need to decide which machine will be the 'server'. Despite all the FUD put forth by Microsoft, Dell, IBM, and so forth, the only true difference between a 'server' and a 'workstation' is which way the files talk. (Yes, purpose built servers are heavier duty, but at their core, they're the same hardware).
On the server, go into the control panel, and look for the sharing center. (you can type 'sharing' into the search field). You'll need to set up a HomeGroup. (I'm not going to get into the nuts and bolts of that. It's all over 'Teh Intarwebs'). Then go to the 'workstation' and set up the same HomeGroup. That's the start.
Next, share the 'public documents' on the 'server' to the 'workstation' (Again, you can find easy to use instructions online. I'm simply telling you what you need to use as the search.)
On the workstation, make sure you can reach the 'server's' shared public documents.
That's the simplest method with two PC's.
The even simpler method is to buy a NAS device that you can put on a shelf and leave running, with a flash drive or something to use for regular backups plugged into the back. That way you don't have to worry about either machine being on at any particular time. Some NAS boxes are even set up that you can copy your music and videos onto them and stream to a device. Just make sure you have backups :)
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.