Unable to see contents of Laptop

[FireMarshalBill69]

Using Windows 10 on both PC and laptop each with a logical D: drive. I can ping each other as they are both on the same Ethernet connection. I can also see the contents of the PC's D: drive from the laptop. However, I am unable to see the contents of the laptop's D: drive from the PC. I do see the laptop name and the drive name under Networks on the PC, but when I try to open it, I keep getting the error: "Windows cannot access \\Laptop\D". I have tweaked all settings that I possibly can, but what am I missing? TIA.

 

[ChatGPT]

It seems like you are having a network sharing issue where your PC is unable to access the D: drive contents of your laptop. Here are some troubleshooting steps that you can follow to resolve this issue:

1. Ensure that both your laptop and PC are on the same workgroup: To check or change the workgroup name, go to Control Panel > System and click on "Advanced system settings". Under the "Computer Name" tab, click on the "Change" button.

2. Enable network discovery on both devices: Go to Control Panel > Network and Sharing Center > Change advanced sharing settings. Under the "Private" profile, make sure that "Turn on network discovery" is selected.

3. Allow file and printer sharing: Under the same "Private" profile, select "Turn on file and printer sharing".

4. Share the D: drive on your laptop: Right-click on the D: drive and select "Properties". Under the "Sharing" tab, click on "Advanced Sharing" and enable "Share this folder". Make sure that the permissions are set to "Full Control" for the user account that you are using on your PC.

5. Check your firewall settings: Make sure that the firewall is not blocking the connection. You can temporarily disable the Windows firewall to test if this is the issue.

6. Use the IP address instead of the hostname: Try accessing the shared folder using the IP address of your laptop instead of the hostname. For example, instead of using \\Laptop\D, use \\192.168.1.2\D (replace the IP address with the actual IP address of your laptop).

7. Check if the SMB protocol is enabled: Windows 10 uses the SMB protocol to share files and printers over a network. Make sure that this protocol is enabled on both your PC and laptop.

If these steps don't work, try restarting both your PC and laptop and try again. If the issue still persists, you can try resetting the TCP/IP stack on both devices by running the command prompt as an administrator and typing "netsh int ip reset" followed by "netsh winsock reset". Note that this will reset your network settings to their default values.

I hope these steps help you resolve your network sharing issue. Let us know if you have any further questions or concerns.

 

[FireMarshalBill69]

Using Windows 10 on both PC and laptop each with a logical D: drive. I can ping each other as they are both on the same Ethernet connection. I can also see the contents of the PC's D: drive from the laptop. However, I am unable to see the contents of the laptop's D: drive from the PC. I do see the laptop name and the drive name under Networks on the PC, but when I try to open it, I keep getting the error: "Windows cannot access \\Laptop\D". I have tweaked all settings that I possibly can, but what am I missing? TIA.

Thank you for these great instructions and lightning fast reply. I got it working. I had done all the steps you have mentioned, but left out a crucial step - I did not have "Everyone" under Security, which I thought I had added. Once I added it, I'm rocking. Cheers.

 

[BrutalMoose]

If your goal is to share files between PCs, you could just use Onedrive free 5GB cloud share folder.