So I've been sharing files over LAN since Win 98, and my feeling is that it's still just as complicated as back then. A year ago I've given HomeGroup a chance and was pleasantly surprised. Most of the time I have to transfer stuff from Desktop (from now on D) to Laptop (called L) or vice versa, and that stuff is usually either in Documents or Downloads. The setup was minimal, no need to know account names, and the shared stuff in L won't be shared with random people.
But now they have removed it from Windows 10 and it took me half an hour to share one directory in D, because neither network discoverability nor SMB connection worked, as the windows services and features needed for them to work were disabled for some reason.
So are there any third party alternatives to the convenience of HomeGroup? The ones I've considered so far:
Dropbox/OneDrive/Any Cloud That Requires Internet: I really don't want to use anything that sends my shit to somewhere on the Internet or requires an account when I just want to pass my files form D to L and they are both on the same network.
The Old Windows Way: Yeah, it works, but it's not as handy. If I want to share stuff with a second laptop (L2) I have to either go to my shared dirs and give permissions to L2\\homegroupfag or just share it with "everyone". But sharing it with everyone means that if I one day I connect it at work (say D is also a laptop) then everyone will be able to see my shit. So it's like a trade off between privacy and convenience.
BitTorrent Sync: It's cool but it synchronizes your shit automatically, while I want to choose what to copy and when.
USB/Bluetooth/Floppy: Kek.
Use linux you retard (even tho it doesn't solve the problem): I do use it for my work stuff, but I still need windows at home for vidya and sometimes MS Office.
So what are your suggestions Jow Forums? Am I the only one frustrated with the deprecation of HomeGroup?
Even if you click share with everyone, they still need a username/password.. So actually nobody will be able to see your files.
Grayson Sanchez
Literally just right click a folder, Properties > Sharing > Advanced Sharing and enable "Share this folder", then add the correct account. You'll see a path like \\DESKTOPNAME\Shared Folder\. Open this PC on your laptop, right click under network and click "Add network location" and type that path in, done. You maybe have to log in using your account credentials of the desktop but you can save them.
Jace Morales
>"Share this folder", then add the correct account. What if I want to share it with my Android phone, which has no account? And fuck passwords, I don't want that.
Josiah Cooper
Share a folder and give "Everyone" R/W rights to it. Make sure the folder itself has "Everyone" listed with R/W access. Now anyone, even blank password accounts, can access and write to that folder. So make damn sure you don't put stuff in that folder you don't want others to see.
Parker Johnson
You also will need to "turn off password sharing" Do this via the following; Control Panel\Network and Internet\Network and Sharing Center\Advanced sharing settings
Least that's the way to it under Win 7; Ten should be similar
Joshua Flores
>And fuck passwords, I don't want that. I think it is so kind of you to share your hentai collection with everyone on your LAN and on your wi-fi.
Joseph Williams
You're sure stupid. You right click a folder go to properties & share then click share & done. You just need to have a password or won't work
Evan Harris
Account as in local user. If your Android phone can do SMB, then there's no problems. I wouldn't recommend making folders accessible without authentication because that's opening up yourself for trouble.
Josiah Bennett
Use syncthing
Christian Foster
>syncthing Why not use FTP then? At least for LAN use, are there any advantages?
Jordan Morales
For LAN ONLY no advantage, there's many differences Both take equal time to setup in lan. Outside syncthing is far easier, more secure, faster, etc Inside lan you require 1 computer to have all the data for your ftp. But syncing would require all of the machines to have the same data locally
So it's basically just your preference. I'd use SMB and map the network drive to your computer and use a password once & save it. Ftp is the worst thing to use for every reason
Christopher Bennett
OP here, just got back. Isn't syncthing automatically syncing all your shit? I'm looking for something more like a convenient way of sharing something like the entire Documents directory, to pull stuff like saved games or pictures whenever I need them on another computer, but not everything.
And to all the others, I think I made it clear that I already know how file sharing works in Windows. What bothers me is the incovenience of having to choose between just sharing with "Everyone" (so Documents is exposed when I connect somewhere else) and managing accounts and passwords (imagine I have a friend over and we don't like sharing passwords). Besides, lately it works like shit.
Jace Garcia
>so Documents is exposed when I connect somewhere else
Except they aren't... Even if you connect to another network nobody can see your files unless they have your PC's password. Maybe you're thinking of public folders which exposes files in those folders to everyone, but those are disabled by default i believe
Cameron Green
You make a syncthing folder with nothing on as many computers as you want. Drag & drop whatever you want from any computer into the folder All computers have that file
Juan Rogers
Also it works in any device, any operating system, any network, any lan or Internet or different house. No extra config. Just add your ID to each computer & done
Brody Gray
>What bothers me is the incovenience of having to choose between just sharing with "Everyone" (so Documents is exposed when I connect somewhere else) and managing accounts and passwords (imagine I have a friend over and we don't like sharing passwords).
There's a difference between 'private' and 'public' networks/profiles, look it up. They can have different sharing options.
Other than that, how is Windows supposed to know if a PC is your friend or some random person at work?
Thomas Evans
Yeah, it's the fact that I still have to drag and drop in the source that bothers me. What if my wife is currently working or playing on that desktop? With HomeGroup I could just quietly pull the saves games from the Documents there and not bother anyone, nor getting my ass up.
I know the difference, enough to not to trust that Windows will classify everything as public by default, and that I or whoever uses the laptop will have enough dilligence to check it every time.
>how is Windows supposed to know if a PC is your friend That's how HomeGroup worked, look it up. You shared a one time code whenever you wanted to connect your friend's pc and it stayed linked to the account on their pc, without the need to know their account name beforehand or for them to know any of your passwords. All I want is a third party alternative for that kind of convenience, but I guess I'll have to cook it myself.
Angel Hall
Just add a new user to your computer you want to share the stuff from. Then share the folders you want to share from properties > Sharing > Advanced Sharing. Then save the credentials on the computers you want to be able to connect it from. And give those credentials to people you want to be able to connect to too. It's literally the same as homegroup then.
Robert Flores
Perhaps FTP with a password that stays remembered? Don't know how Explorer manages this, but Total Commander could work.
Kevin Taylor
>Just add a new user to your computer you want to share the stuff from. Not OP, but does that mean a new Windows account and you share that account password?
Isaiah Baker
I never said I can't achieve the same kind of security, I'm just saying it's not as convenient. I used to think HomeGroup was a useless feature for dumb people until I've actually tried it a year ago...
Hahaha yeah I'm almost desperate enough for FTP, and I already use Total Commander everywhere. The main thing against FTP is it's server/client model instead of a decentralized ad-hoc one, more suitable for sharing stuff anywhere.
Jeremiah Cruz
check out 'nitroshare' eases the absolute asspain that is filesharing between windows and linucks
Joshua Wright
Thanks, will take a look!
It may sound a bit philosophical but I can't get this question out of my head now: should file sharing even be linked to a network policy? Because there are ways for known parties to communicate privately over an insecure network, and on the other hand being in a "secure" one doesn't mean you want to share with everyone there. Isn't Windows overcomplicating it when we just want to avoid sharing with strangers?
Kevin Fisher
8.1 still has homegroup
Alexander Rivera
And it also features a friendly reminder that you should "upgrade" or your family will permanently die.
Landon Evans
no it doesn't. if you downgrade to 8.1 there is no mention of windows 10 at all.
t. downgraded to 8.1 and felt like i bought a new cpu
John Taylor
Yes.
Luis Hughes
That sounds kinda lame/overkill then. Also because I have some ptsd from multiple accounts bugs in Windows...
It should definitely be simpler. Share a folder, give it an access password and done.
William Bell
If you want to access the entire fucking computer just use SSH.... Either way you need a password
Juan Collins
Although I just saw a guide and it said you should add "Distributed COM Users" instead of a Standard User account. Maybe that works better, with less overhead.
