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.
