Tips & Tools 🧰

If you are a small business owner or an individual and managing a team, sharing files via USB Flash Drives or Portable Hard Drives can be quite hectic, resource-intensive, and time-consuming. Thankfully, if you and your team share the same Local Area Network, you can set up a Shared Network Folder to easily share large files back and forth. Additionally, it does not require any third-party software installation. For best results, I recommend using an Ethernet cable, on the other hand, a stable Wi-Fi connection would do just fine.
Connect every computer to the same Local Area Network and follow these steps to share files and data with your team without moving USB Flash or Portable Hard Drives around.

Step 01: IP Address Lookup.

This is the most important step while setting up a Locally Shared Folder for your team to access. Look for a PC or a Computer that stays online most on the network. The most important term you will learn here is IP Address, which refers to Internet Protocol Address. An IP Address is unique to every device connected to a particular network. You can set up a Static IP Address for a specific device to make it accessible to all the other devices on the same network, but If you have network devices like a printer on the network that accesses the network via a Dynamic IP Address, this might at some point cause connection conflicts.
I recommend using Dynamic IP Addresses for all the devices on the network. I’ll be writing another post on how you can set up a Static IP Address for a device in the future.
You can access the current IP Address on the host device by opening Command Prompt (CMD), typing CMD in the search bar, and hitting enter.

Now type “ipconfig” and hit enter.

Look for the device that says “IPv4 Address”, in front, is your IP Address for the Host Device.

Step 02: Local User Accounts on Windows 10.

Now when IP Address is out of the way, the next step in the process is to set up the Local User Account for authentication purposes. Go to Settings and then Accounts.

From the panel on the left select “Family and Other Users”.

Now under Other Users, click “Add someone to this PC”.

If your organization has an official Microsoft Email Address, sign in with your official email on the next window.

If you want to create a generic user account with a password just to provide access to your teammates, click the “I don’t have this person sign-in information” link.

Then click the “Add a user without a Microsoft account” link.

On the next window create a username and make it secure by providing a password. Here, you are asked to answer three security questions to recover your account’s password just in case you forgot your password. Answer these questions and click the Next button.

Step 03: Turn on Network Discovery.

Now it’s time to make this Host PC discoverable by others on the network. Go to the Control Panel > The Network and Internet > Network and Sharing Center.

On the left side, click on the “Change Advanced Sharing Settings” link.

For Private Networks: Turn on Network Discovery and check the box below for Automatic Setup. Then turn on File and Printer Sharing.

For Guest or Public Networks: Turn on both Network Discovery and File and Printer Sharing.

Then, the next are general settings for Public Folder Sharing for All Networks: Turn on the Public Folder Sharing, 128-bit Encryption, and Password Protected Sharing. Click, Save Changes.

Step 04: Create a Shared Folder.

Now let’s set up a folder to be shared over the Local Area Network. Create a folder on the location where enough space is available.

Right-click and properties.

On the “Sharing” tab, under “Network File and Folder Sharing”, click the “Share” button to select the user account for whom you want to grant access to this folder.

From this drop-down menu select the user that we just created and click add.

Grant the permission: Read/write or just Read and then click the “Share” button.

Now click the “Advanced Sharing” button.

Check the checkbox that says “Share this Folder” then click Ok.

With this step, the setup on the Host PC is completed.

Step 05: Access Shared Folder.

To access a shared folder via Local Area Network, you need to repeat “Step 03: Turn on Network Discovery”, on the peer PC or device if not already turned on.
Then do a quick IP Address lookup, by following “Step 01: IP Address Lookup” on the Host PC or Computer.
Now, go to a peer PC or Computer, and open Windows Explorer by pressing Windows Key + E ( + E). Find your way to the Address Bar on the Windows Explorer window.

Type the current IP Address to access the Host PC or Computer in the Address Bar by adding 2 backslashes “\\” followed by the IP Address of the Host.

On the next window, enter the username and password for the user account we created in “Step 02: Local User Accounts on Windows 10”, then click Ok.

If you followed all the steps correctly, then a Shared Network Folder should be listed in front of you.

Author: Aamir Rizvi
Learn more about me here.

-----
Bonus Links:
- Do you like watching Graphic Design related tips & tools videos? Subscribe to my YouTube Channel.
- Custom Keyboard Shortcuts for Programs on Windows 10 PC.
- Branding & Logo Design Case Study: Fantom Works | Branding / Logo & Office Stationery Design.
- Learn new things & share your knowledge, with our community on Facebook, Discord & Telegram.