How to share HDD via LAN in Windows 10

randmin · 28 Jan 2018

Hello, I am trying to make all HDD's of one PC available to another, and vice versa. Both Computers are in the same WORKGROUP. I right-clicked the drive, select 'advanced sharing', enabled sharing and set permissions for "everybody" to "full access". Yet, when I try to connect from the other PC, it says "no permissions". Do I need to restart the PC's? (I did not try as there is service software running that we can't stop without a very good reason). Is there anything else to be aware of?
Additionally, I wonder if there is another good reason to map the drive to a letter besides the obvious (to get access over the letter/path), e.g. to make the connection a permanent one? I am not very into Windows Networks yet, so I am looking forward to your answers and wish you a nice sunday evening.
Best regards, randmin

bro67 · 28 Jan 2018

You would need a NAS box for the drive to be installed or spend the money on a unit that allows you to hotswap and share off of the network. Those are usually dog slow compared to a NAS.

Eagle51 · 28 Jan 2018

Hey randmin,
You're probably going to need to set both the Share & NTFS Permissions on the HDD to Everyone/Full Control or set the appropriate Share & NTFS Permissions for the necessary User.

IMO ... sharing the whole HDD is probably not a good idea. I'd only share the necessary folders ( ie. \Users\Username Folder) that you need access to.