What's wrong with Nearby Sharing?

I have two PC's that were recently upgraded to Windows 10. I was sad to discover that Homegroups are no longer supported by Windows 10, since Homegroups are so easy to use. So now I am trying to use Nearby Sharing to send files from one PC to the other.

The two PC's are in the same room, about five feet apart. Both are on the same WiFi network and both have Bluetooth turned on. When I "Share" a file from one PC, a popup informs me that it is "looking for nearby devices." After 10-20 seconds it says "Make sure the other device has nearby sharing turned on in the action center." Sometimes it takes up to five minutes before the other device is discovered. Then I am able to send the file. But most of the time, the popup disappears and nothing more is heard. If I retry several times, I sometimes get it to work. But I'll end up wasting ten minutes to copy a file from one machine to another. It's easier to put it on a thumb drive and walk across the room.

Any idea why nearby sharing would be so undependable?

Blue tooth has often been flakey when you make it discoverable it often only stay active for a short time to reduce risk you have to be quick searching for it. Make sure there is nothing else close like phones TVs

Samuria said:

Blue tooth has often been flakey when you make it discoverable it often only stay active for a short time to reduce risk you have to be quick searching for it. Make sure there is nothing else close like phones TVs

Nowhere in the Nearby Sharing instructions does it say that the two PC's need to be "paired" but I paired them anyway. Nearby sharing still times out looking for nearby devices.

To rule out Bluetooth problems, I moved one of the PC's far away, hoping this would force sharing to use WiFi. Same result as before.

Bluetooth is an abortion.
Use a proper network, as bro67 suggests.

margrave55 said:

Bluetooth is an abortion.
Use a proper network, as bro67 suggests.

I can't see any way to tell Nearby Sharing what kind of network to use (Bluetooth or WiFi). And I just can't turn BT off because I use a BT mouse.

perkinw said:

I can't see any way to tell Nearby Sharing what kind of network to use....

You don't, you set up network sharing as in this tutorial.

Share Files and Folders Over a Network in Windows 10

thomaseg1 said:

go to settings/devices/bluetooth and remove all devices except your mouse.
on the right click the "more bluetooth options" and check all 3 boxes.
go to networking settings and set your file and printer sharing settings.
do this on all your computers.
Attachment 234843

Thanks! I will try it and report back if this fixes the problem with Nearby Sharing.