Sharing on "Public" Network in Windows 10 Pro?

Is it indeed possible to share files over a "public" network among computers in the same workgroup? If so, are there special tricks to pull this off?

I have been advised elsewhere that, "[Microsoft] have broken networking in Windows 10" and that, "if you choose a Public network then [Windows 10] will block all attempts to connect even for file sharing." Nevertheless your very comprehensive discussion of file sharing at

Share Files and Folders Over a Network in Windows 10

describes sharing "files and folders on your computer with other users over a private or public network in your workgroup or domain [emphasis mine]."

Background: I have a small home/office LAN soon to serve three latest-version Win10 computers. Although it's behind a router with a hardware firewall, there are computers on the LAN (specifically my wife's) that I don't control so don't fully trust. Under Win7 I used to declare the network public on two workgroup computers and was able to share files in spite of that. I remember that I had to provide specific network addresses and assign virtual drive letters to do so. I'd like to do the same with Win10, but I'm not sure it's still possible. (Disclaimer: I have not read through all the material here, so I hope this question has not already been answered!) -- JCW2

Welcome to the forum. You should set all pcs to private the definition of private is it uses an ip range that cant be transmitted on the internet ie 192.168.1.1 a public one uses a live on the internet ip range. Nothing can access anything on 192 unless it has ports forwarded

Samuria said:

...You should set all pcs to private the definition of private is it uses an ip range that cant be transmitted on the internet...

Thanks, Samuria, for your welcome and quick reply -- (I didn't get an email notification for some reason that I'll have to track down...)

Are you saying that I must designate the LAN as private in order to share (as stated in my OP, I didn't have to do this in Win7 Pro), or that it's better somehow to do so?

Given that I don't trust all the computers on the LAN, I'm likely to keep it "public" for safety. Does this absolutely prevent file sharing, or are there tricks to get around that? -- JCW2