Can't get two ethernet networked computers to communicate

I'm not sure why my posts are not showing up - I posted the message below about 12 hours ago, but now I find it's gone. Here it is again, slightly updated:

Thanks, everyone, for your helpful suggestions!

SoFine409: Brink's instructions look horrendously complex. However I see under C:\users both my original account and the new account. I wonder if copying the files in the original account over to and replacing those in the new account is worth trying? (After, of course, backing up the C: drive)

PiKo: Your link got me halfway there! I turned off Password Protected Sharing on my laptop. (It was already off on my desktop.) That did away with the Credentials problem, and I can now get to files on the desktop from the laptop. However I still am denied "permission" to access laptop files from the desktop.

signus21: I did have "Allow remote connections to this computer" enabled on both computers, so that wasn't the cause.

Try3: I'm not sure I understand. I've reverted to my original account, though the newly-created user account still exists on both computers. However with the original account, I'm still denied permission (see my response to PiKo above).

I've since found that when signed in to my desktop as the new guest user I created, I can access my laptop regardless of whether I'm signed in to the laptop as the new guest user or as the original administrator user. However when signed in to my desktop as the original administrator user I can't access the laptop, no matter what its user. I think I'm right in concluding that the problem must lie with the desktop, not the laptop.

BOTTOM LINE: What setting do I need to change on my desktop's administrator user profile so that I don't get the "permission is denied" error message when I try to access another computer on my home network. Whatever that setting is, it seems to be set correctly on the laptop, but not on the desktop.

BOTTOM LINE: What setting do I need to change on my desktop's administrator user profile so that I don't get the "permission is denied" error message when I try to access another computer on my home network. Whatever that setting is, it seems to be set correctly on the laptop, but not on the desktop.


Are you using the same password for the Administrator account on ALL PCs?

Hi Try3,

I certainly agree that the thread is becoming difficult to follow and I appreciate your slogging through it. You may have identified one problem.

When I go Control Panel > User Accounts on either computer it says:

{Name1}
Local Account
Administrator
Password Protected

where {Name1} is the account name. (The same thing is displayed when I go to Settings > Accounts, except that the Password Protected line isn't shown.)

When I do as you suggest and at the command prompt type "net user" on either computer it responds with:

User accounts for \\DESKTOP [or \\LAPTOP]
Administrator.......{Name2}........{Name3}
DefaultAccount.....Guest.............WDAGUtilityAccount

{Name3} is the new user account I set up, which does allow both computers to share files (but which loses all the customization I have made).

When I moved from Win7 to Win10 some time ago, I was forced (for reasons that escape me now) to name my account {Name2} rather than {Name1}.

Why are there two different names ({Name1} and {Name2}) for what I thought was the same account, depending upon whether I display the information via Control Panel or Command Prompt?

The two different names add unwanted confusion, and I'd certainly like to merge them. However the situation is the same on both computers, yet I can access network files from the laptop but not from the desktop.

To answer your specific questions:

(1) I created the new {Name3} account by going to "Settings > Family & other users > Add someone else to this PC", then declining to open a Microsoft account and creating a local account instead.

(2) I'm quite sure I set the checkbox for remember credentials.

(3) The new {Name3} account exists on both computers and has the same password. The same is true for the {Name1}/{Name2} account, except for the duplicate name confusion.

(4) I agree - I want to stay with the original account with all its customization.

(5) To reduce the difficulty of following this long series of exchanges, I'll once again state the problem as I see it now:

Having set up a new administrator user account (see (1) above) I can access the other networked computer's files from either my desktop or my laptop.

With my original administrator account which may be named either {Name1} or {Name2} (see above), I can access the desktop computer from the laptop, but not v.v.

- - - Updated - - -

xaccell: Yes, I'm using the same password on both PCs.

(3) The new {Name3} account exists on both computers and has the same password. The same is true for the {Name1}/{Name2} account, except for the duplicate name confusion.

You didn't include THE administrator account in this statement. So I´m still not sure if we are talking about the same accounts here. I mean the built-in Administrator account, not a regular user with administrative priviliges. That account (and all others) should have the same password on all PCs.

"I don't like contradicting others but I urge you to ignore any suggestions to enable or otherwsie fiddle with the Built-In admin account that has the username "Administrator". There is no need to do so, none whatsoever, and it will not help. We can, if you want, have a discussion about this later."

In a previous post, he made it sound as he was using the ADMINISTRATOR account to access files on other PC.

BOTTOM LINE: What setting do I need to change on my desktop's administrator user profile so that I don't get the "permission is denied" error message when I try to access another computer on my home network. Whatever that setting is, it seems to be set correctly on the laptop, but not on the desktop.