Pulling my hair out trying to share a folder across my local network

For more than 15 years, my PC has had a folder containing family photos, and I've shared the folder with my wife's computer. And it's worked great as, not at the same time, her computer and mine migrated from XP, to Windows 7, and then her computer to Windows 10.

But with my computer on Windows 10 starting this year, it's not working.

I followed the instructions on Share Files and Folders Over a Network in Windows 10 for both computers to enable the sharing, including of course restarting when prompted as I made changes.

My computer lists hers, and vice versa, on the "network" part of file explorer.

From the moment I got my Windows 10 computer, she's been able to access the printer connected to it (that is, she can access my computer to the extent needed to print on the printer connected to mine).

But we can't make her computer get access to this one folder and its subfolders on mine. The best we can do is, from her computer, be asked for credentials to gain access to mine. But then we're rejected when we try. We've even set up an administrator account on her computer, with credentials matching my user profile on my computer - we've never had to do this in any prior configuration - and turned off password protected sharing on both computers. Still doesn't work.

Given the above - that "my" computer sees "her" computer and vice versa - and that all we want is for her to have read access to a folder on mine, what do we need to do - on "my" computer" and "her" computer - to make this possible?

Her computer even has a shortcut that has always worked prior to my move to Win10, that points to the folder in question. I should have had to merely change the "target" address to match the folder path on my new computer. But that's not working.

Samuria said:

what folders are you trying to get to exactly? if its her personal folders or those in her profile even if you login on her pc you will have problems getting to them as they have special permissions. Create a folder on c away from the profile share it with everyone and set NTFS permission to everyone that should work

Splitting hairs - sorry - the folder is on my computer, and I'm trying to give her permission to read its contents. For the purposes of this discussion, let's say it's at \\mypc\Users\MyUserName\\My Documents\digital pictures

So what do I need to do - on my PC and on hers - to allow her to read that folder? Bearing in mind what my original post said I'd already done.

Samuria said:

what are the permissions on the folder and top folder as it will be controlled from above as I said its simpler to create another folder due to special permissions its set that way so if there are 2 users you cant access the other persons personal files

Below are the permissions:



Blacked out are full control for administrators, and me (and SYSTEM too), and the inheritances are the full normal file path. Noteworthy to me is that if I try to ADD a permission from that, and click Select a Principal, the only Location from which I may select is my own computer - there are no other choices, including my wife's, even though that shows up when I view computers on the network. My thought is that if I figured out how to make her computer visible as a Location option, everything else would crisply fall into place.

Turn off password protected sharing under network and sharing settings.

Samuria said:

To repeat myself share another folder and use that start messing with the folders and you can screw it up. The only other way is to access the share and when asked for permission enter your wifes username and password.

Okay, for example, for something really silly and simple, I'm going to create a folder right under my root: c:\testfolder - and see how accessible that is. I probably won't get to it this evening (US time). Any other tips/quirks/tweaks to do?

- - - Updated - - -

NavyLCDR said:

Turn off password protected sharing under network and sharing settings.

This is something I had mentioned in my original post that I had done - on my computer and on hers - and it hasn't helped.

MS is trying to secure user's data whilst, at the same time, you are trying to maintain easy access to data on your device that you want to share with your wife's device.

Why not make it easier by making use of the built-in 'Public Pictures' location? It's only 'public' within your own private LAN, not to the world.

Hope this helps...

Hi everyone, I'm Robert from the Gold Coast in Australia,I really don't know what to do in here as it's not my typical thing and until Windows 10 problems started multiplying like dog fleas I generally never needed to ask anyone for any help to do anything on earlier versions of Windows. But, ALAS just like Samurai guru above I am at present unable to share files between any of my pc's running Win 10. I feel I am at a place where I need to strip out every network sharing setting no matter how deep or far back up the trees I have to go to kill off all old associations and hierarchical settings, I am willing to do almost anything that's necessary but have a L O T of personal-data and files encompassing well over 30 years on PC's all of which I could freely share between the pc's on my network but now it's just a giant headache. If some Guru who says they actually can file share freely on their Win 10 network could advise me how to go about stripping out all settings so my network is essentially in a virgin state and what specific traps I need to avoid going forward enough to help me get my machines talking to each other again like friendly neighbors, I would be very very grateful indeed. This whole business of essentially losing control of my network that used to enable me to get so much done has been like a giant kick in the guts since I have become lost in the forests of spurious network error messages and all the frustrations that go along with the added attacks of regular Windows 10 update day failures. I cannot believe I once taught computer skills at T.A.F.E. and repaired networks for Warner Brothers in Australia but this aging old bloke is. I must having trouble keeping up these days, the memory is going and I just need some simple directions to follow in a logical sequence to get my old friends talking again.
Not sure if I have gone about this the right way but have to admit I'm beaten, frustrated and just need some help.
Anyone out there with a big heart and some understanding what it's like to start getting old and losing one's faculties, I would love to hear from you.