Trying to connect mapped drives in Windows 10

I have spent a whole day reading articles and trying to connect mapped drives in Windows 10.

My head is totally in a spin with it. I've read articles on the internet that say change group policy and the like. I've spent an hour on the phone to Draytek this morning thinking the router was blocking the connections.

I've allowed any computer on local subnet using Windows Firewall. I've turned Firewall off on Private network.

So here is the setup and I hope someone can help. It really shouldn't be difficult. It used to be fairly easy in Windows 7 to do shares.

I have one PC plugged into LAN1 and another to LAN4. In Draytek config, they both show on LAN 1.

In Windows one shows on Private network (named Network 5) and Ethernet whilst other shows Private Network (named Network). WORKGROUP is called "WORKGROUP". Both computers are part of work network and I've checked "My company uses a network without a domain".

One computer has one User Account called G_A, the other has an account called SH and another called RW but that PC is called G_S.

I have shared a folder on G_S by right-clicking folder and sharing it.

On other computer, I try to map network drive and it asks for Windows Security Network Credentials. I've tried Microsoft Account details, G_S, SH and all manner of permutations and it simply will not cannot given Access is denied error.

Has this issue ever been solved please?

I've even checked Ports 139, 445 for SMB file sharing (which I don't think is actually applicable to PC but rather Apple).

I given static IP's to both computers to see if that resolves it.

Network discovery and file sharing is on on Private Network (current profile)

Samuria said:

Welcome to the forum. Can you ping each pc by name or ip? from a cmd prompt type
ipconfig /all

do it on 2 pcs and post results.

what folders are you sharing specifically as some users folder have special security, you have shared folders but you must then set ntfs permission or you cant access it have you done that

HI Samuria

Yes. I can ping both PC's from each other using either IP or the name.

At the moment, I am just trying to share one folder within This PC>Documents.

I have managed to map it now as a network drive but strangely the shared sign icon is not appearing on the folder so it would quickly become tedious seeing which shares are set up at a glance if there is no visual indicator.

In Computer Management, I can see the default shares and one in particular I am interested in is connecting to my partner's E drive portable HDD just to drop a clone of my hard drive on from Macrium as a backup whilst I am fiddling around with both PC's.

I have managed to now managed to connect to the E drive. I am playing around with settings back and forth whilst I am responding and it seems to be performing a backup.

However, once a drive is mapped it appears under This PC and will not appear under Network. This is quite frustrating because it means typing the target folder in full syntax ie \\DESKTOP-WINDOZE\E in that case but I can see it getting really tedious with long filenames which may be remote. As it is, it is only across from me but it means geting up and moving between computers to verify things.

Surely the shared icon should appear? And surely there must be a way of sharing the folders so they are visible within the Network tab in File Explorer?

I am not sure if this is what cracked it or if this is even needed but I found an article about Windows Credentials Manager so I put the IP address and login criteria for each PC into the other PC's Credential Manager? I am not sure if this is even a good idea or a secure idea. Would you know?

Currently in Network, all I can see is Media Devices, one links to the Media ie songs library on my PC (ie the other PC from the one I am currently sitting at) and also an internet radio which is located downstairs but no shared folders as above.

One other thing is do I actually need an additional User Account on each computer please? I am trying to run these as lean as possible.

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Samuria said:

what folders are you sharing specifically as some users folder have special security, you have shared folders but you must then set ntfs permission or you cant access it have you done that

Oh and thanks for the welcome BTW. I've been a member on the Sevens Forum for some years. A reluctant upgrader to Windows 10.

I'd be interested to know how to change permissions when I cannot see the other PC in Locations when trying to Add Permissions in Advanced Sharing.

I know I am making sense as I am far from knowledgable on this matter.

Samuria said:

If you sharing a users folder it has special permision even on the pc as admin you can have problems connecting to a users folder your better creating a shared folder out of the users profile and set ntfs Setting NTFS Permissions - NTFS.com

I did see that NTFS Permissions post before but without context didn't really understand. It looks for be a good resource overall too on such matters.

Now you mention creating a folder outside of the User folder that makes more sense. Not sure why Microsoft wish it to be that way but primarily I am now trying to focus on using the desktop, documents and pictures folders as they should be as it will be mirrored by OneDrive.

Although I will give it a try to experiment whether there are any differences, having a folder outside of the User folder sort of defeats the object of the exercise for me but as I say I will investigate it any and try to think long and hard how it could prove useful perhaps.

I ended up messing about with a lot of settings yesterday and permissions and I would like a better overview of what needs to be changed to allow unfettered access solely by another PC on the same LAN.

To be fair, when I was reading the Draytek manual as I was thinking that was causing the issues because of its high security credentials, I was lost in the glossary of terms, LAN, WAN, VLAN, subnets, etc and how they all interact. I think it is so incredibly complicated and possibly rightly so. The numbers of tweaks you can do with a Draytek router is incredible but you need to know what you are doing and largely I don't!

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OK. I see that the Desktop does not form part of the User folders structure so I have shared that as a test. The icon for sharing appears on that now whereas you will note I mentioned earlier that they do not appear on the others I created before.

Using the NTFS Permissions, only allows me to access the Desktop folder from the other User Account I have set up on the same PC, I cannot see how to gain access to it.

EDIT: On further investigation, Desktop does appear in the Users Folder under OneDrive (pre-OneDrive I believe you would see Desktop in the User account directly. This is news to me about its location change).

So in this case, where do I put a folder please that is not in a Users folder, just in C drive?

Maybe my questions should now refocus on whether I can run two OneDrive accounts on either PC and readily switch between them without having to log off and on to different OneDrives which would defeat the object because I wouldn't presumably be able to drag and drop files between the OneDrives of different accounts.

Samuria said:

The reason for all this is simple if the pc was in a work place and used by several user you wouldnt want someone looking at your detail in your home folder or if the wife uses it you may not want her looking. Mess with permission at your peril you can brick a pc if you get it wrong.

You can connect to users folder if when you connect you give their username and password.

This shows you how to do it on cmdline you can then once it work save the cmd as a .cmd file and run it to connect next time

How to Map Network Drives From the Command Prompt in Windows

Fair comment. Thanks for this link. I shall take a look at that tomorrow now.

I found this earlier and I can now see both PC's under Network which is what I wanted to see.

The first part of this refers to SMB 1.0 CIFS and I only made those changes. I think I also have Everyone added to the folder share now which is something I would like to move away from so more reading and learning is required.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/tro...-file-explorer