Win7 Computer Prevented From Mapping Win10 Disk

Hi, sharing is frustrating and tedious and fraught with difficulty in Win 10. When it is set up correctly and working, it's reliable in my experience. But setting it up is, alas, a multi-step task.

Please review Option 1 carefully in this tutorial from the huge searchable Tutorials section:
Share Files and Folders Over a Network in Windows 10

You shouldn't be sharing the C disk. It is totally unnecessary. Just share what is necessary and nothing else.

BTW, I have no problem sharing folders between any of my computers with Windows 7, 10, or 11.

Perhaps your comment about passwords meant this - Turn On Password Protected Sharing - TenForumsTutorials
- It sounds like your Win7 does not have this turned on.
- It sounds like the Win10 does have it turned on.
I bring the subject up because I do not know anywhere in Windows 10 that uses the words, "People without user account and password for this computer can access folders shared", so I am not certain that you have checked Password protected sharing.

I agree with MrEd about not sharing the entire OS disk.


Denis

I tried sharing the C-disk simply because I did not have anything else set up and it was the simplest way to test sharing. In "real life", I share at the folder(s) level(s), not the whole disk. As for not knowing where it says "People without user account and password for this computer can access folders shared", see attached W10 screenshot.

I also looked at Sharing Tutorial. Following the chain it says that SMB1 is required to share with Win7 computers. But it says that SMB1 should NOT be used as it (1) exposes the computer to ransomware attacks (2) will cause a 10+ minute delay in browsing the LAN for connections.

I stopped reading at this point for any more "gotchas". It is clear that it is neither safe nor practical to share Win 10 with existing Win7 computers. Which was integral to my trying out Win 10 for future use.

Does your Win10 have Password protected sharing turned on or not?

I do not know where it says that SMB1 is required for sharing with Win7. It is not in the tutorial I linked you to. It is not correct. SMB1 is only required for sharing with
- pre-Vista Windows versions, or
- non-Windows computers, or
- a network drive connected to the router that only has SMB1 capabilities.

I spent well over a year sharing between Win10 & Win7,

My full advice about networking is in
A consolidated network setup checklist for Windows 10 and 11 - my post #4 - TenForums


Best of luck,
Denis

NewW10user said:

I tried sharing the C-disk simply because I did not have anything else set up and it was the simplest way to test sharing. In "real life", I share at the folder(s) level(s), not the whole disk. As for not knowing where it says "People without user account and password for this computer can access folders shared", see attached W10 screenshot.

I also looked at Sharing Tutorial. Following the chain it says that SMB1 is required to share with Win7 computers. But it says that SMB1 should NOT be used as it (1) exposes the computer to ransomware attacks (2) will cause a 10+ minute delay in browsing the LAN for connections.

I stopped reading at this point for any more "gotchas". It is clear that it is neither safe nor practical to share Win 10 with existing Win7 computers. Which was integral to my trying out Win 10 for future use.

You can do what you want but I think you are being a little bit paranoid. If you are doing the sharing on a home network then you should be OK. A lot of people are doing this and I have yet to hear of anybody having a problem.

I share files between all my computers. They are a mix of Windows XP, 7, 10, and 11.

BTW, I had problems with sharing for a while. I finally realized the problem was that Workgroup was not the same for all computers. Once I made sure that Workgroup name was the same for all the computers I could share among all computers again. Note to keep things simple I use the Workgroup name WORKGROUP for all the computers.

You just have to be aware of the security risks and act accordingly. I know that Windows XP is a security risk and normally only go to the Internet for updates. Otherwise, I only bring in files and programs through shares on another computer.

Here is a screenshot taken on computer Thoroughbred which has Windows XP Pro. You can see all the other computers in the network. After I took the screenshot I copied it to a shared folder on this computer which has Windows 11 Pro.



Note:
Lightning is dual-boot of Windows 7 Home & Windows 10 Pro
Phoenix is dual-boot of Windows 7 Pro & Windows 10 Home

When you share a folder(s):

The default permission for Everyone is Read-Only. However, that is only the default. If you unselect that everyone has no access.



For many of my computers I have a common Username and Password. For the shares that I want to share with that Username I select Full Control permission for that folder. That allows me to read and write to that folder from any computer that has that Username.



For my computers that don't have the common Username I provide a special folder. In the example below I call it Temp. For Everyone this folder has permissions set to Full Control. This allows Everyone to read and write to it.

NewW10user said:

my Win7 computers' active network say "home - Work network". The Win10 computer says Network "Private Network". Does that Win10 name have to be changed?

No, they both mean exactly the same thing, just using different word to describe it. Win7's Home network is functionally the same as Win10's Private network, for each OS the alternative choice is a Public network which limits outside access to your PC. Here are the Win7 and Win10 settings side-by-side for comparison.