How to Share Files/Folders Between Windows Computers

Want to share files or folders between Windows computers? In this guide, I will show you how to share a folder with files in it with another Windows computer. Before starting there are a few requirements and you must need to fulfill.

File sharing between Windows computer

Using this guide you can share a folder containing files/folders in it or even a complete drive from one Windows computer to another. I tested and successfully shared a folder from Windows 11 to Windows 10 PC. Windows version doesn’t matter you can share files or folders from one Windows version to another. The file-sharing and then accessing the shared files on both Windows 10 and 11 are almost the same. You can share between Windows 10 to 10 OR Windows 11 to 11, etc.

See also: How to share internet connection

Prepare a folder to share

You can share an existing folder First, create a new folder and put all the files/folders in it that you want to share. If you have already a folder then continue to the next step.

Set permissions and share it

1. I want to share this ISO folder from my Windows 11 to Windows 10 computer. Bother computers were using the same wireless internet connection.
   Right-click on the folder that you want to share and select the Properties option from the menu.
   
2. In the Properties window, click the Sharing tab and then click the Advanced Sharing button as shown below.
   
3. In the Advanced Sharing window, enable the Share this folder checkbox and then click the Permissions button at the bottom.
   
4. Now, set the permissions for the folder that you are going to share. Select the default user, Everyone from the list and click the Remove button. If you want to allow everyone to access the folder then don’t delete it and go directly to step-9 and continue.
   
5. After removing the user, click the Add button to allow access to a specific user not everyone.
   
6. Click the Advanced button.
   
7. Click the Find Now button to select a user. From the search results, select the username that you are currently logged in with and click OK. In my case, the username is HC on my Windows 11 computer from where I am sharing a folder.
   
8. As you can see the selected user is added as HC-DESKTOP\HC where HC-DESKTOP is my computer’s name and HC is a user of this computer. Click OK to go back.
   
9. Now, check all the options to give this user full control of the shared folder. Click the OK button.
   
10. Click OK to save it.
    
11. Now, click the Share button
    
12. Select the username from the list and click the Share button.
    
13. Your folder is shared now and you can access this folder from any computer on the same network. Click Done to close the window.
    

Access shared folder from another computer

1. Now, we are going to access the folder we just shared from another Windows computer.
2. Right-click on the Start button and select the Settings option. You can also press shortcut keys Windows+I to open the Windows Settings.
   
3. Select Network & Internet from the Settings window.
   
4. Scroll down a bit and click Network and Sharing Center.
   
5. On the left side click the Change advanced sharing settings option.
   
6. Select Turn on network discovery and Turn on file and printer sharing options under the current profile. Click Save changes button to save the settings.
   
7. Now, open the File Explorer and in the left panel select the Network option available at the bottom.
   
8. When you select the Network, it will show you the shared stuff. As you can see it’s showing HC-DESKTOP computer, it’s the computer name from where you shared the folder. So, double click to open it to see the folder.
   
9. You need to enter the username and password of the user that you selected earlier while sharing the folder. So, enter the credentials and click OK button.
   
10. Finally, you can see the shared folder, open it copy, and paste the shared files in it.
    

Stop sharing the files and folder

If completing the job if you want to stop sharing the folder then follow the given steps below.

1. Right-click on the folder that you have shared already and select Properties.
   
2. Click the Sharing tab and then click the Advanced Sharing button.
   
3. Simply, uncheck the option Share this folder and click the OK button to save the changes and unshare the folder.
   
4. If prompted click Yes.
   
5. Now, try to access the shared folder you just unshared from another computer. You will get this error message: Network Error: Windows cannot access …
   

So, this is how you can share a folder or files from one Windows computer to another.

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