How to Share Files and Folders between two Computers with Vista using Wireless or Wired Network?

This method is applicable both to wired and wireless network in Windows Vista.

First you need to access Network and Sharing Center. Go to Control Panel -> Network and Internet -> Network and Sharing Center. You can also access it by clicking the network icon on the tray from the taskbar and then click Network and Sharing Center.



Here you will see the network you are connected currently and under that you find the title Sharing and Discovery. Turn on Network Discovery, File Sharing and public folder sharing. Make sure you do the same thing in the computer that you want to share files with.

To see the computers available on your network, click Network from Start or click View Network Computers and Devices from Network and Internet at Control Panel. Here you will be able to see your computer and other computers that are connected to this network with public file sharing mode.

Now, all the files that are in the public user are shared across the network. You can see these folders and files from C drive/users/public (or from the drive where windows is installed). To share a file you can just copy and paste it under the folder public.



Share files and folders from anywhere by changing its properties:
You can also share files and folders from anywhere by changing the sharing properties of the files and folders. To change its Properties, right click and click Properties. Go to Sharing tab and click Share.



Click the drop down menu and select Guest and click Add. Click Share at the bottom of the window and it will close.



By default, the guest will have view access and if you want to give access to full access or change, click Advanced Sharing from the Sharing tab and click Permissions. Select Guest and choose the permission setting you would like to give and click Ok.



Now you will see that folder under your PC apart from public in Network folder. To stop sharing these files, Click Sharing from the properties, Click share and click stop sharing.

Password Protection:
If you are sharing folders in a network where there are couple of computers and you would selectively share folders then you can opt for password protection. You can activate Password Protection from Network and Sharing Center. Now while accessing the shared folders from another computer, you need to use the User account and Password that is already there in your computer.

As a best practice, always turn off network discovery and file sharing after you are done with sharing.

Source: www.lytebyte.com

How to share one Internet connection with another computer using Vista?

If you have more than one computer at home and have only one internet connection, you might be wondering how to use internet in both the computer. Let’s assume there are two computers A and B. Computer A runs on Windows Vista and Computer B runs on Windows XP.

Computer A is connected to Internet via cable, so this will be connected through a LAN card. Now to connect computer B, you will need another LAN card in computer A or if you want to connect to more than one computer, you will need a wired hub.

First let me explain how to connect two computers in LAN.

Step 1: In Vista, before doing this you should enable Sharing and Discovery. You can do that by going to Control Panel -> Network and Sharing Center. Under the section ‘Sharing and Discovery, enable Network discovery, File Sharing, Public folder sharing and others if you want to.



Here, first network represents connection to internet and second one the local connection with another computer.

Step 2: If your LAN card that is connecting to another computer is installed, it will be shown under Control Panel -> Network Connections.

Step 3: Right click that local area connection and click properties.

Step 4: Under the tab ‘Networking’, click the properties Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4).

Step 5: Click the radio button to ‘Use the following IP’ and give an IP address (For example, IP address: 192.168.0.1 and Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0)

Step 6: Don’t give any other information, Click Ok and close everything.

Step 7: In computer B, make sure you enable the LAN card which is used to connect to computer ‘A’. Here you need not give any IP information as Computer ‘A’ will assign an IP address dynamically. If it’s not working make sure there are no IP assigned and change the properties to ‘Obtain an IP address automatically’.

Step 8: Test the connection by pinging. (You can do this by typing ping 192.168.0.1 or whichever is Compter ‘A’s IP in the comand prompt)

Sharing the Internet connection of computer ‘A’ with computer ‘B’:

Right click LAN card which is connected to Internet under Control Panel -> Network Connections and click ‘Sharing’ tab and enable both the options to share Internet. (Note: Unless there is another enabled LAN setting you will not be able to see the shared tab under properties)

Click Ok and close. This option is given by the Windows OS known as ICS (Internet Connection Sharing).

Now you can use Internet from both Computer A and Computer B from a single connection.

Source: www.lytebyte.com