Since before 2006 when Windows XP was the reigning OS, file sharing on a LAN (Local Area Network) was easy, simple and just plain worked. After 2006 and beyond during the introduction of Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10, the LAN Network File Sharing has become a bit of wildcard and would only sometimes work properly. This made it frustrating for me whenever I wanted to set up a Media Server to stream videos and movies across to various devices on the Network. Devices ranged from Samsung Galaxy S Smartphones, Apple Ipads, Google Nexus Tablets, various laptops and desktop PC's, and some Android enabled TV boxes with Kodi.
In the following years I would experiment with setting up Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 PC's as the media servers with File Sharing and Drive Mapping, but always had mixed results. Ultimately I chose File Sharing over Drive Mapping because I wanted to enable limited sharing within specific network Workgroups and not the entire LAN like what Drive Mapping does. Sometimes the file shares would work, and then wouldn't work, and then seemingly randomly work again. Sometimes the file shares would disappear for no reason and I would have to set them up again. It was a bit of a head scratcher.
Back in 2008 I had set up a small Windows XP file server that was always able to seamlessly file share and stream. Near the last quarter of 2016 after over 8 years of flawless streaming, my Windows XP server was getting too slow to smoothly stream HD videos and I finally had to replace it with a more modern computer.
After fiddling around with different settings and seeing what worked, I finally positively discovered a surefire way to make modern Windows File Sharing work no matter what. Use a setting called "Advanced Sharing" and enabling "Full Control" for the entry "Everyone". You should also make sure that your Network Workgroups are setup and named correctly before doing this.
Here's how to set up file sharing that always works:
- browse to the location of the folder that you want to share on the local computer or server.
- right-click the folder and choose "Properties" --> click on the tab "Sharing" --> click on the button with the shield icon "Advanced Sharing...".
- put a check mark in the checkbox beside "Share this folder".
- optionally you can type in a new Share Name or leave it as the default.
- click on the "Permissions" button
- a new window will pop-up. Inside the box underneath "Group or user names" and look for an entry called "Everyone".
- If it is not listed, click the "Add" button. --> in the next window underneath "Enter the object names to select" there will be a box to type into. --> type "Everyone" without the quotation marks, and then click the "OK" button.
- back at the Permissions Window, make sure "Everyone" is hilighted and in the box below it will say "Permissions for Everyone" --> put a check mark in the checkbox "Full Control" and optionally for "Change". "Full Control" allows network devices to fully see the share on the network where they previously could not detect the file share, and "Change" will allow network users the ability to copy, paste, or delete files from that folder.
- keep on clicking the "OK" buttons until you are back to where you started and that's it. Fully compatible and visible file sharing is enabled for that folder on your network.
