Broadcast entire C Drive

[mknabster]

I'm looking to be able to broadcast my C: Drive over my home network so i can properly clone it onto my file server, but whenever i try to broadcast any of the internal drives, the other computer will see them, but it keeps connecting then times out. I haven't tested this on the C Drive yet, but i have tried to do it with either of the other 2 drives in the tower, and that's what happens. The only folder i was able to successfully share over the network was 1 in my documents, but not the entire Documents folder. So i can't quite figure that out. It's the same issue whether it's with another Homegroup computer, or a networked computer like a Mac.

[glc]

If you use backup software that's network-aware, you can avoid having to mess with sharing. Something centrally administered from the server would be your best bet.

[MaxRat]

how are you sharing? are you using Homegroup? if so Disable it. Are you setting any permissions for the shared drives?

It's just very simple... you share the drive and set the permissions... on the other PCs you go into Network and make sure the PC you have the drives Shared is visible (turn Discovery and file sharing ON) once seen just map the drive you are sharing on the PC you wish to see it on...very simple

[mknabster]

Originally Posted by MaxRat how are you sharing? are you using Homegroup? if so Disable it. Are you setting any permissions for the shared drives? It's just very simple... you share the drive and set the permissions... on the other PCs you go into Network and make sure the PC you have the drives Shared is visible (turn Discovery and file sharing ON) once seen just map the drive you are sharing on the PC you wish to see it on...very simple

Yea i have tried that, not disabling the homegroup though (how is that done), and my computers do see the drive, but when trying to access it, they say that the drive could not be accessed.

[MaxRat]

make sure the PC that has the drive you are trying to share the drive on has a Password set....

On the other PCs put in the name of the PC and the Password... it will give you all kinds of grief if its on Auto log in....

as far as Disabling Homegroup a Google search will net you that info... I have it disabled on all my networked Win7 machines

[mknabster]

What does disabling the Homegroup do exactly, does it confuse the machines when accessing other network drives?

[Force Flow]

The administrative share should be available.

\\yourcomputer\c$

[mknabster]

Just to give you all an update on what i have done so far, I disabled Homegroup altogether, but now my Apple machine cannot connect to it. Also, my other Windows computer, does see the computer, but when i connect to the shared drive, it says i don't have the proper permissions, even though i set that account as having full control.

[glc]

Try creating a new share instead of trying to log in to the C$ admin share.

[mknabster]

I tried both ways, still comes out the same on either operating system

[MaxRat]

are by chance you trying to log into a Windows 7 rig with the shared drive with another PC running say Windows XP?

[mknabster]

Nope, I only have 3 computers on my router, 2 wired and 1 wireless. The 1 wireless is Windows 7, then 1 wired is OSX 10.6.8 and the other is also Windows 7.

[mknabster]

At this point, i just want for it to go back to the way it was. Before my Mac was able to see the computer in question, and i was able to transfer files to my singlular shared folder. But now, i can't get it to detect the computer at all. This also probably means that when i go home, where i have a file server, it probably won't be able to see that either. So i'm trying to revert back to where i was before, but it just won't seem to work at all now.

[MaxRat]

you can always re-enable HomeGroup if need be....

this is how I set them up....

Windows 7 box....

Set up a Password on the user

Right click the Folder or the Drive I want to share and click on the Sharing tab... Click Sharing and set it up... set the permissions if you need to. I have some set at Read ONLY and others have Full permissions...

Go to another PC and click Computer and then Network on the lower left... if File sharing and Discovery is off then turn it on.... the PC with the Shared drive should show up in the window... if it does not right click in that area and hit Refresh....

Once it does Log into that PC by clicking on it and entering a User name and the password in the Prompt... once logged in that go down and right click on Computer from the start bar...select Map Network Drive... select that PC with the shared drive and enter the user name and password again and also select Remember Credentials... select the drive to Map and save... you should see the mapped drive in Computer....


it really is just that simple... if it isnt you may have a router issue blocking the PCs from seeing each other but I haven't ever run into that on a win7 box.....

[mknabster]

I was surfing a Windows 7 and Mac forum earlier, because i was starting to worry about this. A lot of people were saying it was related to firewall issues, because, even after i enabled Homegroup both W7 machines wouldn't detect the Mac and vice versa. So i went into my Mac's firewall settings and enabled a few services, and sure enough, the PCs were able to see the Mac. Unfortunately, the Mac still doesn't see the PCs, but that's not too big of a problem for me, because i have one of the wired desktops with the ability to access everything on the drive, so now i can transfer what i need to.

I have always had problems with the Mac seeing the PCs, but the PCs would generally always see the Mac, so this was definitely different. Thanks for your help throughout, i guess i need to figure out the thing with this whole permissions thing in going back to the original question, because my laptop sees the drive, but says there are incorrect permissions. I'll just mess aournd with it and see what happens.

[MaxRat]

sometimes you just have weird issues like that and I honestly don't know why.

the only reason I disable homegroup is that in boost inhouse network speeds... when you have a simple server with 8 PCs sharing the info it makes a little bit of a difference. For most people who just stream media is isnt that big of a deal but when moving files it helps with transfer speeds....