Solved workgroup with win7 and win8.1 computers

I have a simple home network with a win7 and a win 8.1 desktop. I have set up my workgroup and put both into that workgroup. I have set a directory with access to everyone on each computer. File sharing is on. I use windows firewall and microsoft security essentials appropriately, I think. Neither computer allows access to the shared directory on the other computer. My message is "Windows cannot access .... Contact administrator. I think I have read everything on the internet about how to solve the problem, but am at my wits end. This should be a slam dunk, 5-minute task, but I have spent months trying to get it to work.

Turn off the firewall on both computers. No need to have the firewall enabled, if the computers are going to be on your own LAN and on a Router.

I think I need a firewall

But I need a firewall if I connect to the internet, right? Please explain.

JerryI said:

But I need a firewall if I connect to the internet, right? Please explain.

Click to expand...

That is the router's job. You do not need the Firewall when you are on your own LAN, as I stated before.

I use the Windows Firewall on my LAN even though they are behind the router. What I would do is to make sure the Firewall is allowing file and print sharing by doing the following:

You need to add File and Print sharing to ALLOW service through the firewall. From a Windows 7 computer, click Start, Click Control Panel, Click in the search field and type firewall, and then click on the "Allow a program through the windows Firewall". On the next window that opens, scroll down to "File and Printer Sharing" and check the box and then click OK. It will now work through the firewall.

Problem does not seem to be firewall-related.

When I turn off Windows firewall on both computers, the problem persists. I therefore conclude that the problem is not firewall related, and I will now turn the firewalls back on. BTW, File and Printer Sharing were already checked.

Thank you for your suggestions. I appreciate any ideas you can throw at me and will investigate each and every one, short of reformatting my hard disks or completely reinstalling windows or changing back to XP, etc.

@JeeryI
For each Folder/Drive that you are sharing. Right click on it->Properties->Security and make sure you also have a user: Everyone listed. If not, add the user and allow Full Access.

In addition, it is better to assign a static local IP for each PC/Device in your Home Network. In your router, there's a LAN settings that you can establish this. see screen shot as an example.



BTW, You don't need to turn off the Firewall for this to work.

Sharing with everyone is necessary, but not sufficient.

I have just learned that sharing with everyone is necessary. I did that long ago. But I also have to make sure that I set my share permissions to read/write. Having done that, I am now finally able to accomplish the task that I set out to do, i.e., backup files in Folder c:\Documents that are on my Win7 computer. My destination folder for this backup is c:\gateway_backup\Documents on my Win8.1 computer. What puzzles me is that I was getting a message that i could not access the target folder, even though I had set sharing on for that folder (albeit, only read instead of read/write). At any rate I intend to reclassify the problem as solved, as soon as I investigate a little further.

Solved

I have further concluded that it is not necessary in my case to give read/write sharing permission to 'everybody' if I give it only to 'workgroup'. Issue solved. Thanks to all who participated in enlightening me.