Trouble Mapping Win-7 Pro Network Folders from a Win-8 PC

Hello, we just added a windows 8 laptop to our home network but are unable to figure out how to successfully map a network drive on this PC. We have two Win-7 Pro desktops, one Win-7 pro laptop and a Vista Laptop all connected in a workgroup and using one of the hard drives in the first desktop PC as a file repository for everyone's homework, pictures, music, etc.

Going crazy trying to get win-8 os to map a network folder connection to the shared folders on the Win-7 shared HDD.


Searching through the previous discussion threads I did not find a solution, unless I did not understand the other discussion threads. Anyone have a working solution for successfully adding a win-8 pc to an existing workgroup (not a homegroup) of Win-7 Pro(s) and a vista PCs.

Thank you in advance, dlindsey

Nothing different about Windows 8, in this regard (besides how some services affect things. If you did not tweak services, do not worry about them.)

Check the network adapter's bindings on all machines. They should have

1. Client for Microsoft Networks
2. File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks
3. Internet Protocol Version 4

all enabled well.

Make sure there is a password set for the current logged on account of Windows 8 machine and remote machine. If not, set one. (Easiest if the user/pass is same as remote machine.)

Make sure you right click the folder you want to share from (on the sharing machine) and set its properties well to share, with proper access rights.

Uninstall your 3rd party firewall, if any, to test.

On the sharing machine, you can run this command to see what you are sharing from it:

net share



See if you are even able to ping the ip address or network name, of the computer you are trying to access.

Make sure there are enough allowed users to access the share for your entire network.