Share files/folders between desktop and laptop win 11 pro

Hey guys;
I am unable to connect to my desktop pc running Windows 11 pro from either my laptop (running windows 11 pro) or another desktop running windows 10 pro.
I am however able to connect to both of the other computers from the windows 11 pro desktop.
I have turned on network discovery, set up for private network, and enabled sharing of folders on the computer.

I have tried turning off firewall and internet protection, to no avail.
I am logging into both computers using the same username and password.
I have tried both regular file sharing and remote desktop. The result is the same. I can connect to either computer - the laptop or the Windows 10 desktop from the Windows 11 desktop but not the other way.

I have run the troubleshooter on the laptop (Win 11 pro). It reports:
"Problems Found. Your computer appears to be correctly configured, but the device or resource (asus-win11) is not responding.
If I run the troubleshooter on the Windows 11 desktop (Asus-Win11), it reports no problems.
If I run the Windows 10 troubleshooter on the other desktop, it cannot identify the problem.

Any ideas?
Thanks
Ultrarunner22

Use this checklist.
A consolidated network setup checklist for Windows 10 and 11 - my post #4 - TenForums


Best of luck,
Denis

Now this is odd;
I fiddled with the settings on the Windows 11 desktop (the one I could not access before) in
Network & Internet > Advanced network settings > advanced sharing settings.
I first disabled both network discovery and file and printer sharing for public networks, but left both enabled for private networks.
In the all networks section, I turned off public folder sharing.
Then I rebooted the computer.

Suddenly, I could access the shared files on the Win 11 desktop from both the Win 10 desktop and the Win 11 laptop.
Curious as to which setting made the difference, I returned all settings to what they were before the changes, but I could not get the shared folders to disappear on either the laptop or the Win 10 desktop.
It appears that I did something which changed a permanent setting, but I have no idea what.
I don't know whether tomorrow I will still have access to the files, but I'll cross that bridge if and when I get to it.
I will bookmark this thread so I can easily return to the setup that was provided here by Try3

I'm wondering whether I would have been better installing a Linux server on the 'extra' desktop pc, but I'll leave it alone for now.
BTW; I tried using Microsoft Drive, but file access was painfully slow - even for a small Access file.

EDIT: Looks like you beat me to it.

I was never fortunate, ever, with networking. I was never able to connect to other PC’s
If the above by Denis doesn’t help, @MisterEd posted something so simple, I had to laugh.



The basic gist:

create a shortcut to each computer in a network. For example, the shortcut to computer ComputerName is \\ComputerName.

Do note that MisterEd's suggestion copes with File explorer's chronic failure to display network computers in its Network section. It does not cope with real network problems.
My checklist copes with both.

I have always been fortunate with networking. I have always been able to connect to other PCs.

I started with a Belkin network card that had the most understandable setup guide I had ever seen.
My next network was a simple direct Ethernet connection between two computers without a router being involved.
My checklist just evolved from having to deal with every network-related setting manually as I had to do in those two cases.


All the best,
Denis

---

Welcome to ElevenForum.

It's really worth making time to browse through the ElevenForum Tutorial index - there's a shortcut to it at the top of every ElevenForum page [within the Tutorials dropdown list].
- At the foot of the ElevenForum Tutorial index is a shortcut to download it as a spreadsheet.
- I download a new copy each month.
- By downloading it as a spreadsheet I can benefit from Excel's excellent filtering capabilities when I search for topics of interest.
- ElevenForum tutorials are also listed at Tutorials and there's a shortcut to that at the top of every page.

You can search ElevenForum using the search box in the top-right corner of all ElevenForum webpages or using Advanced Search - ElevenForum
- You can also search ElevenForum threads in many general search engines, such as Google, by adding site:elevenforum.com after your search term. For example,
Taskbar setup site:elevenforum.com
- [This is what the search box in the top-right corner of ElevenForum webpages does automatically]

For MSOffice problems search in and, if necessary, create threads in the TenForums MSOffice section [ElevenForum does not have one].

I never had trouble networking with Windows 2000.
One reason I opted for Windows 11 Pro vs Home is for networking.
Perhaps Microsoft makes us jump through hoops to connect computers is that they want us to use their OneDrive.

Interestingly, after I spent hours getting my computers to 'talk' to each other, one of my main apps - Scrivener 3 for Windows - would not open a project file on the desktop from the laptop, even after I mapped a network drive on the laptop. In this case, the problem is with the software, not Windows. So I ended up setting up OneDrive - which comes with a sub to MS 365, but I hadn't been using until now.
I like OneDrive, in that it will automatically sync files between computers (so long as they are logged into OneDrive). This method of sharing turns out to be more efficient than networking - I don't need to leave my desktop running while I'm working with the laptop.

The only thing I don't like about OneDrive is that it will not be available if there is a problem in the cloud, or if my local Internet goes down. While rare, it does happen.

My method, I don't try to connect to other computers on my network, store all things I may want to access on a NAS drive then I can Map the main folder on it then any sub-folder from any Wired or Wireless/Wi-Fi computer connected to the Router. The Internet doesn't have to be involved, I use a PoE Modem provided by my ISP [for Wireless DSL] connected to the Uplink port on the Wireless Router.

Berton said:

My method, I don't try to connect to other computers on my network, store all things I may want to access on a NAS drive then I can Map the main folder on it then any sub-folder from any Wired or Wireless/Wi-Fi computer connected to the Router. The Internet doesn't have to be involved, I use a PoE Modem provided by my ISP [for Wireless DSL] connected to the Uplink port on the Wireless Router.

Click to expand...

Perhaps that's what I need to do. What OS does your NAS run? I would expect a Linux dist.

Edit: My TP-Link Archer C2300 router has a USB port; perhaps I can plug in a USB drive to serve as a NAS?

Ultrarunner22 said:

The only thing I don't like about OneDrive is that it will not be available if there is a problem in the cloud, or if my local Internet goes down. While rare, it does happen.

Click to expand...

I've used OneDrive for over 15 years. I keep all my data in my OneDrive folder. The size of my OneDrive folder is currently 205GB. The size of my local SSD is 1TB. The size of my cloud OneDrive is 1TB. I turn Files On Demand OFF. This effectively gives me a real-time mirror between my local data and cloud OneDrive. If I have an occasional Internet outage, it's then no problem. It's business as usual as I still have access to all my data. When my Internet connection is established again, my data simply resynchronizes with cloud OneDrive. I love being able to transparently move back and forth between my computers.

And I always have an off-site real-time data backup!

Ultrarunner22 said:

Perhaps that's what I need to do. What OS does your NAS run? I would expect a Linux dist.

Edit: My TP-Link Archer C2300 router has a USB port; perhaps I can plug in a USB drive to serve as a NAS?

Click to expand...

It most likely is a lite version of Linux. My Netgear Nighthawk Router also has that USB port but I haven't had a need to try it, yet. My Buffalo LinkStation NAS is set up as RAID 1 with total 2TB capacity, 2 x 2TB drives, and also has a USB port.

I tried plugging a USB SSD into my TP-Link C2300, but I could not see it from Windows. The problem may be that I am using the router as an access point, not a router. I'll have to check the main router (Verizon FIOS) to see if it has a USB port. Otherwise, I may just purchase a NAS; it makes the most sense if I want to keep my data local and not in the cloud.
That said, I think I can work with OneDrive. It will also give me the advantage of access to my files while on the road.

Ultrarunner22 said:

I tried plugging a USB SSD into my TP-Link C2300, but I could not see it from Windows. The problem may be that I am using the router as an access point, not a router. I'll have to check the main router (Verizon FIOS) to see if it has a USB port. Otherwise, I may just purchase a NAS; it makes the most sense if I want to keep my data local and not in the cloud.
That said, I think I can work with OneDrive. It will also give me the advantage of access to my files while on the road.

Click to expand...

You may not have read my earlier post. On OneDrive you can choose the option to Turn Files On Demand OFF! This causes your OneDrive data to always be kept both in local OneDrive and in cloud OneDrive. It simply creates a real-time mirror with OneDrive. It's the way I use it.

Thanks TraderGary;
I read your post, but was 'too lazy' at the time to go into settings and make the changes. I have done that now.

TraderGary said:

I've used OneDrive for over 15 years. I keep all my data in my OneDrive folder. The size of my OneDrive folder is currently 205GB. The size of my local SSD is 1TB. The size of my cloud OneDrive is 1TB. I turn Files On Demand OFF. This effectively gives me a real-time mirror between my local data and cloud OneDrive. If I have an occasional Internet outage, it's then no problem. It's business as usual as I still have access to all my data. When my Internet connection is established again, my data simply resynchronizes with cloud OneDrive. I love being able to transparently move back and forth between my computers.

And I always have an off-site real-time data backup!

Click to expand...

Now that I think about it. This is probably Microsoft's solution to home networking. They want us all to put our files and data in their stinking unsecured Cloud environment OneDrive. The same thing that Google is doing. So, how do you get there? Claim you're fixing networking, but actually breaking and sabotaging the entire networking stack. Very smart.

I ended up installing Ubuntu 22.04 desktop on the old computer, then installing the ftp server. So I can now transfer files using FileZilla on either Windows PC. This isn't the best solution, but it will work for me. When I go on the road with the laptop, I'll have to copy my files to a USB stick.