Why would I want File and Printer Sharing?

If your family has multiple computers in the house, you can share photos and music and only have to worry about ONE printer. Rather than buying two or more printers and their ink, you can buy one printer and let everyone in the house use it.

Windows XP makes file and printer sharing easy, using the Shared Documents folder you can have access to your documents from any computer in the house.

To turn on File and Printer Sharing on your Windows 98/ME machine you must open the Network Settings in your Control Panel. Click the button labelled "File and Printer sharing" and place check marks in both the boxes shown. (This may require the Windows CD), click the OK button twice and your machine may want to restart. This step install the file and printer sharing protocols, but by default nothing on your machine is shared.

To share a resource (Folder, File, Drive or Printer) select the resource using my computer (sharing the entire c: drive is not recommended) and use the right click button on your mouse then select "Sharing"

To turn on File and Printer Sharing on your WindowsXP machine by default, simple file sharing is turned on if you have an active network card installed in your computer. To make sure of this, Right-click on My Network Places and select Properties to see your network connections. Right click on the Local Area Network (or the Wireless Network) and select Properties and ensure that File and Printer Sharing is listed under the protocol list.

To share a resource (Folder, File, Drive or Printer) select the resource in My Computer, Right Click on it and select Sharing and Security and place a check mark in the "Share this folder on the network" and if you want to allow others to open, change and save files check the box that says "Allow network users to change my files"

For additional information see what Microsoft Says.

Troubleshooting tips for File Printer Sharing

If your network cannot see other computers in your home:

1. Ensure all computers are part of the same workgroup, in Windows 98/ME right click on the Network Neighborhood and click the Identification Tab. In Wondows XP use the Windows Key and Pause/Break key and select the Computer Name Tab. Spelling counts.

2. Ensure File and Printer sharing is enabled on all Network computers.

3. Turn off firewall software on computers, for testing, turn on and allow File and Printer Sharing requests in the options for your firewall.

4. Additional troubleshooting tips Click Here