Sharing files/folders across machines thru Linksys WRT54G

After I wrote the blog ‘ How to configure Linksys WRT54G wireless router’ many people then asked me how to share file & folders from the laptop/s & desktop connected to the wireless router.
First check if you can ping the laptop from your desktop & vice versa (this should work as you can access internet from both the machines) :)

On your desktop
1) Go to windows explorer & go
2) To the folders you want to share with the laptop
3) Right click on it then go to ‘Properties’
4) Next click on the ‘Sharing’ tab
5) Go to ‘Network Sharing & Security’ & click on
6) ‘Share this Folder on the Network’ check box &
7) ‘Allow network users to change my files’ check box.

Now on the laptop (mine is a Compaq machine having Vista Home Basic ) :)

On your laptop (1)
1) Switch on your WLAN (always a good policy to keep it off when not in use)
2) Next Log in to your network (Start -> Connect to -> Double click on relevant network connection option)
3) Open ‘Explorer’ go to the ‘Network’ in the tree on the left side.
4) F5 to refresh the view if necessary. If you can see the desktop great, if not go to next para.


if you cant see it, it means your firewall on your desktop could be preventing it from being seen (like in my case).
In this case go to your firewall (ZoneAlarm Pro in my case)
1) Go to ‘Firewall’ then to the ‘Zones’ tab
2) Click on the ‘Add’ push button
3) go to ‘IP range’
4) in ‘Zones’ select ‘Trusted’
5) Then add the IP of your wireless router (10.10.0.1 in my case) In my case the desktop becomes 10.10.0.2 & laptop becomes 10.10.0.3
6) So in the next line I add IP as 10.10.0.3

So I have added the IP range that should be seen thru the firewall.

On your laptop (2)
1) F5 to refresh the view, you should now be able to see the desktop
2) Click on the icon of the desktop computer & you should be able to see the folder you had previously given sharing rights from your desktop machine.

To the laptop folders which you want seen on the desktop machine you have to do the following.

1) Go to the relevant folder on the laptop right click
2) Go to ‘Properties’
3) Click on the ‘Share’ tab
4) Add the person you want to allow sharing
5) Give him the required permissions.
6) Then click on the ‘Share’ push button.
After that click on
7) Click on ‘Advanced Sharing’
8) Next select the ‘Share this folder’ check box’
9) Add the relevant share name
10) Select the number of simultaneous user you want’
11) Give him the required permissions.
Now you should be able to see the laptop on your desktop.

Now go to your desktop
1) Click on ‘My Network Places’
2) Then click on ‘View Workgroup computers’
3) You should be able to see your laptop icon here.
4) Double click on it & you should be able to see the folders/files/drive you had given permission earlier on your laptop.

If you get an error of no permissions or rights then click on ‘Start’ -> ‘Network’ on your laptop then click on the ‘Network & Sharing Center’ you will see ‘Sharing & Discovery’.
1) ‘File Sharing’ should be ‘On’ &
2) ‘Public Folder Sharing’ should be ‘On’ and
3) ‘Password Protected Sharing’ should be ‘Off’.

This last bit of switching ‘Off’ ‘Password Protection’ is something I don’t like, but have not found a way around currently :(. For the current network connection made as mentioned in my blog is secure, but when this laptop is connected to a unsecured network any where your shared folders/files/drive could be at risk from intruders. As Vista is a new animal to me and since this is the first preloaded OS machine I have I am quite ignorant about how (regarding rights/permissions) the OS was loaded. (Before this all machines I had were assembled to my specs and the OS & s/w’s were installed by me so I feel quite handicapped with this laptop having Vista.