How Do I Create and Configure a Network With Windows 7 HomeGroup

AS I EXPLAINED IN “HOW DO I CREATE AND CONFIGURE A NETWORK WITH WINDOWS 7 HOMEGROUP?” THE HOMEGROUP

FEATURE IN MICROSOFT WINDOWS 7 IS AN ENHANCED VERSION OF A PEER-TO-PEER WORKGROUP DESIGNED TO MAKE

SHARING FILES AND FOLDER EASIER ON A HOME OR SMALL BUSINESS NETWORK. I THEN SHOWED YOU HOW TO CREATE

AND JOIN A HOMEGROUP WITH WINDOWS 7.

IN “EXTEND DEFAULT FOLDER SHARING CAPABILITIES IN WINDOWS 7 HOMEGROUP,” I EXPLAINED HOW LIBRARIES ARE USED

TO SHARE FOLDERS AND FILES AND ALSO DESCRIBED OTHER BUILT-IN FEATURES THAT YOU CAN USE TO EXTEND FOLDER

SHARING CAPABILITIES IN A WINDOWS 7 HOMEGROUP.

IN THOSE BLOG POSTS, I EXPLAINED THAT ONLY COMPUTERS RUNNING WINDOWS 7 CAN ACTUALLY PARTICIPATE IN A

HOMEGROUP. I THEN WENT ON TO EXPLAIN THAT IN ADDITION TO SUPPORTING HOMEGROUPS, WINDOWS 7 CAN

PARTICIPATE IN A STANDARD WORKGROUP NETWORK CONFIGURATION WITH XP AND VISTA SYSTEMS AND CAN BE

CONFIGURED TO SHARE FOLDERS AND ACCESS SHARED FOLDERS JUST LIKE XP AND VISTA SYSTEMS CAN.

HOWEVER, THERE IS ANOTHER POSSIBLE SCENARIO — WINDOWS XP AND VISTA SYSTEMS THAT CAN ACCESS CONTENT

SHARED IN HOMEGROUP. OF COURSE, THIS TYPE OF CONFIGURATION REQUIRES A BIT OF TWEAKING, BUT IT IS POSSIBLE.

IN THIS EDITION OF THE WINDOWS VISTA AND WINDOWS 7 REPORT, I’LL SHOW YOU HOW TO MAKE IT POSSIBLE FOR

WINDOWS XP AND WINDOWS VISTA SYSTEMS TO ACCESS THE FOLDER AND PRINTERS SHARED IN A WINDOWS 7

HOMEGROUP. AS I DO, I’LL ALSO DESCRIBE HOW TO SHARE AND ACCESS RESOURCES ON WINDOWS XP AND WINDOWS

VISTA SYSTEMS FROM A WINDOWS 7 HOMEGROUP SYSTEM.

THIS BLOG POST IS ALSO AVAILABLE IN PDF FORMAT IN A FREE TECHREPUBLIC DOWNLOAD.

CONFIGURING A WINDOWS 7 HOMEGROUP SYSTEM

IN ORDER TO CONFIGURE A WINDOWS 7 SYSTEM THAT IS PART OF A HOMEGROUP SO THAT WINDOWS XP AND WINDOWS

VISTA COMPUTERS CAN ACCESS THE SHARED FOLDERS AND PRINTERS, YOU WILL CREATE A SPECIAL PASSWORD-

PROTECTED ACCOUNT SPECIFICALLY FOR SHARING WITH WINDOWS XP AND WINDOWS VISTA SYSTEMS. TO LIMIT THIS

SHARING ACCOUNT TO THE TASK AT HAND, YOU WILL SET IT UP AS A STANDARD USER.

TO BEGIN, ACCESS THE CONTROL PANEL, TYPE USER IN THE SEARCH BOX, AND THEN SELECT CREATE STANDARD USER

ACCOUNT FROM THE SEARCH RESULTS. WHEN THE CREATE NEW ACCOUNT WINDOW APPEARS, AS SHOWN IN FIGURE A,

TYPE A NAME FOR THE NEW ACCOUNT, SUCH AS HG-SHARE, AND CLICK CREATE ACCOUNT.

FIGURE A

YOU’LL CREATE A STANDARD USER ACCOUNT AND ASSIGN IT A GENERIC NAME.

WHEN THE NEW ACCOUNT APPEARS IN THE MANAGE ACCOUNTS WINDOW, SELECT IT TO OPEN THE CHANGE AN ACCOUNT

WINDOW. THEN, SELECT CREATE A PASSWORD AND ASSIGN A GENERIC, YET MEMORABLE PASSWORD, AS SHOWN IN FIGURE

B. NOW, CLICK THE CREATE PASSWORD BUTTON.

FIGURE B

YOU’LL THEN ASSIGN A PASSWORD TO THE ACCOUNT.

TO COMPLETE THIS PART OF THE OPERATION, YOU’LL LOG ON TO THE NEW ACCOUNT AND THEN IMMEDIATELY LOG OFF.

YOU NEED TO DO THIS SO THAT THE USER ACCOUNT IS CREATED WITH THE CORRECT CREDENTIALS.

CONCEALING THE SPECIAL SHARING ACCOUNT

ONCE THE SPECIAL SHARING ACCOUNT IS CREATED AND THE CORRECT CREDENTIALS ARE ESTABLISHED, CHANCES ARE

THAT YOU’LL NEVER NEED TO LOG ON TO THIS ACCOUNT AGAIN. AS SUCH, YOU PROBABLY DO NOT WANT IT TO APPEAR ON

THE LOGON SCREEN. FORTUNATELY, YOU CAN CONCEAL THE SPECIAL SHARING ACCOUNT USING THE NET COMMAND-LINE

TOOL, WHICH YOU MUST LAUNCH FROM AN ELEVATED COMMAND PROMPT WINDOW.

TO BEGIN, RIGHT-CLICK ON THE COMMAND PROMPT SHORTCUT AND SELECT THE RUN AS ADMINISTRATOR COMMAND. WHEN

YOU ENCOUNTER THE UAC, YOU WILL NEED TO RESPOND APPROPRIATELY. WHEN THE COMMAND PROMPT WINDOW

APPEARS, TYPE THE FOLLOWING COMMAND

NET LOCALGROUP USERS /DELETE ACCOUNTNAME

WHERE ACCOUNTNAME IS THE SPECIAL SHARING ACCOUNT.

YOU’LL NEED TO REPEAT ALL THE STEPS IN THIS SECTION ON EACH OF THE WINDOWS 7 SYSTEMS IN THE HOMEGROUP TO

WHICH YOU WANT TO ALLOW ACCESS. AS YOU DO, YOU’LL USE THE EXACT SAME SHARING ACCOUNT NAME AND

PASSWORD. THAT WAY ACCESS TO ALL THE COMPUTERS IN THE HOMEGROUP WILL BE THE SAME, WHICH WILL MAKE

EVERYTHING EASIER.

CONNECTING A WINDOWS VISTA SYSTEM

WITH THE SPECIAL SHARING ACCOUNT IN PLACE, ACCESSING THE FOLDERS SHARED IN A WINDOWS 7 HOMEGROUP IS A

SNAP FROM WITHIN A WINDOWS VISTA SYSTEM. CLICK THE START BUTTON AND SELECT NETWORK. WHEN THE NETWORK

WINDOW APPEARS, LOCATE THE WINDOWS 7 SYSTEM THAT YOU WANT TO ACCESS AND CLICK ON IT. WHEN YOU DO, YOU’LL

BE PROMPTED TO ENTER THE CREDENTIALS YOU CREATED FOR THE SPECIAL SHARING ACCOUNT. JUST ENTER THE

ACCOUNT NAME AND PASSWORD, AS SHOWN IN FIGURE C. BE SURE AND SELECT THE REMEMBER MY PASSWORD CHECK

BOX. THEN, CLICK OK.

FIGURE C

ONCE YOU ENTER THE SPECIAL SHARING ACCOUNT NAME AND PASSWORD, BE SURE AND SELECT THE REMEMBER MY PASSWORD CHECK BOX.

ONCE YOU ACCESS THE WINDOWS 7 COMPUTER, OPEN THE USERS SHARE AND YOU WILL BE ABLE TO ACCESS ALL THE

FILES AND FOLDERS THAT ARE SHARED WITH THE HOMEGROUP, AS SHOWN IN FIGURE D. WHEN YOU DO, THE SAME ACCESS

RIGHTS ESTABLISHED BY THE HOMEGROUP WILL BE IN EFFECT — THE MY DOCUMENTS FOLDER WILL BE READ-ONLY AND

THE PUBLIC FOLDER WILL BE READ/WRITE.

FIGURE D

WHEN YOU OPEN THE USERS SHARE, YOU WILL HAVE ACCESS TO ALL THE FILES AND FOLDERS THAT ARE SHARED BY THAT COMPUTER WITH THE HOMEGROUP.

CONNECTING A WINDOWS XP SYSTEM

THE SPECIAL SHARING ACCOUNT ALSO MAKES ACCESSING THE FOLDERS SHARED IN A WINDOWS 7 HOMEGROUP AN EASY

TASK FROM WITHIN A WINDOWS XP SYSTEM. TO DO SO, CLICK THE START BUTTON AND SELECT MY NETWORK PLACES.

WHEN THE MY NETWORK PLACES WINDOW APPEARS, SELECT THE VIEW WORKGROUP COMPUTERS COMMAND IN THE

NETWORK TASKS PANEL.

NOW, IF THE WINDOWS 7 SYSTEM YOU ARE LOOKING FOR IS A MEMBER OF THE SAME WORKGROUP AS THE WINDOWS XP

SYSTEM, YOU’LL SEE IT AND YOU CAN DOUBLE-CLICK THE WINDOWS 7 COMPUTER YOU WANT TO ACCESS RIGHT FROM THE

VIEW WORKGROUP COMPUTERS WINDOW, AS SHOWN IN FIGURE E. HOWEVER, IF THE WINDOWS 7 SYSTEM IS A MEMBER OF

A DIFFERENT WORKGROUP, YOU’LL NEED TO SELECT THE MICROSOFT WINDOWS NETWORK COMMAND FROM THE OTHER

PLACES PANEL AND THEN OPEN THE WORKGROUP THAT CONTAINS THE WINDOWS 7 SYSTEM.

FIGURE E

IF THE WINDOWS 7 SYSTEM YOU ARE LOOKING FOR IS A MEMBER OF THE SAME WORKGROUP AS THE WINDOWS XP SYSTEM, YOU CAN SEE AND DOUBLE-CLICK THE WINDOWS 7 COMPUTER YOU WANT TO ACCESS RIGHT FROM THE VIEW WORKGROUP COMPUTERS WINDOW.

ONCE YOU ACCESS THE WINDOWS 7 COMPUTER, OPEN THE USERS SHARE AND YOU WILL BE ABLE TO ACCESS ALL THE

FILES AND FOLDERS THAT ARE SHARED WITH THE HOMEGROUP, AS SHOWN IN FIGURE F. WHEN YOU DO, THE SAME ACCESS

RIGHTS ESTABLISHED BY THE HOMEGROUP WILL BE IN EFFECT — THE MY DOCUMENTS FOLDER WILL BE READ-ONLY AND

THE PUBLIC FOLDER WILL BE READ/WRITE.

FIGURE F

WHEN YOU OPEN THE USERS SHARE, YOU WILL HAVE ACCESS TO ALL THE FILES AND FOLDERS THAT ARE SHARED BY THAT COMPUTER WITH THE HOMEGROUP.

ACCESSING HOMEGROUP SHARED PRINTERS

WHEN IT COMES TO ACCESSING PRINTERS THAT ARE SHARED ON A WINDOWS 7 HOMEGROUP, THE PROCEDURE IS SIMILAR

TO CONNECTING TO THE SHARED FOLDERS. AS SOON AS YOU GAIN ACCESS TO THE WINDOWS 7 COMPUTER FROM EITHER

WINDOWS XP OR WINDOWS VISTA, YOU’LL BE ABLE TO SEE AND CONNECT TO A SHARED PRINTER, AS SHOWN IN FIGURE G.

FIGURE G

PRINTERS SHARED IN A HOMEGROUP WILL APPEAR AND CAN BE ACCESSED WHEN YOU CONNECT TO A WINDOWS 7 SYSTEM.

CONNECTING TO THE SHARED PRINTER WILL BE A VERY FAMILIAR PROCEDURE WHERE THE DRIVERS WILL BE DOWNLOADED

FROM THE SHARING COMPUTER AND INSTALLED IN WINDOWS XP/VISTA. AS SOON AS THE DRIVERS ARE INSTALLED, YOU’LL

BE ABLE TO PRINT TO A PRINTER IN THE HOMEGROUP JUST LIKE YOU CAN IN A STANDARD PEER-TO-PEER WORKGROUP.

SHARING FROM WINDOWS XP\VISTA

OF COURSE, WHEN YOU PARTICIPATE WITH A HOMEGROUP USING THIS TECHNIQUE, IN ADDITION TO BEING ABLE TO ACCESS

RESOURCES SHARED TO THE HOMEGROUP FROM WINDOWS 7 SYSTEMS, YOU’LL WANT TO BE ABLE TO SHARE RESOURCES

FROM WINDOWS XP AND WINDOWS VISTA WITH THE HOMEGROUP. FORTUNATELY, DOING SO IS AGAIN A VERY FAMILIAR

PROCEDURE.

WINDOWS XP

IN WINDOWS XP, WITH THE SIMPLE FILE SHARING FEATURE ENABLED (THE DEFAULT SETTING), YOU RIGHT-CLICK ON THE

FOLDER THAT YOU WANT TO SHARE AND SELECT THE SHARING AND SECURITY COMMAND. IN THE NETWORK SHARING AND

SECURITY, SELECT THE SHARE THIS FOLDER ON THE NETWORK CHECK BOX, AS SHOWN IN FIGURE H. YOU CAN THEN EITHER

SELECT OR CLEAR THE ALLOW NETWORK USERS TO CHANGE MY FILES CHECK BOX, DEPENDING ON WHETHER YOU WANT

TO SHARE THE FOLDER WITH READ/WRITE ACCESS OR READ-ONLY ACCESS RESPECTIVELY.

FIGURE H

SHARING FOLDERS FROM WINDOWS XP TO A HOMEGROUP IS IDENTICAL TO SHARING IN A WORKGROUP.

WINDOWS VISTA

IN WINDOWS VISTA, THERE IS NO SIMPLE FILE SHARING FEATURE, AND BY DEFAULT FOLDER SHARING WORKS LIKE IT DOES

IN WINDOWS 7. HOWEVER, DEPENDING ON YOUR NEEDS, THERE ARE SEVERAL WAYS THAT YOU CAN SET UP SHARING IN

WINDOWS VISTA.

FOR EXAMPLE, YOU COULD CREATE A SPECIAL SHARING ACCOUNT LIKE I DESCRIBED EARLIER AND THEN USE IT FROM THE

WINDOWS XP AND WINDOWS 7 SYSTEMS TO ACCESS THE SHARES ON THE WINDOWS VISTA SYSTEM. OR YOU COULD

DISABLE PASSWORD-PROTECTED SHARING AND USE THE PUBLIC FOLDER, WHICH CAN BE CONFIGURED FOR EITHER

READ/WRITE ACCESS OR READ-ONLY ACCESS, TO SHARE FILES TO THE HOMEGROUP.

YOU CAN LEARN MORE ABOUT CONFIGURING SHARES IN WINDOW VISTA IN THE FILE AND PRINTER SHARING IN WINDOWS

VISTA DOCUMENT, WHICH IS AVAILABLE ON THE MICROSOFT TECHNET SITE.

WHAT’S YOUR TAKE?

MORE THAN LIKELY, YOU WILL BE ADDING WINDOWS 7 SYSTEMS TO A MIXED NETWORK AND MAY WANT TO ALLOW WINDOWS

XP AND WINDOWS VISTA SYSTEMS TO WORK WITHIN A HOMEGROUP. USING THE TECHNIQUE I’VE EXPLAINED IN THIS

ARTICLE YOU CAN DO THAT. WILL YOU BE ADDING WINDOWS 7 SYSTEMS TO A MIXED NETWORK? WILL YOU CONFIGURE THE

WINDOWS XP AND WINDOWS VISTA SYSTEMS TO WORK WITHIN A HOMEGROUP? AS ALWAYS, IF YOU HAVE COMMENTS OR

INFORMATION TO SHARE ABOUT THIS TOPIC, PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT TO DROP BY THE TECHREPUBLIC COMMUNITY

FORUMS AND LET US HEAR FROM YOU.

EXTEND DEFAULT FOLDER SHARING CAPABILITIES IN WINDOWS 7 HOMEGROUP

DATE: DECEMBER 15TH, 2009

AUTHOR: GREG SHULTZ

CATEGORY: PERFORMANCE, WINDOWS 7, TIP

TAGS: FOLDER, FILE, HOMEGROUP, LIBRARY, MICROSOFT WINDOWS 7, MICROSOFT WINDOWS, OPERATING SYSTEMS,

SOFTWARE, GREG SHULTZ

SPECIAL REPORTS » SEE MORE POSTS ON: WINDOWS 7

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IN THE LAST EDITION ON THE WINDOWS VISTA AND WINDOWS 7 REPORT, “HOW DO I CREATE AND CONFIGURE A NETWORK

WITH WINDOWS 7 HOMEGROUP?” I SHOWED YOU HOW TO CREATE, CONFIGURE, AND TAKE ADVANTAGE OF A HOMEGROUP.

AS I DID SO, I EXPLAINED THAT AFTER YOU HAVE TWO OR MORE WINDOWS 7 SYSTEMS JOINED TO A HOMEGROUP, YOU CAN

LAUNCH COMPUTER AND EXPAND THE HOMEGROUP SECTION IN THE NAVIGATION PANE IN ORDER TO SEE OTHER SYSTEMS

IN THE HOMEGROUP. WHEN YOU DO, YOU CAN ACCESS THE SHARED LIBRARIES ON ANY SYSTEM IN THE HOMEGROUP.

IN THIS EDITION OF THE WINDOWS VISTA AND WINDOWS 7 REPORT, I’LL EXPLAIN HOW LIBRARIES ARE USED TO SHARE

FOLDERS AND FILES AND ALSO DESCRIBE OTHER BUILT-IN FEATURES THAT YOU CAN USE TO EXTEND FOLDER-SHARING

CAPABILITIES IN A WINDOWS 7 HOMEGROUP.

THIS BLOG POST IS ALSO AVAILABLE IN PDF FORMAT IN A FREE TECHREPUBLIC DOWNLOAD.

LIBRARIES

AS YOU’LL DISCOVER, THE NEW LIBRARIES FEATURE IN WINDOWS 7 REALLY COMES INTO ITS OWN WITH HOMEGROUP. AS

YOU’LL REMEMBER, WHEN YOU SET UP A HOMEGROUP, YOU ARE GIVEN THE CHOICE OF WHAT LIBRARIES YOU WANT TO

SHARE WITH THE HOMEGROUP, AS SHOWN IN FIGURE A. ONCE YOU DO THIS, ALL FILES IN THOSE LIBRARIES ARE

ACCESSIBLE TO OTHER USERS IN THE HOMEGROUP. HOWEVER, THERE ARE SOME RESTRICTIONS.

FIGURE A

WHEN YOU CREATE OR JOIN A HOMEGROUP, YOU’LL BE PROMPTED TO CHOOSE WHAT YOU WANT TO SHARE WITH OTHER COMPUTERS.

READ-ONLY

WHEN YOU SHARE A LIBRARY TO THE HOMEGROUP, FILES IN YOUR PERSONAL FOLDERS (SUCH AS MY DOCUMENTS OR MY

PICTURES) ARE SHARED WITH READ-ONLY ACCESS, WHICH WILL ALLOW ANYONE IN THE HOMEGROUP ONLY TO BE ABLE TO

OPEN AND READ A DOCUMENT FILE OR VIEW A PICTURE. KEEP IN MIND THAT ONCE THE FILE IS OPEN, THE USER CAN INDEED

MAKE CHANGES TO THE FILE, BUT THEY WILL NOT BE ABLE TO SAVE THOSE CHANGES TO THE SHARED LIBRARY; HOWEVER,

THEY CAN SAVE THE FILE AND THE CHANGES TO THEIR OWN HARD DISK, THUS MAKING AN EDITED COPY OF THE FILE.

FULL ACCESS

FILES IN THE PUBLIC FOLDER ON YOUR COMPUTER (PUBLIC DOCUMENTS OR PUBLIC PICTURES) ARE SHARED WITH

READ/WRITE RIGHTS, WHICH WILL ALLOW ANYONE IN THE HOMEGROUP FULL ACCESS TO THOSE FILES. IN OTHER WORDS, IN

ADDITION TO BEING ABLE TO OPEN AND VIEW DOCUMENTS OR OTHER FILE TYPES, HOMEGROUPS USERS ARE ALSO ABLE TO

EDIT OR DELETE FILES THAT EXIST IN THE PUBLIC FOLDERS.

ADDING TO THE LIBRARY

IF YOU WANT TO SHARE FILES THAT AREN’T CURRENTLY IN THE LIBRARY, YOU CAN ADD THE FOLDER CONTAINING THOSE

FILES TO THE LIBRARY. JUST RIGHT-CLICK THE FOLDER, ACCESS THE INCLUDE IN LIBRARY SUBMENU, AND SELECT AN

EXISTING LIBRARY TO WHICH YOU WANT TO ADD THAT FOLDER OR CREATE A NEW LIBRARY IN WHICH TO SHARE THE

FOLDER, AS SHOWN IN FIGURE B.

FIGURE B

TO SHARE FILES THAT AREN’T CURRENTLY IN THE LIBRARY, YOU CAN ADD THE FOLDER CONTAINING THOSE FILES TO A LIBRARY.

ONCE THE FOLDER IS A PART OF THE LIBRARY, THE FILES IN THAT FOLDER ARE ACCESSIBLE ON THE HOMEGROUP, AS

SHOWN IN FIGURE C. WHEN YOU ADD A FOLDER TO THE LIBRARY, IT IS AUTOMATICALLY SHARED WITH READ-ONLY ACCESS.

FIGURE C

ANY FOLDER THAT YOU ADD TO THE LIBRARY WILL BE SHARED TO THE HOMEGROUP WITH READ-ONLY ACCESS.

SHARING FOLDERS

WHILE LIBRARIES ARE THE MAIN WAY TO SHARE AND ACCESS FILES IN A HOMEGROUP, THEY AREN’T THE ONLY WAY —

ESPECIALLY IF YOU WANT TO PROVIDE FULL ACCESS TO THOSE FILES. FORTUNATELY, YOU CAN DIRECTLY SHARE FOLDERS

WITH THE HOMEGROUP WITHOUT ADDING THEM TO THE LIBRARY.

SHARING A FOLDER DIRECTLY GIVES YOU MUCH MORE CONTROL OVER WHO YOU SHARE FILES WITH. IT LETS YOU SELECT

CERTAIN PEOPLE AS WELL AS CUSTOMIZE THE LEVEL OF SHARING PERMISSIONS FOR EACH PERSON.

RIGHT-CLICK THE FOLDER THAT YOU WANT TO SHARE, ACCESS THE SHARE WITH SUBMENU, AND SELECT ONE OF THE

AVAILABLE OPTIONS, AS SHOWN IN FIGURE D. WHILE THERE ARE FOUR OPTIONS ON THE SHARE WITH SUBMENU, ONLY

THREE OF THEM APPLY TO A HOMEGROUP. (WHEN YOU SELECT THE SPECIFIC PEOPLE OPTION, YOU CAN CHOOSE TO

SHARE THE FOLDER WITH USERS WHO HAVE AN ACCOUNT ON YOUR COMPUTER.)

FIGURE D

THE SHARE WITH FEATURE IS AVAILABLE AS A RIGHT-CLICK SUBMENU AND AS AN OPTION ON THE TOOLBAR.

HOMEGROUP (READ)

YOU CAN SELECT HOMEGROUP (READ) TO SHARE THE FILES IN THE FOLDER WITH READ-ONLY ACCESS. THIS WILL ALLOW

ANYONE IN THE HOMEGROUP TO BE ABLE TO READ A DOCUMENT FILE OR PLAY A MULTIMEDIA FILE.

HOMEGROUP (READ/WRITE)

YOU CAN SELECT HOMEGROUP (READ/WRITE) TO SHARE THE FILES IN THE FOLDER WITH FULL ACCESS. THIS WILL ALLOW

ANYONE IN THE HOMEGROUP TO EDIT OR DELETE FILES.

THE HOMEGROUP (READ/WRITE) OPTION CAN ALSO BE USED INSIDE A LIBRARY. FOR EXAMPLE, SUPPOSE THAT INSIDE THE

MY DOCUMENTS FOLDER, YOU HAVE A FILE OR ANOTHER FOLDER THAT YOU WANT EVERYONE IN THE HOMEGROUP TO

HAVE FULL ACCESS TO. IF SO, JUST RIGHT-CLICK ON THE FILE OR FOLDER AND SELECT SHARE WITH | HOMEGROUP

(READ/WRITE). WHEN YOU DO, EVERYONE IN THE HOMEGROUP WILL HAVE FULL ACCESS TO THE FILE OR FOLDER.

NOBODY

IF AFTER YOU SHARE A FOLDER, YOU DECIDE THAT YOU NO LONGER WISH TO SHARE IT, YOU CAN SELECT THE NOBODY

OPTION. WHEN YOU DO, THE FOLDER IS MARKED AS PRIVATE AND IS AVAILABLE ONLY TO YOU.

THE NOBODY OPTION CAN ALSO BE USED INSIDE A LIBRARY. FOR EXAMPLE, SUPPOSE THAT INSIDE THE MY DOCUMENTS

FOLDER, YOU HAVE A FILE OR ANOTHER FOLDER THAT CONTAINS FILES YOU DON’T WANT TO SHARE BUT WANT TO KEEP IN

THE MY DOCUMENTS FOLDER FOR CONVENIENCE. IF SO, JUST RIGHT-CLICK ON THE FILE OR FOLDER AND SELECT SHARE

WITH | NOBODY. THE FILE OR FOLDER WILL NO LONGER APPEAR OR BE AVAILABLE TO THE HOMEGROUP.

WHAT’S YOUR TAKE?

ARE YOU USING WINDOWS 7’S HOMEGROUP FEATURE? WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT USING A HOMEGROUP FOR A SMALL TO

MEDIUM-SIZED BUSINESS NETWORK? AS ALWAYS, IF YOU HAVE COMMENTS OR INFORMATION TO SHARE ABOUT THIS TOPIC,

PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT TO DROP BY THE TECHREPUBLIC COMMUNITY FORUMS AND LET US HEAR FROM YOU.