Accessing files on a home network?

[capman21]

I have a laptop and a desktop connected together at home. How can I say use the laptop and be able to access all the files, hard drive that is on the desktop?

[redwudz]

Do you mean over a LAN? You may have to set up networking first. Do you see the other computer in 'My Network Places'? Do you have both as members of the same workgroup? There's a network setup wizard in XP that can do most of that for you.

Then you would need to turn on file sharing on the folders/drives you want to share from the desktop PC. Then on the laptop, check 'My Network Places' to see if they show up. XP has a file sharing 'Wizard' that should show up when you go to the 'Properties' page for your folder or drive. You also need to make sure your firewall passes the data, but the wizard should help with that.

With Vista, it can be a bit more difficult.

[capman21]

Yes, to all the questions. Thanks.

[Krispy Kritter]

You just simply right click on the folder(s)/HDD that you want to share, choose "sharing and security" (or go to properties and choose the sharing tab), and then enable file sharing. The items you selected to share should then be viewable and accessible to other PC's on the network.