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sharing external hard disk.

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by lisun88

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hi,
i need to share an external hard disk between all the workstations among the same workgroup.
but i did all the necessary steps like right click on the hard disk and do sharing and security but i didnt manage to be able to see the drive on the other workstation.

can you ppl tell me how to see the shared drive on the other workstation?

ive problem doing so and its quite urgent for me.
thank you.

19 replies

by rob miners

to see if File and Print Sharing is enabled on the PC's.

This is the easiest way to share it but it has to be connected to be able to access the share.

Open explorer and create a new folder for sharing. Something like USB. Insert the USB Drive. Open Computer Management, Disk Management and right click on the removable disk. Select Change Drive Letter and Paths. Here you can select a Drive Letter of choice by clicking Change, Select Add. Navigate to the Shared folder and Select it and press OK. From now on when you insert the Memory stick you will have a copy of the contents in the new share. The drive letter will not change. Map the new share from the other PC's and you should be in business.

Keep us informed as to your progress if you require further assistance.

If you think that any of the posts that have been made by all TR Members, have solved or contributed to solving the problem, please Mark them as Helpful so that others may benefit from the outcome. ;) :D

by lisun88

sorry,i still cant able to map the shared drive on the other workstation.
i don think that is the way to go about it.

does we not right the external hard disk drive and click sharing and security?

and we map the network drive but we need to have the server name and the share name.so we still need the ip address to be activated.

someone else have some other solutions?
the error message pop up again that it could not be mapped.

by rob miners

Right click on the drive in the explorer view and select Sharing and Security, then click Sharing. Select Share this Folder and give it a Name and set your Permissions.

Map a Network Drive in Windows XP

Right click on the start button and select Explore, then up at the top, you should see the menu bar. From this menu bar, select Tools, you can then click on the option to Map Network Drive and a new window will popup.

Once a new Map Network Drive window pops up, it will ask you to choose a drive letter. There will be a drop down list that will show you which drives are available. You might notice that if you already have mapped drives, they will be indicated by a shared folder name that is seen inside the dropdown list corresponding to the drive letter.

Once you selected the folder to map from the drop down list, you must name it. It is important to note that you must name this file following the UNC (Universal Naming Convention). This naming convention is used to identify resources on a network. Usually the UNC has three parts; the first part is the server name, the second part is the share name. The third part is optional, but used often, it is the file path. You can combine all three of these parts with backslashes. For instance: \\server\share\file_path

Besides typing in the UNC by hand, you can also just click the Browse button, using this button; you can search and choose the correct folder.

Once you have selected your drive letter and selected the folder to map out, you can now click the "Reconnect at Login" check box. This checkbox should only be checked if you would like to make this network drive permanent. In other case, after you log out of the computer it will un-map the drive. Another option is if your remote computer needs to have a different username and password in order to log in. You can easily input this info by clicking on the hyperlink and entering the information.

Now, all you need to do is click Finish. If there are any problems mapping the network drive, an error message will popup, the error message might say that the computer was unable to map your drive, at this point, you should check to make sure you named the folder properly. Another possible message you may receive is if the drive was previously mapped to a different location. Usually the computer will ask you to replace the existing connection with then new one that you specified. You can easily click yes and the computer will disconnect and un-map and older connections.

It is important to note that you can disconnect a mapped network drive at any time. Just right click on your Start button, click on the Tools menu and click Disconnect Network Drive. From here you can easily follow the prompts.

Mapping a Network Drive using a Command Shell

You can easily map a network drive using a command shell along with the "net use" command.

Open a command shell. You can click the Start button, then the Run option and then type in the field "command" and press enter.

You will be using a similar command to the one found below:

net use j:\\computer\folder

The "j" represents your drive letter that the will be mapped and the \\computer\folder is the new shared network path.

Please note that you should make sure to use your back slash and not your forward slash when mapping a network drive. It is also important to note that if the drive is not available or not online, you won't be able to map it.

To share files you need File And Printer Sharing For Microsoft Networks installed and enabled on each sharing PC. Open the Network dialog box, click the Configuration tab, and look for File And Printer Sharing For Microsoft Networks in the list. If you do not see it, click Add. You may need your installation media to add this component. In the resulting dialog box, double-click Service, select File And Printer Sharing For Microsoft Networks from the Models section, and click OK.

Keep us informed as to your progress if you require further assistance.

If you think that any of the posts that have been made by all TR Members, have solved or contributed to solving the problem, please Mark them as Helpful so that others may benefit from the outcome. ;) :D

by lisun88

i think you don understand the thing i want.

i have an external hard drive and i wanted it to share it within my department consist of 6users.

this 6users belong to a workgroup call QC.

so now i have problem sharing this haard drive onto yr workstations.

wad i did was :
1.right click on my drive den click on sharing and security.after that,share the drive following the steps.
2.set my external hard disk's share name and agree to share this drive.

however,when i go to my colleague's workstation. i was unable to map the drive on my workstation.

it gave me an error message.

so now ive no idea hwo to map MY EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE to MY COLLEAGUE'S WORKSTATION.

thus, i need help in this.

thank you very much with all yr previous steps.
i appreciate it.
but this is the problem im having difficulty in.

by lisun88

error message: the mapped network drive could not be created because the following error has occured:
A device attached to the system is not functioning.

this is the error message when i tried to map the drive on the other workstation.

by 1bn0

What operating system are you using.
Windows XP Home?
Windows XP Professional?
Windows VIsta Home Basic?
Windows Vista Home Premium?
Windows Vista Business Edition?

When you open the sharing tab in the drive properties, what options are presented?

If you are using XP Pro in a peer to peer workgroup configuration, have you Disabled Simple File Sharing?

Are your computers in a workgroup or arethey part of a larger domain/company network?

By default XP can provide the option to share the drive/folder with other users of the same computer or to share the drive/folder with other network user (other computers on the same network). They are separate options.

by lisun88

hi,
the os im using is xp pro.
my computers belong to the same department and in the same workgroup.
same network as well.

when i open the sharing tab, there are 4tabs:
1.general
2.tools
3.hardware
4.sharing.

den i click on sharing tab and click on the link that says if you understand the risk but still want to share the root of the drive,click here.

den enable file sharing. back on the sharing tab,i check the share the folder on the network and type a share name and check the allow network users to change my files.

den im stuck here.i wonder how i map the drive to other workstations.

pls help.
thanks.

by rob miners

When you right click on the Drive and type in the ShareName, leave Maximum allowed ticked and then click on Permissions. Everyone should be highlighted and under that you have 3 boxes in the Allow section, make sure that all boxes have a tick. Click Apply, Click OK and click OK again.

Go to the other Workstation and open Network Neighbourhood. Double click on the PC with the Shared Drive and logon, you should now be able to connect to the Share.

Keep us informed as to your progress if you require further assistance.

If you think that any of the posts that have been made by all TR Members, have solved or contributed to solving the problem, please Mark them as Helpful so that others may benefit from the outcome. ;) :D

by lisun88

sorry,i cant find the tab that says leave maximum allowed.
cant be found.

im using xp pro.

the options yuu told me can be found in vista fyi.

by rob miners

is right under Comment which is under the Share Name and to the right of User limit: It is normally ticked by default. I previously plugged an external drive in to get the steps that I have given to you to use. I then connected to the Share from a Vista PC which is not that different to XP. You said that you are using XP Pro is that right because if you are using Vista you will have to turn on Network Discovery.

Keep us informed as to your progress if you require further assistance.

If you think that any of the posts that have been made by all TR Members, have solved or contributed to solving the problem, please Mark them as Helpful so that others may benefit from the outcome. ;) :D

by lisun88

eh,cus the workstation i want to share is windows xp pro.

so i cant find those options in wins xp.

its driving me nuts.thanks so much!

by lisun88

it finally works for the upper portion.
however,i still have problem making the shared drive appear on the other workstation.

the same old message still pop up.
the message that ive typed in my previous post.

by rob miners

Type in net use at a Command Prompt to check that it isn't already Mapped. Example:

C:\Users\Rob>net use
New connections will be remembered.

Status Local Remote Network

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OK M: \\AMBO\AllText Microsoft Windows Network
Disconnected \\AMDU3\IPC$ Microsoft Windows Network
The command completed successfully.

Click Start
Click Control Panel
Click System and Maintenance
Click Administrative Tools
Double-Click Local Security Policy
In the left pane, click the triangle next to Local Policy
In the left pane, click Security Options
In the right pane near the bottom, double-click "Network security: LAN manager authentication level"
Click the drop-down box, and click "Send LM & NTLM responses"
Click OK
Reboot the PC

Check your Services are Started on all PCs:

Computer Browser

DHCP Client

DNS Client

Network Connections

Network Location Awareness

Remote Procedure Call (RPC)

Server

TCP/IP Netbios helper

Workstation

Note: You can check the services in Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Services.

All of these services should be started, and their startup type should be automatic.

All computers should be in the same workgroup for computer browsing to function properly. File & Print Sharing has to be enabled on any computer you wish to share files or printers from. You also need to actually share the resource in question from My Computer, right click on the drive/printer/folder, and select sharing.

If you encounter difficulties accessing computers that are visible in Network Neighborhood, make sure the computer being accessed has an account with the same name/password as the system connecting to it uses to login.

While the default NetBIOS setting is correct for normal network configurations, it's possible for it to be altered, and it costs nothing to make sure it's correct. NETBIOS over TCP/IP must be enabled for normal network browsing.

Check that File and Print Sharing is enabled on the PC's and also check this.

Click Start, click Control Panel

Click Network Connections.

Right-click "Local Area Connection", and then click "Properties".

Click on (highlight) "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)", and then click "Properties" button

Click the General tab, and then click "Advanced" button , bottom right.

Click the WINS tab.

Under "NetBIOS setting" section, click Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP, and then click OK two times, then "close".

( ) Default

(*) Enable NetBios

( ) Disable NetBios

Check to see if Remote Access is enabled by clicking Start, right click My Computer and select Properties. Select Remote and tick both boxes.

Keep us informed as to your progress if you require further assistance.

If you think that any of the posts that have been made by all TR Members, have solved or contributed to solving the problem, please Mark them as Helpful so that others may benefit from the outcome. ;) :D

by lisun88

still cannot.

i still cant map my shared external hard disk to my workstation.

also, i cant find the workstation that suppose to be shared in the workgroup in another workstation.

by rob miners

Setting up your network

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/networking/setup/default.mspx

Check that your PC's are all in the same Workgroup. EG: 'WORKGROUP'.

Click Start, Run and type in cmd click OK or press Enter. At the command prompt type in ipconfig /all > c:\ws1.txt Use it to compare all of the settings to the non working PC's.

This is what you are comparing: Apart from the IP Address being in the same Range the other settings should match the other Networked PC's.

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . .

Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . .

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . .

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . .

Keep us informed as to your progress if you require further assistance.

If you think that any of the posts that have been made by all TR Members, have solved or contributed to solving the problem, please Mark them as Helpful so that others may benefit from the outcome. ;) :D

by ontheropes

Right-click on the drive and it's on the dialog box that appears underneath the Sharing tab.

It may be that you need to make sure that you're not using simple file sharing. Go to Explorer then Tools\Folder Options\View, scroll down and untick the 'Use simple file sharing' box.

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