Windows 8 Bible

Turn on Sharing and Discovery

Before you start sharing resources on your network, you need to make sure you configure Windows 8 to enable it to share and access shared resources. By default, Windows does not make network resources available to everyone. Instead, Windows 8 requires users to explicitly share resources before others can access them.

A first step on each computer is to make sure sharing and discovery is enabled and all computers belong to the same workgroup. When you first connect to a new network, Windows asks if you want to enable sharing (see Figure 50.3). If the connection is a private one, such as your own wireless network at home, choose the option to turn on sharing. If you are connecting to a public network, you should not turn on sharing.

FIGURE 50.3 Choose whether to turn on sharing.

Tip

If you need to change the sharing option after connecting to a network, open the Charms Bar, click or tap Settings, and click or tap Network. Right-click or tap and hold the connection you want to configure, and then choose Turn Sharing On or Off. Select the desired option.

All computers must belong to the same workgroup if you are going to use workgroup sharing rather than a homegroup. So on each computer you also want to make sure Network Discovery is turned on and all computers have the same workgroup name.

In the Network and Sharing Center section of the Control ...