Before we get into the details, make sure you turn off simple file sharing to make things easier. See below on how to do this for Windows XP:
http://helpdeskgeek.com/how-to/what-is-simple-file-sharing-and-how-to-turn-it-off/It's similar for Windows 7. I think it's Organize > Folder Options & Layout. I don't have a Windows 7 computer accessible now to find out exactly but it's around there. Disable simple file sharing there as well. By doing this, you should have sharing access to your entire drive.
If it's setup correctly, you should be able to access the folders using either the computer name of the IP address of the other station. For example, let's say the desktop's name is MYDESKTOP with the IP address of 192.168.1.40. You can either map the drive from My Computer or create a shortcut to it on your desktop (or anywhere else you want.
1. To map it from My Computer in Windows 7, I think there is a direct button that says map network drive and in Windows XP, it's under Tools > Map Network Drive. Enter the following:
\\MYDESKTOP\c$
or
\\192.168.1.40\c$You should be able to pull up the desktop's C: drive once you do that. You will be prompted to enter a username and password for the desktop computer.
2. You can create a shortcut to the shared folder instead of having a network drive in My Computer. For example, if you want the shortcut on your desktop, just right click on your desktop and go to New > Shortcut. Enter in:
\\MYDESKTOP\c$
or
\\192.168.1.40\c$and give the shortcut a name. You will be prompted for the username and password for the desktop. Enter it and you should be in.
I used C: drive in these examples since that's the default folder that will be shared directly. You can also share your other folders like:
\\MYDESKTOP\c$\Documents and Settings\raycyrx\My Documents\
or
\\192.168.1.40\c$Documents and Settings\raycyrx\My Documents\That will show you all your files on the My Documents folder for your desktop computer. It can be pretty tedious depending how deep in the folders you go as you can see. So to make things easier, you can share the folder directly by right clicking on the folder you want to share and go to
Sharing and Security. Click on
Share this folder and give it a name.
Make sure you add exceptions for file sharing in your firewalls since you may be blocked from the network shared folders if it's not added.
