Okay , here it goes: used Win7 Ultimate x64


Goal: I want to share "Public Documents" folder in Public user. Or any other folder ,

First: (you obviously are "administrator user" from the get go/ not the hidden account)
Second: All computers must have these same settings below, exactly.

*** All computers must be in the same "Workgroup" , default is "WORKGROUP"
You can change this in system settings under "Computer Name" , do not use domains if you don't know what they are for and how to use them.



1 - Disable "Simple file sharing"(XP) / "File Sharing Wizard"(Win7) in Folder Options

2* - Disable Windows Firewall service (i only use router firewall) - you may need to configure it if you want it enabled (you need to allow internal Ip's to be allowed)
2* - Disable Homegroup Provider and Homegroup Listener service (useless junk)
2* - Completely Disable UAC in User Account Control (useless junk) (it will nag you throughout the whole process)



4 - Home And Work Advanced Network Sharing Options:

-Turn ON network discovery
-Turn ON file and printer sharing
-Turn ON sharing in the Public folder sharing section
-Turn ON password protected sharing
-Select 128 bit
-Select "users and passwords" - no homegroup.



4* - You may want to disable sharing of "Users" folder after you confirm these options , disable it since it's not the right way, the solution suggest enabling "sharing in the Public folder section" but it's working weird, you may also try not even turning on "sharing in public folders" , but i used this just maybe it may do something else to some who knows where permissions or what, anyways i don't think it's needed since it's visible action is completely wrong (it shares every user , not just public)



5 - search for "netplwiz" in start menu , run it and remove any Homegroup's ($Homegroup_User$) that may be existing, also edit your own account to remove "HomeGroup$". Select your account to be in "Administrators" group radio button.
You don't need to deselect "Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer" - leave that selected since it makes your computer to log in your account automatically - plus it's not needed to make networking share work.



- restart the computer-s




6 - Create Shared folders using this: Also make sure , there is FULL control under both "Everyone" - in the share permissions and the source folder permissions.

--- Make sure "Public Documents" (or any other "Public ...") folder has "Everyone" permissions (full control)


- restart computer-s


7 - Open network and try to open all other found users except your self , (YOU MUST DO THIS ON ALL COMPUTERS , EACH WITH EVERYONE ELSE) - this is the stupid context part - it will ask you for credentials , user and password , but it makes it sound like it requires a user and pass from the current PC > no , you must enter the other User's username and Password that you're connecting to (not hidden admin account) , and choose "Save credentials" , you must know the passwords of all of the computers (or ask those people to type it for you) , once you authenticated everybody with everyone , saved credentials , it's done.


**- If you don't detect some users before making the "7" point above , this is expected network behavior it's bugged and that's how it works before it's all done , so you need to type "\\[Example_Computer_Name]" (without quotes) of the user that does not "detect" (in the bar above the window) , not really, they're there, only the network window has hard time refreshing and displaying them - stupid code


*** - If you connect to them but it throws out some error codes and you try to diagnose problems it shows this:

- for example like this , reportedly , you need to remove Speedbit Video Accelerator (for youtube) , since it's making this , or you need to configure , its not known what or if configuring makes it work , but you should try reinstall this after you made the process ,
if you really need this program (yeah it makes youtube videos load as much as 3-4 times faster)



- With this full access it will no longer take ages to display/refresh computers in network , thank god.
Remember , no homegroup , im really sick of microsofts braggings and dumbings down , ofcourse *everyone* makes homegroup since it's in the installer as "the best way to share" blah , homegroup is stupid with it's "password" and it does not work if the clocks aren't synced (a problem that lost an afternoon of my life ) - plus the options never solidify, homegroup just tunes up what will share and there's always stupid music and picture folders everywhere because homegroup forces them to share.. whatever.