I may be getting a new Win11 computer. Before I buy it I'm asking if there are any known problems with a Win11 computer being on a LAN with two Win 7 computers and being able to share folders/files among them.
Problems? No, not really. I have Win7, Win10 and Win11 machines on my LAN, the sharing settings work the same across all of them.
No problem for me either. I have a mixture of Windows XP, 7, 10 & 11 computers. I have 5 desktop and 3 laptop computers.
Here are the computers that are currently powered on as seen on my Windows 11 laptop.
Thank you Bree and MisterEd. I appreciate your responses. Today I tried to connect the Win7 computers with a friend's Win10 laptop as a sort of test. At first I couldn't get all the Win7s and the Win10 to see each other. I "fiddled" around, checking that each one said "shared" and permissions were for "everyone" with everything checked and eventually got one of the Win7s and the Win10 laptop to see each other. Sometimes they would show up in Map Network Drive and other times they wouldn't. But after I shut down and re-started the Win10 laptop I couldn't get any Win7s to see the Win10 nor the Win10 to see any Win7s..
It seemed like it was all flakey and sort of worked once but not again. Is there a checklist I could consult to see each place that needs something set? I would be able to use that when I add the Win11 computer to the LAN.
Seeing computers on my network has always kind hit and miss. I like others have tried many things but nothing worked perfectly. To work around this I created a folder on my desktop called My Network.
Inside this folder I created shortcuts to each computer on my network.
To create each shortcut I right-clicked and selected New > Shortcut. For example, A shortcut to computer Toshiba-PC is \\Toshiba-PC.
Once I completed the folder with the shortcuts to all my computers I copied the same My Network folder to the desktops on all my other computers.
Sorry for a probably silly question but where did you define the computer names that the shortcuts point to? I think my real question is how did you get the shortcuts unless your computer saw the other computers at least one time to make a shortcut. Or am I way off base here.
Last edited by NewW7User; 1 Week Ago at 16:49.
Someone once said, "The only stupid question is the one not asked". We have all asked the same question as you at some time in the past. It is all about learning...
When you first install Windows it will assign a computer name. Optionally you can select to give it a different name at that time. Also, you can change the computer name any time by going to the Control Panel in Windows 7 or Settings in Windows 10 & 11.
Note: Computer names are not case sensitive. For example, Toshiba-PC is the same as TOSHIBA-PC.
The easiest thing now is to log into each computer and go into the Control Panel/Settings and see what it is. You can also change the computer name if you wish.
Here are some examples:
O/S: Windows 7 Pro
Control Panel > System and Security > System
Computer name: Phoenix-7
O/S: Windows 10 Pro
Settings > System > About
Device Name: Toshiba-PC
O/S: Windows 11 Pro
Settings > System > About
Device Name: Starship
Thank you for explaining that. But how do you create a shortcut when Computer A (win7) doesn't see Computer B (Win10) and the reverse, too. How do you create a shortcut out of thin air? I could just type in \\Computer-B-name and \\Computer-A-name but where am I typing it to make a shortcut?
I know - I'm missing something obvious but I don't know what.
A couple things I didn't mention are:
1. Every computer that you want to connect to must be already be connecting correctly. If you are unsure as to whether it is already connecting correctly then just ask. The only problem is that not all computers are showing up in File Explorer > Network.
2. The computer you are making a shortcut to must be turned on and awake when you make the shortcut. Otherwise creating the shortcut process will fail.
I already said how to make a shortcut to a computer in Post #5. However, I will repeat it again:
I will show this in Windows 11 but the process will be the same in Windows 7 & 10:
For example, a shortcut to computer DarkMatter is \\DarkMatter. To create a shortcut to computer DarkMatter:
1. Right-click on desktop or in folder
2. Select New > Shortcut.
3a. Enter location: \\DarkMatter
3b. Click Next
4. I accepted default name of DarkMatter
4b. Click Finish
5. Shortcut to computer DarkMatter is created
I did that on desktop on Win10 to one of the Win7 computer. It says it created the shortcut. But it doesn't connect. It gives error message it wants credentials. What is that? It's setup to share with "everyone" which is what happens with Win7 computers that try to access it.
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