Windows 10: Backup all User Files from another computer in my home network?

I can map a drive from computer 1 to computer 2 on my home network. The problem is, I want to backup all the user files wife, kids, etc to computer 1 and I even though my account is an admin on computer 2, I can't seem to get into those folders to do the backup. There has to be something better?? How can I login with a pw onto computer two and get full access to the folders and files in the users folder?

:)

 

Using network hard drive for backup

It depends what sort of backup you want to do. If you're happy just backing up regular files, then there are a bazillion (really, that many!) different bits of freeware to do that. There is a good list here:

Download Back Up Tools for Windows - MajorGeeks

and pretty much all of them can do network backups. Some even have fancy options like encryption. Really, the most useful thing is just being able to schedule them and know they ran OK.

You may also want to make a system image backup too, and you'll find that software in the very same list.

I don't have Windows 8 as yet, so I'm afraid I can't suggest any for that platform. Personally, I use Clonezilla for image backups.

 

Stolen laptop recovery of files from it's backup to new computer

If you have a system image, see the reply from Bill Smithers.

If you have "files and folders " backed up, here are the instructions from the Help system:

(for clickable links, open "Help & Support" and search for <<restore files>>

**************************************************************

Restore files from a backup
You can restore backed-up versions of files that are lost, damaged, or changed accidentally. You can also restore individual files, groups of files, or all of the files that you have backed up.

1. Click to open Backupand Restore.
   
2. Do one of the following:
   
   • To restore your files, click Restore my files.
     
   • To restore the files of all users, click Restore all users' files.
     If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
     
3. Do one of the following:
   
   • To browse the contents of the backup, click Browse for files or
     Browse for folders.
     
     When you are browsing for folders, you won't be able to see the individual files in a folder. To view individual files, use the
     Browse for files option.
     
   • To search the contents of the backup, click Search, type all or part of a file name, and then click
     Search.
     
   Tips
   
   • If you are searching for files or folders associated with a specific user account, you can improve search results by typing the location of the file or folder in the
     Search for box. For example, to search for all JPG files that were backed up, type
     JPG in the Search for box. To only search for JPG files associated with the user Bill, type
     C:\Users\Bill\JPG in the Search for box.
     
   • You can use wild card characters such as *.jpg to search for all JPG files that were backed up.
     

To restore a backup made on another computer

1. 
   
   You can restore files from a backup that was created on another computer running
   Windows Vista or Windows 7.
   
2. Click to open Backup and Restore.
   
3. Click Select another backup to restore files from, and then follow the steps in the wizard.
   If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
   

To find files that were restored from a backup made on another computer

1. 
   
   If you are restoring files from a backup that was made on another computer, the files will be restored in a folder under the user name that was used to create the backup. If the user names are different, you will need to navigate to the folder where the
   files are restored. For example, if your user name was Molly on the computer that the backup was made on but your user name is
   MollyC on the computer that the backup is being restored on, the restored files will be saved in a folder labelled
   Molly. You can find the restored files by following these steps:
   
2. Click to open Computer.
   
3. Double-click the icon of the drive that the files are saved on, for example C:\.
   
4. Double-click the Users folder.
   
   You will see a folder for each user account.
   
5. Double-click the folder for the user name that was used to create the backup.
   
   The restored files will be in the various folders based on where they were located originally.
   

 

transfer files between computers on a home network

I don't know why this is so hard to do but I would like to transfer files between a desktop PC running windows 10 pro and a laptop running windows 10 home. I would like to transfer files in both directions. Both computers are on the same home network and are connected wirelessly.

Could some one provide either specific step by step instructions on how to do this (I googled and found a countless list of instructions that don't work)

or a link to a reference.

Thanks,

I don't know if this is possible but it would be nice to see the computer sending the desired file in the explorer file manager of the computer receiving the desired file and then under the computer see a list
of shared files and folders.

Again, this seems like such a reasonable way of sharing files and folders. Shouldn't there be a simple way to do this?