Windows 10: How to connect to Windows 7 share from Windows 10 1803

I spent the last couple of days wading through a lot of material on this subject. I finally found the right solution and I thought I would share it so others would not need to go through the hassle of digging through the long complicated threads.


The real question is "How can I connect to a Windows 7 share without using Homegroup?" Essentially, that is what is needed because Windows 10 v1803 has stopped supporting homegroup.


There are a lot of complicated threads out there on this subject but I think the answer boils down to a few simple steps on the Windows 7 machine.

1. Leave and disable Homegroup.
2. Adjust advanced settings to enable folder sharing without using homegroup.
3. Adjust your shares so that Everyone has Full Control over your shares.

There is a great youtube video that walks you through the steps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRY4_POp9zA

(Note: the video misses one step, adding Everyone to the security of the share)


For your convenience I have documented the steps in the video here:

Leave and disable Homegroup

1. Leave the homegroup:
   1. Go to Control Panel -> Network and Sharing Center
   2. Click Choose homegroup and sharing options
   3. Click Leave the homegroup...
   4. On the next dialog confirm by choosing Leave the homegroup
2. Disable homegroup services:
   1. Go to Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services
   2. Find the HomeGroup Listener and the HomeGroup Provider services
   3. For each service:
      1. Stop the service
      2. Set startup type to Disabled

Adjust advanced settings to enable folder sharing without using homegroup

1. Go to Control Panel -> Network and Sharing Center
2. Click Choose homegroup and sharing options
3. Click Change advanced sharing settings...
4. For Home or Work (current profile), make sure the following are selected:
   1. Enable file sharing for devices that use 40- or 56-bit encryption
   2. Turn off password protected sharing
   3. Use user accounts and passwords to connect to other computers
5. For Public, make sure the following are selected:
   1. Enable file sharing for devices that use 40- or 56-bit encryption
   2. Turn off password protected sharing

Adjust your shares so that Everyone has Full Control over your shares

1. Open a file explorer window, put \\localhost in the "address" bar. This should bring up a list of your shares.
2. For each share you need to do 3 things, add Everyone to the list of those sharing, add Everyone to the list of permissions and add Everyone to the security. To do that right click the shared folder and choose properties.
3. Add Everyone to the list of those sharing:
   1. Open the Sharing tab.
   2. Click Share...
   3. In the "File Sharing" dialog, verify that Everyone has Read/Write priviledges. If not add Everyone and set it to Read/Write priviledges.
4. Add Everyone to the list of permissions:
   1. Go back to the Sharing tab.
   2. Click Advanced Sharing...
   3. Click the Permissions button
   4. In the "Permissions for <sharename>" dialog, verify that Everyone has Full Control.
   5. If not, then click Add and enter Everyone into the text box. Click Check Names, Everyone should now be underlined.
   6. Go back to the previous dialog and make sure the Everyone group has Full Control, if not set it to Full Control.
5. Add Everyone to the security
   1. Go back to the Sharing tab and open the Security tab.
   2. Verify Everyone is in the list of "Group or user names", if not click Edit... and then Click Add and add Everyone to the list.
   3. Make sure Everyone has Full control set to allow.

At this point you should be able to access your Windows 7 computer from your Windows 10 computer, the shared folders should be visible and you should be able to open them and navigate around.


I hope this can help you avoid investing the amount of time I invested!

:)

 

Windows 10 Tweaks

Pressing “Windows+Pause Break” (it’s up there next to scroll lock) opens the “System” Window.

Windows 10: In the new version of Windows, Explorer has a section called Quick Access. This includes your frequent folders and recent files. Explorer defaults to opening this page when you open a new window. If you’d rather open the usual This PC, with links to your drives and library folders, follow these steps:

• Open a new Explorer window.
• Click View in the ribbon.
• Click Options.
• Under General, next to “Open File Explorer to:” choose “This PC.”
• Click OK

credit to Lifehacker.

 

Installing Windows 10 using Windows 7 key

Nope, you need to install Windows 10 first and make sure the Windows 7 key is transferred to your Windows account after you've installed Windows 10 (not quite sure how that works). I missed the last step and I could not activate Windows 10 after a re-install... Microsoft seem to have done everything they can to make it a PITA. Also, it's technically too late to do this now anyhow, as the upgrade offer has expired. But KMSPico works quite well...

As for getting rid of Windows, delete the Windows folder.

 

Windows 10 Snipping Tool on Windows 7

All it is is one extra step beyond what is native to windows 10. Yes, technically it would be easier to have the functionality of print built in to the Windows 7 version, but you just have to save it ,and right click on it ,and print.

As far as getting the windows 10 version into windows7. I know there was a way to get the old winpaint, so maybe there's a way to get the snipping tool into 10, I don't know.

im curious if i could compress, and upload the application to this post? 7zip doesnt seem to be allowed