Does Windows 10 support File Sharing?

The file sharing is praised by lots of people because of its convenience and safety, which helps to share files between different computers in the same LAN. However, some users report that Windows 10 file sharing not working after update 1803, 1809 or 1903 in File Explorer, and you may receive the following message:

• You do not have permission to access \\.
• Check the spelling of the name. Otherwise, there might be a problem with your network.

Besides Windows 10, you can also encounter Windows 11 network sharing not working.

Why Windows cannot access network computer in Windows 10?

There is no doubt that Windows cannot access network computer in Windows 10 or 11 is caused by different reasons. Here we summarize some common reasons for this:

• The file sharing settings are incorrect. 
• You don't have a credential.
• The file sharing connection is not compatible. 
• The antivirus software prevents Windows file sharing. 
• The SMB 1.0 is disabled in Windows 10 Update.
• Windows Update has bugs. 

File sharing not working in Windows 10? Try these 5 solutions 

The issue of network sharing not working in Windows 10 brings great inconvenience to users. But don’t worry, the following are some workable ways to fix the network sharing problem in Windows 10.

Like any other Windows issue, this issue can be easily fixed just with a simple system restart. Also, try to disable antivirus software. After trying these methods, this problem still exists, you need to use the following methods.

Solution 1. Configure advanced sharing settings

The file sharing works when you configure the advanced sharing settings correctly, such as, turn on network discovery, file and printer sharing. For that, follow the steps below: 

1. Go to Start > Control Panel > Network and Sharing Center > Change advanced sharing settings.

2. Select Turn on network discovery to enable network discovery. Select Turn on file and printer sharing to enable file sharing.

3. Click Save changes to confirm.

Don’t forget to have a check to make sure Windows Firewall is not blocking file and printer sharing.

1. Go to Start > Control Panel > Windows Defender Firewall.

2. Select Allow an app or feature through Windows Defender Firewall.

3. Make sure you have selected File and Printer Sharing in the apps and featurs list. Finally, click OK.

Solution 2. Turn password protection off 

The Windows file sharing not working issue may be caused by password proected sharing. It requires a user account on this PC or username and password, otherwise you cannot access the shared folder in File Explorer. Hence, you can choose to disable the password protection feature. 

1. Go to Start > Control Panel > Network and Sharing Center > Change advanced sharing settings.

2. Scroll down to find the “Password protected sharing” option, and click Turn off password protected sharing. 

3. Click Save changes to confirm.

Solution 3. Check for the Computer Browser service

Computer Browser service is a feature of Microsoft Windows to let users easily browse and locate shared resources in neighboring computers. Therefore, you can check if it's running in the Services. 

1. Go to Start and type services.msc in Start Search.

2. Find the Computer Browser. Right-click it and select Properties. Check if it is started.

3. If it is stopped select Start or Restart. And make sure that the startup type of this service is set as Automatic, click Apply and OK to complete this operation.

Besides this service, there are multiple services required for file sharing, you still need to check them and be sure it's started and the startup type is automatic.

• Function Discovery Provider Host
• Function Discovery Resource Publication
• SSDP Discovery
• UPnP Device Host

Solution 4. Add a Windows Credential 

Accessing shared folders on a remote server requires a Windows credential, if you don't have, please create one and then try again. You need to know its IP address, user name and password. 

1. Open Control Panel, and click on Credentials Manager.

2. Select Windows Credentials and click the Add a Windows credential button.

3. Then, input the IP address, user name and password in the corresponding box and click Save to keep changes. 

Solution 5. Enable SMB 1.0 in Windows Feature

Microsoft disables the SMB1.0/CIFS setting in the latest Windows Update, but it's a essential feature for file sharing. In view of this, you need to enable it in Windows Feature. 

Step 1. Go to Control Panel > Programs and Features > Turn Windows features on or off in order. 

Step 2. Tick SMB 1.0/CIFS File Sharing Support and click OK. 

3. Restart your computer for changes to take effect. If the problem still persists, try to update Windows 10 to latest version. 

Sharing files with the best alternative – free and easy

Except for accessing shared in File Explorer, you can try different alternatives in the following.

The first method is really, you just need to open command prompt and type the command above. Thus, here I'll show you the second method in detail and share files over a network. And you can still use it as a long-term data protection solution. 

1. Download, install and run this software. Click Sync from the left list. Then select Basic Sync.

2. The Task Name can be modified according to your needs. Click Add Folder to choose the folder which contains the files you want to sync.

3. Click the inverted triangle and select Add Share or NAS Device. 

4. Then, type network path or name in the next window, you will see all shared folders, select one folder as the destination path and click OK.

5. Click Schedule Sync and enable it, then select daily, weekly, monthly. To distinguish this sync task from others easily, click Options  to write a comment for this task. Click Start Sync to share your files over a network.

Notes:

• If you set the sync task to run daily/weekly/monthly, the program will automatically install a service to run scheduled task and run missed sync at the next system startup, so you won’t worry that the newly added files or folders cannot be synced.

• Except for daily, weekly, and monthly, you can use the premium features - Event triggers and USB plug in on the Professional version. The last one is recommended if you want to copy files automatically when USB connected, instead of connecting external devcies manually before this task start.

• Do not change the folder name of your source. Otherwise, AOMEI Backupper cannot sync it anymore.

• Besides network path, you still can sync folders to cloud drives like OneDrive. For free users with a few GB of cloud storage, you could try AOMEI Cloud, which provides you with 1TB of free storage from the time you sign up until 15 days. 

Summary

That’s all for how to fix Windows 10 file sharing not working problem. Hope one of the methods can help you fix the problem. To avoid any network sharing problem in the future, you can try  AOMEI Backupper to sync two folders on the same computer, auto sync files to external hard drive, sync folder to a network drive.

By the way, other features like cloning files to an external hard drive, backing up files, restoring files from backup image are also available for this software. If you want to prevent your files from being lost, you can take advantage of theses practical functions. Just give it a try by yourself now!

Does Windows 10 have file sharing?

How do I enable file sharing on Windows 10?

Why can't I share files on Windows 10?

Can Windows 10 and 11 share files?