3. Sharing files, folders or drives

Sharing resources is configured from the computer that contains the files and folders you want to share. You can share an entire drive so that all the files and folders on that drive become available to the other computers, or you can share just specific folders.

To share a file, folder or drive using Windows XP:

1.	Enable file sharing on your computer if you haven't already done so by running the Network Setup Wizard. Click Start, click Control Panel, click Network and Internet Connections, click Network Setup Wizard. You only need to do this once on your computer. Note: You must have administrative privileges on your computer to share files and folders in Windows XP.
2.	Open My Computer.
3.	Browse to the folder that contains the files that you want to make available to other computers, and then select it.
4.	On the File menu, click Sharing and Security.
5.	Click Share this Folder on the Network tab. By default, the folder is made available to all of the other computers on your network, and everyone has read-only access. To give everyone read-write access, select Allow Network Users to Change My Files.

For shared files to be available to others, the computer with the files must be turned on and logged on to the network. Use My Network Places (Microsoft Windows XP) or Network Neighbourhood (Windows 2000 and Windows 98) to navigate to and access shared files and folders on your network.

You can avoid having to navigate to a shared resource using My Network Places when you "map" your computer to the resource. When you map to a shared folder or drive to a drive letter on your computer, you can use My Computer or Windows Explorer to view it.

To map a shared folder or drive to a drive letter:

1.	In Windows Explorer or My Computer, click the Tools menu, and then click Map Network Drive.
2.	Browse to the location of the network resource you want to map, and then click OK.
3.	Select a drive letter and then click Finish.

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