Amal Nagm

Sharing Folders in Vista The XP Way

Sharing Folders in Vista: The XP Way

As you may know, Windows Vista includes a Share button on its Explorer toolbar, but it doesn't work the same way it did in Windows XP. Instead, it pops up a wizard that tries to make things easier.





By default, the Share button in Vista will not let you choose the name of the shared folder. Even more so, if you want to share a folder within your user directory, you will end up with a weird share name, like this: \\computer\Users\geek\Contacts. That's obviously much more difficult to remember!

So, if you want to share folders the way you used to in Windows XP, simply right click the folder and choose the Properties option.





Next, click on the Advanced Sharing button.





Now, you should be able to check the box that says "Share this folder" and choose a share name for yourself, which, for example, will be accessible from \\computer\myshare. Much easier!





You can also click the Permissions button if you want to allow write access to the share or only allow access to a particular user.





Here's to easier and faster folder sharing in Windows Vista!