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When you connect your laptop to a new Wi-Fi network, it's never enough for Windows to

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just connect you and be done with it. It always asks you this rather cryptic question about

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whether you want your PC to be discoverable on the network, with a warning that you shouldn't do it

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if you're sitting at a Starbucks or something. But many folks have never quite understood

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what picking one option over the other one means. And even more frustrating is that if you click the

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wrong thing or click away from it, it's very difficult to find that prompt again.

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So basically what it comes down to is whether you want to use file and device sharing for devices

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that would commonly be something like a printer on your local network. And lots of people never

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bother with this, but it can be useful. So let's have a look at what answering that question yes

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or no actually does and how to take advantage of the associated features.

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If you tell Windows that you don't want your computer to be discoverable, it won't let any

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other devices on the network see any files or devices that you're sharing either. And this

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is simply meant as another layer of protection if you're on a strange network, like one at an

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airport, library, or a Tinder dates apartment who you just met like an hour ago. But if you answer

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yes, it will allow you to share those things on whatever network you're connected to. So

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how do you get that set up? Well, unfortunately, Windows doesn't make it super obvious and the

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home group feature that was meant to make file sharing a bit more straightforward

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was axed in Windows 10 because ironically, nobody used it. The easiest way to share things locally

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is to create a folder containing everything that you'd like your friends or roommates or whoever

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to have access to. And you can do this after creating and filling up the folder by right

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clicking on it, then going give access to then selecting specific people. You'll see a menu

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pop up and in that drop down box, you can select everyone if you just want to share that folder

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broadly with everyone on your local network. Though it's very important to be sure to select

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what permission level you'd like to give other users. You can select read if you don't want

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anyone modifying the files like if you're sharing a game cache or something. Then all you need to

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do is click share and you'll be given a path to send to the other users on your network. Just

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have them type it into the file explorer address bar a voila. Your files are now available network

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wide. If instead you only want to share with certain people, you can make another user account on

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your computer with a password and then type that username into the box in the sharing window.

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Then you can give those credentials to whomever you want to have access to the files

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and when they access the appropriate path, they'll be asked to enter them.

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But what about sharing a printer? This is actually a little more straightforward

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even if the setting itself is buried a little bit. Go to your main Windows 10 settings app,

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select devices, then printers and scanners. Whichever printer is connected to your local PC

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should pop up. You just select it and click on manage. Now annoyingly you don't get a nice big

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button that says share. So instead you need to click on printer properties and in the box that

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pops up you should see a tab up top labeled sharing. Click it then check the box that says

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share this printer. Give it a funny name or just anything that people on your network will recognize

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then click okay. Now as long as the host computer is turned on anyone on the network should be able

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to add the printer from that same printers and scanners menu by clicking the printer I want

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isn't listed then entering the path in this format or just browsing for it. Now I know that

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there are more advanced and more secure ways to share files and printers across the network

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which I'm sure our viewers will be happy to discuss in the comments. But hopefully this guide

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has demystified the topic a bit and will help get you up and running. As for me, I'm not gonna

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bother because I never learned to share as a kid and besides, printer ink is expensive. Thanks for

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watching guys. Like, dislike, check out our other videos, leave a comment if you have a suggestion

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for a future fast as possible and don't forget to subscribe and follow because if you don't do it then

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fleas will bite your toes while you sleep and nobody wants that.