Mounting PC as a network drive

[da na]

First I hope this is the right subforum. 

I have a PC set up to do my 3D renders, and I also want it to host files that I can view and download from other machines on the network. How would I go about transferring files between computers? I just want to be able to send the rendered photos back to my workstation without having to put them in onedrive. I don't want any cables, the only thing I have plugged into the other PC is a power cable. Totally remotely accessed and I touch it maybe once a month if I need to use a software CD or do a hard restart as it is in a relatively inconvenient place. It runs Windows 10 Pro 20H2. 

Thanks! 

[WhitetailAni]

1 minute ago, Mel0nMan said:

I don't want any cables, the only thing I have plugged into the other PC is a power cable.

Good luck doing remote access unless you do it over WiFi.

[da na]

1 minute ago, FakeKGB said:

Good luck doing remote access unless you do it over WiFi.

That is what I have been doing for a few days, it's a bit laggy but for just checking render progress it is fine. I know I can't magically beam GPU light radiation for remote viewing to my other computer lol, even a Quadro can't do that

[mdecima]

The functionality of Windows Network shared folders is enough?

 

[RockSolid1106]

Quoting myself here:

  

On 7/9/2021 at 9:31 PM, RockSolid1106 said:

The best way should be to create a shared folder on your PC, and then use the files app to connect to it. Doesn't require any additional software.

How you can do it:

First enable network discovery on your PC. Do so by searching for "sharing" in Windows Search. Then, in the window that opens, click on the "Private" drop down. Then make sure your settings look something like this:

To create a shared folder on your PC, you could create a folder(or choose an existing one), right click it on it, Properties, then the sharing tab, and then click on share. Select or add your user, and give it the appropriate permissions(you should give read/write permission). 

Now, you will also need to know your IP address. To do this, open up Task Manager(Ctrl + Shift + Esc), the turn to the Performance tab, and on the left pane, select your network interface, and then you can see your IPv4 address on the right side.

 

On the other PC you can open File Explorer, then on the left pane, make sure you're on This PC. Then click Map Network Drive, and then the same again:

Spoiler

 

Then in the new window, enter two backslashes, then your server IP/name, then another backslash followed by the folder inside what you shared.

In my case the folder I shared was "Docs" so I entered "\\192.168.1.14\Docs".

 

Though, since you'll be on WiFi, your speeds won't be too good. On my network I get about 5MB/s, YMMV.

 

Hope this helps!

[Akolyte]

4 hours ago, mdecima said:

The functionality of Windows Network shared folders is enough?

 

@Mel0nMan Agree with this, 

 

But I will say - be careful of the network you are on, If you are using wifi and local IP addresses this method is fine - but really in any other circumstance you'll want to set up a VPN on your render server so any of these file transfers are done securely.