Turn a Mini Pc into a BT Server?

[Extra101]

Hello,

 

I have an old mini PC running Windows 10 that I don't use. I want to repurpose it and use it as a server so my other computers can share files (access the same files). 

For example I have an SQL Database (for my inventory system) that every computer in the vicinity needs to access.

I'm thinking of using Bluetooth to access the database because everything is is close vicinity.

 

Is there anyway to do this or am I better off just sharing the file via Right Click>Give Access To > The PC's in the vicinity?

 

Thanks in advance.

[jaslion]

Why bluetooth? Thats the slowest thing you could possibly do :p.

 

Just give them a wifi connection because bt is not gonna work at all.

[da na]

As was said, even over wifi servers are miserable. BT is worse. 

[Alex Atkin UK]

1 minute ago, Mel0nMan said:

As was said, even over wifi servers are miserable. BT is worse. 

Well it depends, I've gotten pretty close to Gigabit on a good day and if you're not moving huge files constantly its can be good enough.

Bluetooth, yeah, I wouldn't even attempt that.

[da na]

4 minutes ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

Well it depends, I've gotten pretty close to Gigabit on a good day and if you're not moving huge files constantly its can be good enough.

Bluetooth, yeah, I wouldn't even attempt that.

If the server is on Ethernet it's fine. Wifi-wifi from my experience can be a little slow

[Alex Atkin UK]

1 minute ago, Mel0nMan said:

If the server is on Ethernet it's fine. Wifi-wifi from my experience can be a little slow

Good point, I'd always avoid that especially if they're not even going through an Access Point.

 

I did some testing for example using Windows Internet Sharing and the cards perform WAY slower than when connected using an Access Point.  WiFi tethering on Android isn't that great either.

[Extra101]

My files are small (about 600kb in size) but I'll look into WiFi or Ethernet connection. But how do I share the files?

Any good tutorials you can point my too?

[AKS_Adrian]

6 hours ago, Extra101 said:

My files are small (about 600kb in size) but I'll look into WiFi or Ethernet connection. But how do I share the files?

Any good tutorials you can point my too?

You can just share the folder on the network. Here is how you can do that:

Right click > Properties > Sharing > Advanced Sharing.
Check the "Share this folder" checkbox, give the share a simple but helpful name, and then click on permissions.
Click Add, then Advanced and then click on find now. This will list all the different groups and user accounts on your computer, you can make a new user account for the share in Windows settings or you can just use your existing account. Scroll down until you find the user account you want to give permissions to then click it, then click ok, and click ok again.
Now, click on the account you just added and then check the "Full Control" checkbox. Then, click on "Everyone" and click remove. Now click apply and then ok.

Click on ok again and that's it.

Now I will tell you how to connect to this share from another PC.

First, you need to know the device name where you just set up the share. You can find this by right clicking This PC in explorer and clicking properties. Note down the device name.

Now, go to the other PC where you want to connect to the share. Open up explorer and right click This PC and click on "Map a network drive".

Now, where it says folder, type in the following by replacing device-name and folder-name with whatever your device and folder is called. \\device-name\folder-name

Check the "Connect using different credentials" checkbox and click finish.

A windows security window should now open asking for a username and password, type in the username and password for the user account you gave permissons to and click ok.

You should now see the network drive in This PC.

 

Hopefully these instructions were clear enough, any questions then just ask