How Do I Configure File Sharing and Network Disk Mapping for a Windows ECS?

Scenarios

This section describes how to share a folder between Windows ECSs over an intranet.

Constraints

Some carriers may block ports 139 and 445. As a result, you cannot access the shared folders over the Internet. Therefore, you are advised to share a folder between Windows ECSs only over an intranet.

Procedure

1. Check whether the two Windows ECSs that are to share a folder are correctly configured.
   • Ensure that TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper is started.
     Open the CLI, run the services.msc command, and locate TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper to check its status.

     Figure 1 Tcp/IP NetBIOS Helper
     
   • Ensure that Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP is selected on the NIC.
     Right-click the Network icon in the lower right corner and choose Open Network and Sharing Center from the shortcut menu. Click Change adapter settings. Right-click Ethernet and choose Properties from the shortcut menu. Double-click Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4). Choose Advanced > WINS and select Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP.

     Figure 2 Enabling NetBIOS over TCP/IP
     
   • Ensure that the inbound rules are added for ports 139 and 445 on the Windows ECS firewall.

2. Configure Network and Sharing Center
   1. Click Open Network and Sharing Center.
   2. Click Change advanced sharing settings.
      Figure 3 Change advanced sharing settings
      
   3. Ensure the network types of the two Windows ECSs are same. For example, both are public or private. Select Turn on network discovery and Turn on sharing so anyone with network access can read and write files in the Public folder.
      Figure 4 Enabling network discovery
      
      Figure 5 Enabling public folder sharing
      

      If the network discovery function cannot be enabled, you can run the services.msc command to start the Services manager. Check whether the following services on which the network discovery function depends are enabled:

      • Function Discovery Resource Publication
      • SSDP Discovery
      • UPnP Device Host
   4. In the Services manager, start the Workstation service.

      This service depends on the Computer Browser and Remote Desktop Configuration components. Before starting the Workstation service, start the two components.

      Figure 6 Enabling the Workstation service
      

3. Configure disk sharing on the ECS that needs to access the shared disk.
   1. Right-click the disk to be shared and select Properties.
   2. Click the Sharing tab and then click Advanced Sharing.
      Figure 7 Configuring disk sharing
      
   3. Set Share name and click OK.

      Customize a name for the folder to be shared.

      Figure 8 Entering a name for the folder to be shared
      

4. Start another ECS in the same region and access the shared folder over the intranet.
   1. Start the Run dialog box.
   2. Enter \\Intranet IP address\123 and click OK to open the shared folder.
      Figure 9 Assessing the shared folder
      

5. (Optional) Create a network drive mapping for the shared path. Perform this operation to access the shared folder more conveniently.
   1. Right-click the shared folder and choose Map network drive from the shortcut menu.
      Figure 10 Creating a mapping
      
   2. Map the network drive.
      Figure 11 Mapping the network drive
      
   3. Click the name of the mapped network drive, choose Create Shortcut, and send the shortcut to the desktop.
      Double-click the shortcut to quickly access the shared folder.

      Figure 12 Creating a shortcut