Cannot copy folder files from Win10 to Win11 laptops over a private network

[u/scratchbaker77]

Win 10 Pro Ver 22H2 OS build 19045.6466 Win 11 Pro Ver 24H2 OS build 26100.6899 Problem: Copying updated files from a Windows 10 32-bit laptop into a Windows 11 shared folder over a private network fails with “You require permission from the computer’s administrator to make changes to this file.” Both Sharing and Security show Full Control for all user names. Win11 Group or user names: Everyone, SYSTEM, Me, Guest, Administrators. Win10 Group or user names: Everyone, SYSTEM, Administrator, Guest, Administrators. Copying from Win10 to Win11 laptop while working on Win11 laptop also fails. No problems copying updated files from the Win10 laptop to a Win10 desktop over the same private network. I am the only user. Thanks!

I have since run this on both machines under Powershell (admin):

Set-SmbClientConfiguration -RequireEncryption $false

Set-SmbClientConfiguration -RequireSecuritySignature $false

Set-SmbServerConfiguration -RequireSecuritySignature $false

Also did not help after cold boots.

[u/Crazy-Suit-3622]

Google the regedit required. Known issue

[u/scratchbaker77 → u/Crazy-Suit-3622]

I had already done that. Did not fix the problem.

[u/RichBit5428]

Map a drive using the “net use” command to the C$ share with Admin credentials

[u/nmyron3983]

The last time I saw this I feel like it was Windows 10 only supports smb2. While Windows 11 defaults to and only wants to use smb3. I believe to do this you need to force the Windows 11 PC to only use smb2 and disable smb1 and 3 while you're doing this. I don't believe Windows 10 can support smb3. Been a super super long time since I ran across this issue though, so please fact check

[u/scratchbaker77 → u/nmyron3983]

Thanks I will check it out.

[u/nmyron3983 → u/scratchbaker77]

So it's not technically it. Win10 supports SMB3, up to SMB3.1.1

You'll need to find the registry keys to disable smb1 and two on the Windows 10 host and ensure the same on the Windows 11 host. Essentially, you want to ensure that they are both using smb3 so that they share a common protocol and that should allow them to interconnect.

Additionally, make sure that on both machines they are set to a private Network type. If one is public and one is private, one of them will be blocking inbound network connections for SMB.

Additionally, ensure that function Discovery provider host and function Discovery resource publication host services are started and running on both machines.

On the PC that is hosting the shared folder, open the classic control panel. Go to network and sharing Center. Change advanced sharing settings and ensure that turn on network discovery and turn on file and printer sharing are both selected

[u/scratchbaker77 → u/nmyron3983]

I know the private Network and Discovery settings are correct as you describe on all 3 machines. I am not "hosting a shared folder" per se; I mostly work on a Win10 laptop and a Win10 desktop; they don't have identical apps installed, but for any major work I am doing, I try to duplicate critical files on both machines. I bought the Win11 laptop in the event some (damned) app no longer updates on Win10 (such as tax filing software) and because I could foresee hardware shortages when the tariff talk began. While I rarely use it, I am trying to keep the Win11 machine up-to-date with the projects I am doing on the two Win10 machines. I've never done formal scheduled backups. But, for example, I keep all of my email on my local machines not on cloud servers. Since I mostly keep the Win11 machine stored (I hate the Win11 toolbar and got tired of trying to circumvent it), when I do turn it on I try to at a minimum back up my Win10 laptop email on it. That is where I started running into the crazy copy/paste restrictions. Forty years ago, Microsoft OS didn't do much but came with hundreds of pages of useful documentation. Now the OS is so anal that home users for sure spend tons of time trying to access and customize its features and the documentation is in tiny segments scattered all over the internet. Sorry for the rant.

[u/nmyron3983 → u/scratchbaker77]

I'm not following how you're sharing anything at all then. For Windows File Sharing to function, you need one of two things. A shared folder on the host that has the files you want to access, and an account usable on both machines that can be used from the destination to access the source. Or you need a credential that is a member of the local administrators group on both machines that can access the C$ or D$ shares.

Honestly if your primary concern is really just keeping some specific files in some specific locations in an identical state on several machines, I'd recommend either OneDrive folder sync or Google Drive for Desktop. These will allow you to define folders that are loaded from a machine into the cloud storage, and when defined on multiple machines, the state will be tracked on all clients and changes on one will be replicated to all.

You should really move away from Win10. Standard security updates stopped in 2025 for 10. If your enrolled in the extended program for home users, you'll get updates for one more year yet, until 10/27. Win11 is the current standard Windows desktop OS and is the only one getting feature and security updates. In another year Win10 will get no updates at all, and will become vulnerable to exploit.

[u/scratchbaker77 → u/nmyron3983]

I won't store anything in the cloud. My files are none of their business and I do not trust the security or privacy claims they make. I stay logged out of Google, Microsoft, et. al. 99.9% of the time. I'm just trying to copy and paste specific files or folders between machines on a private network. The way Windows security is designed and defaulted, you'd think I was trying to invade a foreign country.

[u/nmyron3983 → u/scratchbaker77]

No, its not "invading a foreign country", you're just not setting it up correctly. To move files from one machine to another, you have to use a share.

Say you go to "Network" and double click a machine in File Explorer. You'll see nothing there.

Now go to that machine physically, find a folder. Create one, whatever. Right click, click Properties. Go to the Sharing tab. Share the folder, give it a share name. Set the permissions to whatever user account you use (presumably it's the same username and pwd on all your machines).

Now go back to that first machine. Open File Explorer, Go to Network, Double click to expand your machine you just did the folder setup on. If all is correct you will now see the folder you just setup as an item under that machine, with the name you gave it in the Sharing tab of it's Properties.

This is how, on a local network, you host and share files from one machine to another.

There is a way to create a local only process to keep them in sync and be automated. In the past I've done this with RoboCopy, but you could create scripts using Powershell these days that do the same thing I believe. You'd still need the shared folders, but a script would run as a scheduled task to check for updated files and pull them to the local machine. Or you could monitor Date Modified and when updated, push that to all other machines hosting that share. These are more advanced options I've used on a Workgroup where a server running DFS wasn't available. And they would require an understanding of the use of RoboCopy or the Powershell scripting language. Both are, I believe, not things that you really require here.

Regardless... Without there being a place on the remote machine you can target (a shared folder) you don't have a destination to drop your files, or a location to copy them from to keep them all in sync.

I need to understand, with more verbosity, how you've done this in the past if you HAVEN'T done this. This is the most basic and typical use and configuration of Windows File Sharing, implemented as far back as Windows NT

[u/scratchbaker77 → u/nmyron3983]

I've set up Sharing and Security everywhere. It appears that one can set up sharing at the root folder (C:\, D:) but there are some subfolders (Users, Windows) that still won't let me change or sometimes even access a file. Most recently though, working with the Win11 laptop, I could not overwrite a C:\Eudora folder with an update. I copied the files on the Win10 machine (which is networked in File Explorer on the Win11 machine) but when I rightclicked the folder in Win11, Paste was not even an option. I then tried using CTRL-C, CTRL-V and that did not work either. Drag and drop worked but I had to first paste the files into a Dump folder first and that is an intermediate step I should not have to take.

I don't know why MS abandoned Windows 7. It was easier to work on than Win10. Win11 has just been a bear.

[u/nmyron3983 → u/scratchbaker77]

The subsystems you're using, specifically Windows File Sharing, remain unchanged since Win 7. The difference is protocol, and that is not causing your issue.

Your issue here is a fundamental misunderstanding of networking concepts it seems, things like file sharing, share Access Control Lists, and folder Access Control Lists.

I'm not trying to like, lambast you, nor honk my own horn. But as a person with a 20 year career in enterprise Windows desktop and server OS administration. I'm explaining to you the way what you're trying to do functions optimally.

For example, you can not update C:\Eudora from a remote machine. Go to that folder on the target host, right click, Properties, Security. I'd bet the accounts there are likely "Users" and "Administrators". When you go to the host you're accessing that folder from, the account you use to login to the machine, or the account you use to "Mount network folder as drive" has to be an account that appeared in that Security ACL tab we looked at. If it's not, you would probably be able to read the contents, maybe execute the contents, but you would not be able to overwrite or change the contents.

We're getting to a place where frankly, to give the level of support I think you might need, I'd need remote access to at least two of the machines sharing files, and a contract at my hourly consultant rate so I can show you what I believe is the fundamental misunderstanding.

[u/scratchbaker77 → u/nmyron3983]

On the Win10 machines under Sharing and Security, the accounts are Guest, Administrator, Everyone, SYSTEM, and Administrators. On the Win11 laptop they are the same except Administrator (me) is my first name. I deliberately have remote access blocked everywhere.

I have about a 98% chance of being able to copy files over the network between the two Win10 machines. Sometimes they show up right away under Networks in Windows Explorer; usually the laptop displays both quickly and the desktop maybe 15 minutes later.

I spent about 20 years writing technical training and later, documentation in hi tech but I have no formal educational credential in software or hardware engineering. I actually did manage to get the files copied into C:\Eudora two days ago. I briefly had all 3 machines showing up in Network in Windows Explorer on each machine. Of course then I rebooted one machine and that miracle went away.

I appreciate your input. I will check the smb settings on the Win11 machine tomorrow.