Home > HTPC, PC > Windows 7, File Sharing, and a Break from the Past (Update 1)

Windows 7, File Sharing, and a Break from the Past (Update 1)

November 3, 2009 Stephen Leave a comment Go to comments

win7networkandsharingOf all the talk and press about Windows 7, few bring up the file sharing issues that will arise when you mix a Windows 7 machine with older versions of Windows or other clients.  While you may have heard of Windows 7’s HomeGroup concept of sharing files, it only works with other Windows 7 machines.  You have to modify the default configuration in order to work with older versions of Windows, Linux, OS X, or even your NAS system.  Ease of use was the intent, but I doubt Microsoft will achieve this with the large installed base of Vista and XP users.  HomeGroups aside, here’s what has changed with the enabling SMB protocol, version 2.0 introduced with Windows Vista(courtesy Microsoft):

  • General improvements to allow for better utilization of the network.
  • Request compounding, which allows multiple SMB 2.0 requests to be sent as a single network request.
  • Larger reads and writes to make better use of faster networks, even those with high latency.
  • Caching of folder and file properties, where clients keep local copies of folders and files.
  • Durable handles to allow an SMB 2.0 connection to transparently reconnect to the server in the event of a temporary disconnection.
  • Improved message signing (HMAC SHA-256 replaces MD5 as hashing algorithm) with improved configuration and interoperability.
  • Improved scalability for file sharing (number of users, shares, and open files per server greatly increased).
  • Support for symbolic links.

The minor improvements in SMB 2.1, introduced with Windows 7, provided the following benefits(courtesy Microsoft):

  • Reduced network bandwidth consumption
  • Greater file server scalability
  • Better application response time when accessing files over a network

Back to the main point of this post, try the following link as a means to get around the compatibility issues:

Tanner Williamson’s Windows 7 Network File Sharing Fix

Hats off to Tanner Williamson for a well documented solution.

Categories: HTPC, PC
  1. Tanner Williamson
    November 4, 2009 at 2:51 AM | #1
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    Thanks for the props. You’ve got some good simple and straight forward information sure to help anyone see the value in the new SMB changes for Windows 7.

    • zeus
      November 4, 2009 at 3:58 AM | #2
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      Thanks Tanner, I’m looking forward to “Part Two”.

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