Share cd drive over network..?

[Connor.S]

I was researching a bit and read a couple places that you can share a disk drive over a network.. Has anyone done this?

I attempted to do it but failed.. I shared the drive, but wasn't able to access or see it from another comp.

Any input on this?

Thanks

 

[turbodiesel]

not sure but i have seen a network hard drive with a DVD writer like this

 

[Connor.S]

I don't need to be able to write or anything. And if I have to buy something i'll just get a cheap external usb cd drive. I have a netbook that doesn't have a cd drive and was curious if it's possible to share the drive on my desktop and access it from the netbook..

 

[turbodiesel]

what OS are you using it works for me go to the drive you want to share right click and go to properties then go to sharing and share the drive from file sharing or try to drag the drive to the shared documents folder but im not sure if it will work

 

[voyagerfan99]

I've done it in my house. Just make sure the drive you want to be shared is set as shared, and make sure your other computers are on the same workgroup as yourself.

 

[Connor.S]

I can share hard drives and what not just fine. But I want to share the CD disk drive so I can access a cd on the netbook from the desktop comp. Both Windows XP and in same workgroup.

 

[voyagerfan99]

I can share hard drives and what not just fine. But I want to share the CD disk drive so I can access a cd on the netbook from the desktop comp. Both Windows XP and in same workgroup.

Like I said, set your CD drive to be shared. It's the same process as sharing an entire HDD over a network.

 

[Connor.S]

I coulda swore I tried this numerous times without luck! Hmm..

I keep getting the error \\Comp\folder is not accessible. Device is not ready.

Any ideas?

 

[johnb35]

It can be done as I've done it as well just to see if it did work but this was years ago. You just have to make sure your network settings are correct and sharing is setup.

 

[Connor.S]

Alright good to atleast know it's possible. I'll go back over all the settings and what not. You would think it would work seeing as I can access the shared hard drive, right?

 

[strollin]

I coulda swore I tried this numerous times without luck! Hmm..

I keep getting the error \\Comp\folder is not accessible. Device is not ready.

Any ideas?

Just in case, you do realize you'll get not ready if you don't have a DVD in the drive, right?

 

[Connor.S]

I got it to work.. kind of.

I was going out on a limb and trying to reinstall Windows XP while having the disk in a different comp. Everything was working fine and installing until the first shutdown and reboot. Upon booting I am provided with "A disk read occurred. Press ctrl alt del to restart". Is this because the XP cd isn't in the comp I am trying to install on?

 

[strollin]

When installing an OS, you should map the drive and also check the box that says to "reconnect at logon" so that the shared drive can be easily found by the installer when the machine reboots.

 

[Connor.S]

I still receive "A disk read error occurred" when it attempts to reboot; this is with the drive mapped and box checked.

Suppose I'll just wait until my external cd drive arrives.

 

[strollin]

How about using a USB stick to install the OS? The USB stick method is much faster than either install via CD or install from shared drive. Here's a tutorial: install-windows-xp-using-usb-flash-disk

 

[Connor.S]

I've thought about doing that a lot. But don't have a 2gb or smaller flash drive so can't format it to Fat32. I already have an external cd drive in the mail. Figure I'll just wait for it so I don't waste money doing it another way..