Hamachi:Windows File Sharing

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This article will walk you through setting up Windows File Sharing. File sharing can be used to move files back and forth between Hamachi enabled computers without the use of another program.

Simple File Sharing

Enable Simple File Sharing

If you are using XP Professional you have this option, otherwise XP Home does not have this option. It's enabled by default.

Open Windows Explorer (My Computer) > Tools > Folder Options > View > "Use Simple File Sharing." at the bottom, ticked.

Make sure virtual network adapter has File and Printer Sharing enabled

Go to Control Panel > Network Connections > right-click the Hamachi Adapter > and ensure "Client for Microsoft Networks" and "File and Printer Sharing" are enabled.

Allow Microsoft vulnerable services in Hamachi

Hamachi also includes a security mechanism that can be enabled during installation/preferences that blocks vulnerable Microsoft protocols. This feature is used to prevent unauthorized file access, but it needs to be disabled to share files. Do not do this unless you trust ALL of the other members of your Hamachi network(s).

Make sure you have a shared folder

Make sure you have a shared folder, by default you do, but if you managed to disable it somehow, go to My Computer right click Shared Documents > Properties > Sharing select "Share this folder" name it if it isn’t named. Notice the "hand" holding the file/folder you share.

if you are using XP Pro and want to have more control/security over how users can manipulate files/folders on the computer, continue reading.

Advanced File Sharing

The instructions for configuring Advanced File Sharing are essentially the same as Simple File Sharing, except for the differences below. This method is recommended for high security and requires a knowledge of NTFS permissions and Share permissions in Windows.

If you want to take the permissions/security of your file sharing implementation further, you can opt to not use Simple File Sharing, but rather Advanced File Sharing. In this mode, Windows requires a Windows username and password to access resources.

Disable Simple File Sharing

You Must have a Professional version of Windows, so XP Home will not work for this.
Go to Windows Explorer (My Computer) > Tools > Folder Options > View > untick "Use Simple File Sharing".
This will do two things. It will disallow any shares already in place from being access via the Everyone group, which uses the Guest user account, and also enable the Security tab in the Folder Options menu.
In here, you can enable two layers of security. The first is NTFS file/folder permissions. Thee permissions affect the computer regardless of network use or local use. The second set is Share permissions, which only impact network users.

Note, you need to ensure that the Workstation service is running on your machine. It is by default, but if you modify the default system services on your machine, make sure this one is set to automatic.

Recommending a solution is not in the scope of this article, as NTFS/Share permissions can get very complex. Just keep in mind that Windows enforces the most strict permission, so if your NTFS permissions are more strict than the Share ones, they will be overridden.

Tips

Windows XP Professional also allows you to hide your shares from Network Places folders of machines on the network. This means that a computer wouldn't be able to access your share unless they knew the full path to it, i.e., \\hamachiIP\sharename .

To hide your shares: