Question offline sync of shared network drive fails ("access denied")

[M-ate-x]

Hi community,

I have a desktop and a laptop running win 10 pro. I am sharing a partition from the desktop (S:/) with the laptop where I mount it as a drive (also as S:/).
My goal is that file paths are exactly the same on the laptop as well as on the desktop (e.g. S:\Folder) and I can work with the files on my laptop offline, when not connected to my home network.

However, I am constantly running into the error of the synchronisation centre to give me an "access denied" error every time it tries to synchronise the files.
Does anyone know what the problem exactly is? If I share a folder within the partition (not the partition itself), it seems to work.

 

[JackMDS]

May be this can help.

5 Useful Solutions to Sync Files Among Multiple Computers - MiniTool

When you have two computers, how to sync files from one computer to another computer? This post will give you 5 useful solutions to solve it.

www.minitool.com

 

[M-ate-x]

thanks for your reply Jack!
I basically set up everything using option 2 and 6 (network share and offline sync) just as described there, but there seems to be some kind of permission issue. Either because I am trying to share and sync a drive partition directly, or because I can't seem to get the permission/firewall/or other settings right :/
I enabled file and printer sharing over smb direct, but that didn't to the trick either and, from what I read, seems rather dangerous to enable by default.

 

[In2Photos]

Do the computers have the same Windows username and password?

 

[JackMDS]

I do not know what exactly is your partition Drive.

I know that if a Drive is added on a sperate Drive hardware or as Drive on the same HD of Win 10 and it configured corretl;y there should not be trouble.

I usually use the free edition of this to build the additional drive.

Best Free Partition Manager for Windows | MiniTool Partition Wizard Free

As an all-in-one free partition manager and disk manager software, MiniTool Partition Wizard Free helps manage disk space safely on Windows 11/10/8/7.

www.partitionwizard.com

 

[M-ate-x]

@In2Photos Yes, they have exactly the same username and password.

@JackMDS
Both computers just have one hard drive atm, with multiple partitions: Standard setup with C:/ and D:/.
On the desktop I set up a 3rd partition (S:/) which I share with the laptop, so any file would have the exact same file path no matter on which machine I create and use it.
I built the partitions straightforward with Win 10 built-in partition manager.

 

[QuietDad]

The issue with the laptop mounting a network share as a drive is the network share has to be connected to see it. Can't use something that isn't there

 

[mxnerd]

Let's say share a folder shared_stuff on desktop's disk D, map it as a network drive on the desktop itself, let's say X: drive

then connect to it on your laptop and also map it as X: drive, then on your laptop, right click on the mapped drive and choose "Always availble offline"

see if it works.

 

[M-ate-x]

@QuietDad I am aware of that. But the sync is failing when the drive is connected and I can access it in the explorer.

@mxnerd, that's a very good idea, thanks! It seems to work flawlessly.
What's more, I found out that the synchronization is failing only when done through the sync center. If I trigger it from within file explorer, it mostly works and if not, switching to offline and online mode again makes for a successful sync.
This unreliable behaviour has me think if there simply is a problem with sharing a partition directly and not a folder from within it.

Maybe anyone knows more about this?

Otherwise, I guess I will take your solution as the way to go forward for now.

 

[QuietDad]

I'm not seeing the setup. You created a S: partition on the desktop and link it on the laptop as S:. It's not shared. It's the same thing. When the laptop goes off line, it doesn't see the desktop and if you go into Windows Explorer you won't see it either.

 

[M-ate-x]

@QuietDad You are right, I am not seeing it on my laptop once I go offline. So that means there is no way around the solution @mxnerd pointed out? I have to work in a folder that I access through mapping it as a network drive on the same desktop as well as the laptop?

My main objective is: I want all shared files to be available on the laptop and desktop under the exact same file path and with the offline availability function also be able to use them when not connected to the same network.

So does that only work through sharing a folder, not a partition? Do you know an alternative solution to that?

btw, thanks to everyone for helping out, I really appreciate it!

 

[QuietDad]

When you share resources, there has to be a network connection. There is no way for a computer that is linking to a shared network drive to access it if it is not on the network to link to it. Can't get to something if there is no path to it. If the laptop is not connected to the network (offline) it cant see anything on it.

 

[mxnerd]

Watch some windows offline sync videos on Youtube. The technology has existed for years on Windows products. It has been developed especially for people who need to take the files from network/serevr with him/her and work on the road/sites without connection to the server. After the work is done, the modified files will be sync back to the server when the worker is back to the office and sync the modified files back to the server and overwrites the old files.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=windows+offline+sync

Study Windows CSC (client-side caching) folder too, which is used for caching offlie files.

 

[M-ate-x]

I was able to get it working. Thanks again for all your input!