Samba
Samba is a free software implementation of a collection of networking services and protocols, including Microsoft's SMB (or CIFS) protocol, which allows computers on a network to share files with each other.
On Windows XP
If you're using Microsoft Windows XP, you can connect to the shares of a computer on your local network, as long as you know the hostname or IP address.
- Open the Run... command from the Start menu
- Type two backslashes (\\), followed by the hostname or IP address of the computer you're connecting to
- If you also know the name of the share you're accessing, you can type one additional backslash and then the name of the share
- Hit Ok
For example, to install the VendPrint application, you need to copy the installer from \\vendprint.gac.edu\vendprint:
Network Drives
If you need to regularly access the same share (especially if it's a password-protected share), it's a good idea to mount the share as a network drive.