Accessing PC Files on iOS/Android Through Windows Network Share

If you’ve been looking for ways to connect your Windows files to your Android/iOS devices, you may have come across guides recommending various external applications, both free and paid. However, it’s important to know that you don’t necessarily require any external applications for seamless file transfers between your devices. Windows Network Share provides a straightforward method for sharing files, folders, or entire drives across devices within the same network. Let’s explore how to set up Windows Network Share to access your PC files from Android/iOS.

What Is Network File Sharing?

When you need to share a file or folder with someone, sharing it over your local network can often be quicker than uploading to the cloud or using a USB flash drive. This method is known as network file sharing. While File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a viable option for remote or local file sharing, setting it up can be more cumbersome compared to the user-friendly Windows Network Share.

Windows Network Share internally employs the SMB protocol to grant read/write access to files, directories, or entire drives for devices on the local network. Despite its ease of setup and efficiency, it’s crucial to be aware that Windows Network Share is a common target for potential threats. Therefore, understanding how the SMB protocol functions and being familiar with common SMB vulnerabilities is essential to safeguard your network perimeter from potential breaches.

How to Share a Windows Drive on Your Local Network

In order to retrieve files from your computer, you must share them on the local network. For this illustration, I’ll be demonstrating the sharing of an entire drive on the local network. If you prefer to share a specific folder or individual file, you can replicate the same steps but only select the desired folder(s) or file(s).

Prior to proceeding with the steps, it is advisable to establish a dedicated, local Windows user account exclusively intended for network drive access.

Here are the instructions for sharing files on the local network in Windows 10/11:

1. Right-click on the drive you want to share.
2. From the drop-down menu, click on Properties.
3. In the Properties menu, go to the Sharing tab.
4. Click on Advanced Settings in the new pop-up menu, check the Share this folder box, and wait, it’s not over yet. Now to prevent unsolicited access to your locally shared drives, click on Permissions.
5. In the new menu that pops up, click on Add. Yet another box should pop up. Here, type in the username of your user account. Use a dedicated user account only for network access or use your primary account’s username and press Enter. You should find your name is present on the list of users with permission to the shared drive.
6. Finally, click on your account name, and in the Permissions for <account name> section, check the Full Control box and hit Apply.

That’s all the steps to share your drive on the local network. 

How to Access Your Windows Files From an Android Device

With the drive successfully shared on the local network, accessing your newly shared drives and files from your Android device is just a few taps away. Ensure that your Android device and Windows PC are connected to the same Wi-Fi network. With these verifications completed, let’s explore the steps to access Windows network-shared files from Android:

1. Fire up the Files application on your Android device.
2. On the Files application, scroll to Network Storage and tap on it.
3. Inside Network Storage, tap on Add network storage. You might be asked to select an option from a list of protocols. Tap on Network Drive or any option with SMB in the name.
4. Your device will start to scan for locally shared drives. Wait for it to locate your Windows drive. If your device is unable to locate it follow the next steps. First, you need to find the IP address of your Windows PC.
5. After noting the IP address, go back to your Android device and tap on Add Manually.
6. In the new window, type in the IPv4 address you copied earlier into the Address field. Then, type 445 into the Port field. Finally, fill in the Username and Password fields with your account credentials and hit on Add or Connect.

At this point, you can conveniently access files on your Windows PC using your Android device. You have the flexibility to modify the files or download them directly to your Android device, all achieved without the necessity of any external applications!

How to Access Your Windows Files From an iOS Device

The process of accessing Windows files from iOS closely mirrors the steps outlined for Android devices. Here’s a guide on how to access your Windows PC’s files from iOS:

1. Before opening your iOS device. You need to grab the IP address of your Windows PC. There are multiple ways to do it. The easiest one being typing in cmd in the search box and then using the ipconfig command to fetch network-related details. Note down the value of the IPv4 field.
2. Fire up the Files application on your iOS device.
3. Click on the three horizontal dots (ellipsis) in the top right corner. From there, select Connect to Server.
4. A new window should open up asking you to input the IP address of the shared drive. Type in the IP address that you previously noted down and tap on Next.
5. Then, you will be prompted to enter the user account credentials to access the shared drive. Type them in and tap on Next.

You should now have the capability to view files on the shared drive. Feel free to download, upload, or make modifications to the local files on your Windows PC effortlessly, without the need for any third-party applications.