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From: wasbit <wasbit@REMOVEhotmail.com>
Newsgroups: alt.comp.os.windows-10,misc.phone.mobile.iphone
Subject: Re: Tutorial: How to copy ANY files, both directions between Windows
 and iOS/iPadOS using built-in functionality
Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2025 11:46:24 +0100
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On 14/04/2025 00:42, Tyrone wrote:
> This requires NO additional software to be installed on anything. All of this
> functionality is native to Windows, Linux and Unix (iOS/iPadOS).
> 
> First, to avoid ANY confusion.  This method does all of the copying to/from
> Windows on the iOS device. Which makes sense. Windows is the server.  iOS is
> the client. Not to mention that when I want a file on my phone that is
> currently only on my PC, it makes no sense to go to the PC and send it to the
> phone. Why not just get it on the phone directly? My Windows PC is not with me
> wherever I am in the house. That's what networks are for.
> 
> Also, when you are at work and need a file from the company servers, you don't
> go to the server and push the file down to your PC. You connect to the server
> and get the file, from your PC. Which is exactly what we will do here.
> 
> Anyways. Find your Windows IP address. There are many ways to do that, surely
> you don't need directions for that.
> 
> On Windows, share the C (or whatever) drive. Right click the drive, Give
> Access To, Advanced Sharing, Sharing Tab, Advanced Sharing again. Click Share
> This Folder. Make sure you give full control under the Permissions on that
> screen, if you want to be able to create/edit/delete files on Windows from
> your iPhone/iPad.  If all you want to do is copy files from Windows to iOS
> (one direction only), then the default Read Permission is fine.  You can also
> set the maximum number of simultaneous users here.
> 
> You also need an account with a password on Windows. You should already have
> this anyway. This does NOT have to be Microsoft account. A local account is
> fine. Name can be Files and password can be anything you want.
> 
> The above only needs to be done once. If you are already networking multiple
> Windows/Macs/whatever (as I do here) then all of this is already done. Also
> the above instructions are for Windows 10 Pro. Windows Home I THINK is
> slightly different. It still works, but I have not used any Windows Home
> versions for many years.
> 
> On any iPhone/iPad with at least iOS 13, connect to your local wifi. The same
> one that your Windows PC is on. Open the Files app. Click on the 3 dots in the
> circle at the top. One of the options is Connect To Server. Tap that. Enter
> the IP address of the Windows PC. Connect as Registered User. Enter your login
> name and password.
> 
> Now you will see the Windows C (or whatever) drive on your iPhone/iPad.
> Navigate to whatever folder you want. Tap a file and hold, the menu will pop
> up. Choose Copy. Then tap On My iPad on the left for an iPad. For an iPhone,
> return to the main Browse screen and tap On My iPhone. That will you take you
> to your "users" folder on the iPhone/iPad. Here you can create folders for
> stuff that you download from the internet or from your local network. Tap and
> hold, tap Paste.
> 
> Done and done. Easy, nothing to install. Copying from iOS to Windows is just
> as easy. Copy from On My iPhone/iPad and paste to whatever folder on the
> Windows drive.
> 
> Now that the server part is setup on Windows, all you need to do is Connect To
> Server anytime you want to move files. On ANY iOS device that is on the same
> network as the Windows PC in question.
> 
> Note that this is all standard SMB networking stuff.  SMB networking is how
> Windows/Linux/Unix share files/folders with each other on a network. You share
> the (drive/folder/whatever) on one and connect to that share on as many others
> as needed. Offices using Windows use this exact same method for users to
> connect to company Windows file servers.
> 
> Also note that you can share any folder(s) individually, instead of sharing
> the entire drive.  You could share only your Windows User folder, for example.
>   Or you could share a different data drive. I have 4 drives shared here: C, D,
> E and F.  I have MANY years of photos, PDFs, music and video files, etc. You
> are in complete control of this.
> 
> But for me, sharing the entire drive is just easier. Because you don't have to
> worry about saving/moving things on Windows to a "special folder" to make them
> available on the network. Besides, you have to login via the Files app (or on
> another Windows box, etc.) to see anything. So there is security.
> 
> The only issue you might see is that your IP address of the Windows box might
> change after some number of days.  Some wifi routers change IP addresses at
> what seems to be random times.  Mine here do not (Netgear). IP addresses are
> based on the MAC addresses of each device.  But there are easy ways to fix
> that issue.
> 
> I do this all the time using iOS 17.7.2 and 18.4. I also have an iPhone 8 Plus
> with 16.7.10.  Works fine there too.  I have also tested Windows 7, 8.1, 11
> and Server 2012 R2.  All work fine, because they all use the same SMB
> networking method. I have been doing this for around 4 (5?) years, which was
> when I first learned of this. I was playing with the Files app and stumbled
> upon the "Connect To Server" option.
> 
> Before that I was emailing things to myself. That of course works, but there
> are file size limits to email attachments.  Using the SMB method here, you can
> copy entire folders back and forth. Only limitation is the amount of storage
> you have on Windows and iOS.
> 

Thanks.
I connected up my Windows 10 PC, added a password to the local user 
account, shared a folder then followed your instructions & I can see the 
Windows files on an Iphone 7 that I've been lent.

In addition the Windows 10 PC can also read & write to the shared files 
on my Windows 8.1 rig but not vice versa as I log in without a password. 
This is something that hasn't happened for some years.

The W10 files are read only on the iphone so I can't do anything other 
than read them.

I am a complete novice with phones. Basic things like what an icon 
means, finding a backslash or closing a browser tab can take hours.

-- 
Regards
wasbit