Yesterday I was on a mission. I wanted to be able to share files and printers between my laptop and my desktop and I'd sought out--and found--instructions. I was getting this setup accomplished!
The first hour passed in a blink. I didn't get anything to work yet, but I felt as if I'd made progress even if I was running back and forth between my great room and my office to do things on the two different computers. The frustration level was low at this point and victory seemed close at hand.
Hour two brought my first win--I managed to get the desktop to read files on the laptop! Hurrah! The second hour passed in a blink, too, and I had a ton of stuff to do that didn't involve the computer, but hey, I was halfway there and it would only take a couple more minutes to get the laptop to read the desktop--I was certain of that--and most importantly to be able to print to the laser.
Hour three saw my frustration level growing. I was resorting to online searches to figure out why every time I tried to access the desktop, I received an "access denied" error. My problem was bigger than I thought because there was a time out when the laptop tried to ping the desktop. The router pinged and I could ping the laptop from the desktop. I managed to get this fixed. Now everyone can ping everything else. Surely, I must be thisclose to being able to print from my laptop.
Hour Four. Frustration level is soaring off the charts. Online searches are turning up instructions that say go to programs-->adminstrative tools-->security options and I DON'T HAVE SECURITY OPTIONS AS A CHOICE! I try to find more instructions. Nothing helps. I've since moved the laptop on the desk next to the other computer so I can search on one while I tinker with the desktop, but even this doesn't help.
Time wasted: 4 hours
Other priorities/obligations completed: 0
Final result: Still can't print from laptop and access to the desktop is still denied.
I went to bed.
