It’s quite easy to transfer files between computers on the network, all you have to do is select the folder to be shared and other users can find and connect to that folder and the files inside. If you use the Remote Desktop Connection feature in Windows you can even gain control of the remote computer, find your shared folder from it, and then transfer files between the two computers as required.
Windows Remote Desktop actually has a feature built in that allows you to share any of the local drives on the host computer with the remote computer without having to manually share specific folders or drives. This is far easier and can be more secure because folders are not being shared permanently but only for the life of the Remote Desktop session.
Here we show you how to setup your Remote Desktop session to share some or all of your local drives.
1. You can start the Remote Desktop Connection from Start > All Programs > Accessories > Remote Desktop Connection or run Mstsc.exe from the Run dialog or Search box. The window will show the current connection in the computer box or you can select a previous session from the drop down.
2. Click the Show options button at the bottom left.
3. This will display the connection preferences, click on the Local Resources tab. Look near the bottom in the section “Local devices and resources” and click the More button.
4. An entry called Drives will be in the list, if you tick that all drives will be mapped to the Remote Desktop and shared. If you only want to share specific drives which is safer, click the + to the left and expand the drives list, then you can specifically tick which drives that need to be shared, including ROM drives and USB flash drives the haven’t been inserted yet [Drives that I plug in later]. Click OK when you’re done.
5. Upon trying to connect you will be asked if you trust the remote connection and clicking Show Details will show that it’s trying to share your drives. If you’re happy then tick the box to not be asked again and press Connect.
After a successful connection go to Computer or This PC on the remote computer and under Other you should see the shared drives. Now you can start transferring files to and from your remote computer
Another option for transferring files in the Remote Desktop session is by using the Windows Clipboard so you can right click and Copy the file on the host computer and then right click and select Paste inside the Remote Desktop. This works just the same as if you are copying and pasting inside your own computer and obviously also works on text.
The option to use the Clipboard should be enabled by default but you can turn it off and on from the Local Resources tab in step 3.
Fastest Way to Transfer Files to a Remote Desktop Computer
As there is a copy and paste function from the host machine to the Remote Desktop and the option to use the mapped drives to transfer files, which one is the quickest? If you add a standard shared folder which may already be set up between the computers, there are three ways to get the files transferred over the network to the remote machine.
As a simple test we decided to see which copy method was fastest to copy a selection of files and folders from one computer to the other using the three methods above. Here’s what we copied:
Copy Test 1: An ISO image 1.36GB in size
Copy Test 2: 3,427 files and 371 folders totalling 1.46GB of data
The test was run using a 10/100 network and both computers were running Windows 7.
Copy Test 1 [ISO Image] Min:sec
Copy and Paste [Host > RDC] 02:32 Mapped Drive From RDC 02:10
Standard Shared Folder 02:04
I have been using remote desktop for a number years, on a number of versions of windows, most recently 8.1.
Yesterday I upgraded to 10. I had to download Remote Desktop from the Windows Store. Easy enough. I managed to log into a few of my servers.
No problem. I now need to transfer a package up to one of them. Wait, where is the control to allow mounting of local storage devices ??
If anyone knows where MS has hidden this that information would be greatly appreciated!
3
Open a Remote Desktop Connection.
Windows 8: On the Start screen, type Remote Desktop Connection, and then click Remote Desktop Connection in the list of results.
Windows 10: On the taskbar, click the search box and type Remote Desktop Connection. Then select the Remote Desktop Connection app.
The Remote Desktop Connection window opens.
Click Show Options.
File Transfer
Transfer files from your local Windows system to the remote computer or vice versa.
To transfer files from your local Windows system to a remote computer,- Establish a remote connection with the required computer.
- Click to view the menu bar.
- Click . The File Browser opens on the RHS of the remote window.
Click ‘Upload File’, select the file, and click 'Open'. The file will be saved on the desktop of the remote computer.
Alternatively, you can navigate to a desired location via the file browser and upload the file to a specific folder.
To transfer files from a remote computer to your local Windows system,
- Establish a remote connection with the required computer.
- Click and then clickto launch the File Browser.
Navigate and hover over the required file and click ‘Download’. The file will be saved in the local Downloads folder.
Microsoft Windows XP Professional Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition More...Less
This step-by-step article describes how to gain access to local files when you are using a Remote Desktop session to a Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 host computer. For more information about client-side drive redirection with Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Server and Windows 2000 Terminal Services, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
272519 How to redirect a client drive in Terminal Services
The client portion of Remote Desktop is installed during the Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 installation process. If you are using Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows NT 4.0, or Windows 2000 client computers to connect to a Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 host computer, then download and install the Remote Desktop Connection Software from the following Microsoft Web site:
//www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/tools/rdclientdl.mspx
To connect to the remote computer:
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Click Start, point to All Programs [or Programs], point toAccessories, point to Communications, and then click Remote Desktop Connection.
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Type the name of the Windows XP-based computer that has Remote Desktop enabled, and then click Connect.
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Type your user name and password, and then click OK.
After you establish a Remote Desktop connection, your remote desktop is displayed in its own window. You can use the keyboard and mouse of the local host to control the remote computer.
You can gain access to your disk drives on the local computer during a Remote Desktop session. You can redirect the local disk drives, including the hard disk drives, CD-ROM disk drives, floppy disk drives, and mapped network disk drives so that you can transfer files between the local host and the remote computer in the same way that you copy files from a network share. You can use Microsoft Windows Explorer to view the disk drives and files for each redirected disk drive. Alternatively, you can view the files for each redirected disk drive in My Computer. The drives are displayed as "drive_letter on terminal_server_client_name" in both Windows Explorer and My Computer.
To view the disk drives and files for the redirected disk drive:
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Click Start, point to All Programs [or Programs], point to
Accessories, point to Communications, and then click Remote Desktop Connection. -
Click Options, and then click the
Local Resources tab. -
Click Disk Drives, and then click
Connect.
After you are finished using the Remote Desktop connection:
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Click Start in the Remote Desktop Connection window, and then click Shut Down.
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Click Log Off, and then click OK.
For more information about Remote Desktop and how to install Remote Desktop on versions of Windows other than Windows XP, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
315328 How to use the Remote Desktop feature of Windows XP Professional