What is the correct name for a group of computers that are connected to each other and can share resources and printers?
Employees in any organization, big or small, need to log in to their computers at the start of their work day. Logging in gives them access to shared files, folders, printers, critical applications related to work, as well as the internet. Organizations need to authenticate and verify the identity of each user before they gain access to these resources—but how? Here we will look at what a workgroup is, how to set one up, and how
authentication is managed in a workgroup. According to Techopedia, a workgroup is a peer-to-peer network setup using Microsoft Windows operating system. It’s a group of computers on a local area network that share common resources and responsibilities. You can easily create a workgroup by connecting two or more PCs without going through a separate server computer. In a workgroup, each computer on the network is physically connected to a router or
switch. Each computer that’s a member of a workgroup can access shared resources in the network, like files or printers, or share their own resources with the group. While a workgroup is a group of computers that are connected to a network, it’s not the same as a network. You can connect a computer to your network without making it a member of a specific workgroup. You can even have multiple workgroups in the same network. Let’s take an example of a small three-person office. John, Amy, and Mark are this small office’s three employees. Every computer on this network will have its own database of usernames and passwords. For instance, if Amy wants to use Mark’s computer, her username and password need to be created on Mark’s computer. And if Mark wants to use Amy’s computer, his username and password need to be created on her computer. If both Amy and Mark want to use John’s computer, both of their usernames and passwords need to be created on John’s computer. How to set up a Windows workgroupHow to set up a Windows 10 workgroup?Once you’ve set up your network in your small office, you can follow the steps below to connect all your devices to a single Windows workgroup:
How do I share files and folders in a workgroup?Now that you’ve set up a workgroup for your small office, let’s talk about how to share files and folders among different users in a Windows 10 workgroup. Let’s assume that you want to share the My Games folder under Documents. Follow the steps below to share this folder:
Workgroup challenges for large organizations and the need for Active Directory.Workgroups are not suitable for larger work environments for two main reasons:
Workgroups are great for smaller networks, but they aren’t efficient for larger ones. For large networks, it’s vital to keep all the usernames
and passwords in sync with each other. To do this, you need a centralized database that manages all usernames and passwords, called Active Directory. Workgroup vs domain Workgroups are great for small office networks with 15 or less computers. However, they aren’t ideal for larger companies with hundreds or thousands of users, as it will become difficult to access files and folders of one computer with another computer. Simply put, AD workgroups are fine for small offices, but they are not efficient in scaling to big organizations. So, for big environments, we need to set up a client-server network environment. In Windows, this is achieved by setting up domains. The domain set up ensures better security as we can give varying degrees of permissions for different users or groups of users. Furthermore, we can deploy company-wide policies for easier administration in a domain than a workgroup. How to change workgroup in Windows 10? To change a workgroup in Windows 10 and make your computer a part of another workgroup, you can follow these steps:
You computer should now be part of the new workgroup. |