Send Files Between Two Windows PCs Without a USB Drive

By ShareDrop.org Engineering · Published 2026-08-27

Two Windows machines, one file, no stick. Windows has quietly accumulated four decent ways to do this, each built for a different distance between the two PCs. Pick by distance and you will rarely be disappointed; pick by habit and you will be copying to OneDrive to move a file across a desk.

Same desk: Nearby Share

Windows 10 (version 1803 and later) and Windows 11 include Nearby Share. Turn it on in Settings → System → Nearby sharing on both PCs, set it to Everyone nearby temporarily, right-click a file → Share → pick the other PC. It uses Bluetooth to find the other machine and Wi-Fi to move the data, at original quality, with nothing to install.

Three things to know. Both PCs need Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on: a desktop with no Bluetooth adapter cannot use it. Both must be on the same network for a fast transfer; otherwise it falls back to Bluetooth and crawls. And Nearby Share sends files, not folders: a folder must be zipped first. Google's Quick Share for Windows does the same job with the same limits, and adds Android phones.

Same building: a network share

The oldest method is still the fastest for large amounts of data on a wired or Wi-Fi 6 network. Right-click a folder on the source PC → Properties → Sharing → Share, grant a user, and on the other PC open \\SOURCE-PC\FolderName in File Explorer. Copies run at the full speed of the link (a gigabit cable moves 100 MB/s sustained), and folders keep their structure.

The catch is setup. Both PCs need to be on a network profile set to Private, Network discovery and File and printer sharing must be on, and the Windows firewall must allow the share. If the two machines are on a guest or hotel network, client isolation will block it entirely (why). Worth the ten minutes if you move files between the same two PCs regularly.

Different buildings, same person: OneDrive or any cloud sync

If both PCs are yours and signed into the same Microsoft account, dropping a file into the OneDrive folder on one makes it appear on the other, asynchronously, and with a copy kept in the cloud. It is the right tool for files you want on both machines permanently. It is the wrong tool for a one-off 4 GB transfer, which will spend a while uploading and then a while downloading, and eat quota in between.

Different networks, different people: a direct browser link

1. On the receiving PC, open app.sharedrop.org in Edge or Chrome and click Receive.
2. On the sending PC, open the same address, click Send, pick files or a folder, and type the receiver's short code.
3. Approve on both sides; compare the safety code once.

The transfer goes directly from one PC to the other over an encrypted WebRTC channel when the two networks allow, and through an encrypted relay when they do not: the page tells you which (what the difference means). In Edge and Chrome the receiving PC writes to disk as data arrives and can keep folder structure (details). No account on either side, nothing installed, no copy kept anywhere.

Setting up a network share on Windows 11, exactly

1. On both PCs: Settings → Network & internet → your connection → Properties → set the network profile to Private. A share on a Public-profile network is blocked by the firewall no matter what else you do.
2. Settings → Network & internet → Advanced network settings → Advanced sharing settings → under Private, turn on Network discovery and File and printer sharing.
3. On the source PC, right-click the folder → Properties → Sharing → Advanced Sharing → tick Share this folder → Permissions → give your user account Read (or Change). Then on the Security tab make sure the same account has access; both tabs must allow it.
4. On the other PC, open File Explorer and type \\SOURCE-PC in the address bar (find the name under Settings → System → About). When prompted, sign in with an account that exists on the source PC: if that PC uses a Microsoft account, the username is the full email address and the password is the Microsoft account password, not the PIN.

If the source PC does not appear under Network, connect by name anyway; discovery is flaky, direct addressing is not. If you get “Windows cannot access,” it is almost always the Security tab (step 3) or the firewall rule File and Printer Sharing (SMB-In) being off for the Private profile. Turning off “Password protected sharing” makes the share open to everyone on the network; do that only on a network you own.

Moving a lot at once: Robocopy

For a large folder tree over a share, File Explorer's drag-and-drop is fragile — one error and it stops. The built-in robocopy is what the job needs:

robocopy C:\Projects \SOURCE-PC\Share\Projects /E /Z /R:2 /W:5 /MT:8

/E copies subfolders including empty ones, /Z makes each file resumable if the connection drops, /R and /W limit retries so a locked file does not stall the run, and /MT:8 copies eight files at once, which matters enormously for thousands of small files. Run it again after an interruption and it skips what already arrived.

Same account on both PCs: OneDrive details

With Files On-Demand (the default), a file that appears on the second PC may be a placeholder that downloads when opened; right-click → Always keep on this device for anything you need offline. Large files sync in the background at whatever your upload allows, so a 4 GB drop on one PC is not on the other until it has gone up and come down. And a file deleted on either PC is deleted on both: the folder is one thing in two places, which is the feature and the hazard.

When Nearby Share does not find the other PC

• Both PCs need Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on. A desktop with no Bluetooth adapter cannot use it; a USB Bluetooth dongle fixes that.
• Set both to Everyone nearby while testing; My devices only requires the same Microsoft account on both.
• Bring them within a few metres. Discovery is Bluetooth range, not Wi-Fi range.
• If the transfer starts but crawls, the PCs are not on the same Wi-Fi network and have fallen back to Bluetooth; join both to the same network.
• Windows 10 needs version 1803 or later; Settings → System → About shows it.

Speed, for the same 10 GB

On a wired LAN nothing beats a share. Everywhere else the methods are within a factor of two of each other on the same network, and across the internet they all sit behind the same upload line.

A PC you cannot walk over to

A parent's computer in another city, a colleague working from home: none of the local methods apply, and asking the other person to set up a share or install an app is the part that fails. The browser link needs them to do exactly one thing, open a web address and click Receive, and read you a six-character code over the phone. You send; they accept the file list; the safety code is read aloud once. For a relative who struggles with computers, it is the method with the fewest steps on their side, and Chrome or Edge on their end means even large files land straight on their disk.

Side by side

If you remember one thing: same room → Nearby Share; same office and lots of data → a network share; anything else → a direct link. Save the cloud for files that should live in two places.