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Wireless Sharing - Frequently Asked Questions

Last Updated: September 30, 2015 12:01:35 PM PDT
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Wireless sharing is the ability for one device to see another device, share files and folders, and interact with each other over a wireless network.

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Expand section Availability

Is Wireless Sharing available in my area?

Wireless sharing/Bonjour discovery is available on the UCSD-PROTECTED SSID in nearly all on-campus and SIO locations. It is also available in these east campus buildings: Ratner Children's, Shiley Eye Institute, Moores Cancer Center.

Will sharing be available on ResNet wireless?
Sharing is already the default condition in ResNet (if resources are set to be shared). You can see your local friends' iTunes, for example, if they have configured their iTunes libraries to be shared.
Why has my department disallowed sharing on work devices?

Some departments, notably those where sensitive or restricted data is handled, have turned wireless sharing off on departmental laptops, tablets and other devices with wireless service. This can happen for several reasons:

  • Turning on sharing increases the likelihood that data may be inadvertently shared
  • Handling some types of data may require certain network or security settings on machines
  • Wireless sharing modestly increases the vulnerability of wireless machines to attack

Please don't circumvent departmental controls. If you have a question about a departmentally-owned wireless device, please talk to your local system administrator.

Expand section Security

How can I prevent my computer from sharing files?

Most operating systems have sharing turned off by default, but you may have turned it on to use in your home environment. Here are some links to help you control what you are or aren't sharing.

There is information on changing settings for Windows Media Sharing on the Microsoft web site.

To manage sharing on your Mac computer:

  • Go into System Preferences > Sharing.
  • Click on the lock icon in the bottom left to make changes.
  • Then select, from the left menu, what you want or don't want to share.

To manage sharing on your iOS device, see Apple's support pages on sharing. For iOS 7 and up, you will need to turn off AirDrop.

Sharing on Android generally requires a specific app for the purpose, and does not happen by default. If you have a file sharing app, see support for that app to turn off sharing.

Turning off sharing under Linux is dependent on what method you used to turn it on. Some relevant articles:

How can I protect my department against inadvertent sharing?

We recommend the following steps to best protect department assets against inadvertent sharing with wireless users in your vicinity.

  • Turn off file/media sharing on your department's desktop computers unless it is needed.
  • Make sure that departmental printers that have wireless capabilities and advertise their own wireless service (e.g. "hpsetup" SSID) have wireless turned off.
  • If your printer has the ability to connect to UCSD-PROTECTED and you expect it to be used wirelessly on that network, set a password to prevent unauthorized printing.
  • Protect all Apple TVs with passwords known only to their users
  • Make sure that departmental projectors with wireless capabilities have wireless turned off, or, if wireless will be used, that a password is required.

Expand section Using Wireless Sharing

How can I share media with others from my wireless device/laptop? How can I drive an Apple TV from a wireless device? Can I share media between wired and wireless? I've walked across campus, but I still see the devices in my former building Expand all

MacOS users – information on iTunes and Home Sharing, file sharing, and file sharing with users on other operating systems may be found on the Apple website.

iOS users – information on sharing on the Apple website.

Windows users – information on Windows Media Sharing.

Android users – see a PC Advisor article on sharing files wirelessly; see also specific apps in the Google Play store.

Useful ways to manage sharing on your Linux machine include:

See also the section above on "How can I prevent my computer from sharing files?" for useful links.

How can I drive an Apple TV from a wireless device?
  1. Make sure your area supports wireless sharing (see the list of locations above).
  2. Configure your Apple TV to work on UCSD wireless.
  3. Make sure that your Apple TV has a good password set to prevent inappropriate use.
Can I share media between wired and wireless?
Not at this time. Although some services (e.g. Apple Time Capsules and some printers) can be placed on the wired network and, with some configuration by hostmaster, be seen from the wireless network, this is not yet true for many popular media sharing tools. Various vendors are working on this problem and we will continue to follow the market and enable these services when and where they become practical.
I've walked across campus, but I still see the devices in my former building.
Your device may try to hold onto your old IP address and locally shared devices and files when you change locations. You can manually switch to your new location by going to this website and following the instructions to release your lease.