Trouble accessing files on laptop from desktop with w10

Had problems sharing files on desktop with laptop last Spring (2024) but could access the desktop from laptop. Tried all the suggested procedures from ms moderators and nothing helped. after a while could not spend more time on solving this. A few weeks ago had trouble now accessing the desktop from laptop and could not print from laptop. After many hours and trying everything under the sun found a simple solution. Turned on password protection on both machines for sharing files. Reboot. Then when try to access desktop from laptop will be asked to sign on to desktop (username and pwd for desktop, not computer name)and then all will be accessible. Then do the same for accessing laptop from desktop. This works if you can see the computers listed in file explorer in the network on each machine but just cannot access the files.