Windows 10, Shared Network Folders Fail

I have my desktop computer I use at home, and my work laptop I take back and forth with me. I mostly work from home, transferring relevant files, like lectures and exam to the work laptop--this requires properly working shared folders. This should be EASY. However, every time Windows rolls out a new update, this seems to break, with the evidence being the amount of sites and length of pages that discuss this exact issue, spiking every few months with new updates. The situation was apparently so bad that Windows discontinued the HomeGroup functionality, believing that would solve the problem.

If you are here, it's likely your shared network folders aren't working. Last week I had to reinstall Windows 10 on my work laptop, and of course I lost my network folders. I worked for four whole days Googling and trying various ways to bring back this functionality. While I can't claim to know what the problem is with your folders, this page finally fixed mine--you have to go on both computers in Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc, assuming your version of Windows has this function), and "Enable insecure guest logons."

Guest access in SMB2 disabled by default in Windows 10 Fall Creators Update and Windows Server 2016 version 1709

The only reason I was able to find this solution is that (again, after four days) my computer gave me a new error message about unauthenticated guest access. I hope your solution search is quicker than mine. Good luck!