Finally got it!! Thank you MrC for directing me to the Windows website. That was definitely a help in the right direction. It was really quite simple. I have documented it for myself as well as for anyone else who might need detailed instructions:
Detailed instructions for sharing music files located on a Windows 7 server:
1) Share music on server as follows: Right click on music folder, select
Share With -> Specific People -> Add -> Everyone
Set permissions for Everyone to Read or whatever your preference.
(Note: It seems in Windows 7, you can’t accomplish this by clicking the folder then Properties -> Sharing -> Advanced Sharing -> Permissions, you don’t get the same results.)
2) Restore Library using same library from server machine – either via copy or accessing it directly over the network.
3) Click on Audio (top left) to display a list of all music files. Highlight all files, right click and select:
Library Tools -> Rename, Move & Copy Files ->
Uncheck all boxes except Find & Replace.
Type in current Path and New Path. This should point MC15 to the files on the external drive.
For example:
Current path (local computer)1: D:\Music\
New path (server)1,2 : \\Susie-HP\Music\
Important Notes
1 Eventhough files may be located in D:\My Music, it’s likely “My Music” may actually need to be typed as “Music” – not sure why Windows sees it that way
2 If you’re not sure what this is, you can find it as follows: On the server machine, right click on the music folder and select: Properties->Sharing. It will be the “Network Path”.