There is it's called VLC

Hi. Late last night I downloaded VLC on my IPAD.. 

i can see my Windows PC - but i cant do anything much - I'll google tonight re ports etc & test it out, & connect. Thanks.

did you make sure advanced sharing settings are correct in your windows PC otherwise it won't connect. seeing the PC is one thing, accessing the files is another.

there's an app free for one day called

"file manager & virtual usb drive for mac [pro]" by evgeny cherpak

try that (it says for mac but in description it works for windows, exactly what you need, apparently)

sarahfoxnz:

 

Hi. Late last night I downloaded VLC on my IPAD.. 

 

 

 

i can see my Windows PC - but i cant do anything much - I'll google tonight re ports etc & test it out, & connect. Thanks.

 

 

 

 

 

Under Network and Sharing Center\Advanced sharing settings check your Network Location, it must be set to either Home (or Work) not Public to allow sharing.

Next, right click on the drive you want to share, find Advanced Sharing Permissions\Share this folder\ Sharing Permissions and in the Share Permissions box add Everyone to the list of users.

You should now have read/write access to the folders showing in My Computer\Network. I can post a screenshot if you likee.

(I'm not overly familiar with Apple devices but that's how  Android/Windows works...)  :)

i played with one this morning called wifi HD. This allowed me to access the IPAD share from my PC and upload files to the ipad's shared folder and then i was able to view them on the IPAD

i havent found one that can let the ipad browse a windows share, admittedly i havent paid for any apps to test them.

iOS can work a bit differently to what some people expect.  

So you want to browse files shared from your PC.  This is quite backwards in Apple land.  Rather than opening a file first, you'd open the app first that you want the file to be loaded in, then open the file from there from a suitable source such as a DLNA server for playing videos shared from one location to another connected to a TV.

I guess you'd have to tell us what you're trying to achieve by having access to a shared network folder?

I'd suggest using a NAS drive that comes with an app to let you browse its contents.  Even then the app usually allows a basic preview, then from within that preview you have to tell the iPad what you want to open the file with - send to Dropbox on the iPad? Send to another cloud provider's app?  Upload to Facebook? ... ?

@MadEngineer they want to be able to access PDF files to read from their PC

For that, drop box would be perfect.