Passwords on Networked Drives

[Olimits7]

Hello,

I need to allow access to mapped folders and drive letters to certain people. I was wondering if there was a way to setup passwords to block people from mapping a drive or a folder? Because as you know to map a drive or letter you have to share it. But if I do this, that means anyone that knows how to map a network drive will be able to access the whole drive and its folders by mapping another letter. Can someone please help me out?

Thank you,
Olimits7

 

[wolluf]

XP Pro or Home?

If Pro, you can disable simplified sharing (folder options/view tab), then just give access to the share to users you want to be able to use it (if domain, easy, if workgroup, you'll need to set up users on the XP machine mactching those who you want to give access to your shares).

 

[Olimits7]

I have XP Pro. Yeah, Im using a workgroup. It's definitely trickier than a domain. I cant seem to find out how to restrict access. I went into the Security Tab of the folder I want to make private. Then when I tried to Add a new user it doesn't let me change the location so I can see the other computers under my workgroup. The location it has in there by default is my computer name. Thanks for your help again.

Olimits7

 

[wolluf]

Olimits7 - yes, you CAN'T add users from other computers to permissions (security or sharing permissions) in a workgroup.

That's why you need to set up user accounts on the target machine (ie, the one sharing the files) which correspond (ie, same user name/password) to ALL the logons used on the other machines in the workgroup. Then you can specify explicit access to you shares (ie, remove the everyone group access and add the users you want) using the user accounts on the local machine.

Yes, its a faff - specially if you have a large workgroup user base (which is to encourage you to buy a server version of windows - where you can manage all this much more easily).

PS. If other users log on locally to the target (share) machine, I'd set the permissions on the security tab. If only over the network, I'd just set permissions on the shares.

 

[Olimits7]

Thank you, wolluf. I got everything to work the way I wanted it to. It's almost like Win 2000 Server now, but without paying so much $$$ for it.