Windows XP Pro Folder Password Protect 1

[jfussell]

I have a computer with Windows XP that is on a network, which acts as our server where we store company documents, so that everyone can have access to the documents and does not require a password to access the shared drive. However, there are a few confidential folders that I would like to password protect. We were able to do that with Windows 98 on another machine and was hoping that I can do the same with windows XP. Would I be able to do that and if so, how?
Thanks.

 

[jrbarnett]

Hi,

You can use NTFS access permissions to restrict the folders that can be accessed. So for example, if you connect to the XP box over your lan as jfussell, you can set access rights on the folders to allow only you to access the folders.
If anybody else tries to get to it they will get access denied error messages.

However, this won't stop people walking up to the system console and getting at the data through windows explorer. In this case, the best option is to leave the system at the login window, so a valid username and password is required, because if then fbloggs, for example, logs on, ntfs permissions will stop him accessing those folders as well.

To find out if a drive is in ntfs format: right click the drive in my computer, properties, on the general tab look at the File System type.
If it says FAT32, back up anything of value, kick anybody using it off the machine, go to start -> run cmd.exe and type
convert c: /fs:ntfs <return>

and replace c: with the letter of the drive to convert it to ntfs format.

John

 

[jfussell]

Through your directions, I see that we're already set up for NTFS, so I just need to assign users to the machine. Thanks again for your suggestion, that's what I do to get this working.