Local Workgroup Networking Private Files...Help Requested

[Sid Joyner]

Hi All:

I would think this is a rather basic question. Any help would be appreciated
because I can't determine how to accomplish it.

I have 3 computers with multiple users connected by common workgroup name in
my home. I have a user account on each computer (e.g., Sid). I have my
Microsoft Money file and Outlook PST file located within My Documents under
the Sid user account on my main desktop. (All computers are running XP Pro
formatted with NTFS.) I have Money and Office installed on all machines and
I want to be able to access my Money and Outlook file on the main desktop
from any machine in the house.

Currently, I have the Sid user folder permissions on all computers as
"private"; I want to be able to keep the permissions as private - EXCEPT as
accessed by the Sid account on the other workgroup computers. That way, I
can access my master Money and Outlook datafiles from any computer as Sid,
but no one else has permissions into that personal folder.

I have yet to see how to do this in XP. If I do not make the Sid folder
private and tell XP to share it on the network with other users and give it
a share name, then any user in the workgroup (including me which is what I
need) would be able to see it and access it. Obviously, I do not want this.

Surely, I'm overlooking something obvious. XP networking can not be this
simplistic (can it?). Any guidance or help to resolve this rather simple
networking and security issue would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

Wow, what a lot of newsgroups you've posted to, grandma! Usually one or
three will suffice. ;-)

Hi All:

I would think this is a rather basic question. Any help would be
appreciated because I can't determine how to accomplish it.

I have 3 computers with multiple users connected by common workgroup
name in my home. I have a user account on each computer (e.g., Sid).
I have my Microsoft Money file and Outlook PST file located within My
Documents under the Sid user account on my main desktop. (All
computers are running XP Pro formatted with NTFS.) I have Money and
Office installed on all machines and I want to be able to access my
Money and Outlook file on the main desktop from any machine in the
house.

Currently, I have the Sid user folder permissions on all computers as
"private"; I want to be able to keep the permissions as private -
EXCEPT as accessed by the Sid account on the other workgroup
computers. That way, I can access my master Money and Outlook
datafiles from any computer as Sid, but no one else has permissions
into that personal folder.

I have yet to see how to do this in XP. If I do not make the Sid
folder private and tell XP to share it on the network with other
users and give it a share name, then any user in the workgroup
(including me which is what I need) would be able to see it and
access it. Obviously, I do not want this.

Surely, I'm overlooking something obvious. XP networking can not be
this simplistic (can it?). Any guidance or help to resolve this
rather simple networking and security issue would be greatly
appreciated.

Turn off simple file sharing & make sure you disable 'guest'. Create all
user accounts identically on all computers, with matching passwords. Add the
user(s) you wish to the NTFS permissions on the folders in question, and
deny others.

 

[Sid Joyner]

Thanks for your response.

I see that I can disable simple file sharing by unchecking the appropriate
box under the View tab of Folder Options. (My Sid account has the same user
name and password on all computers.) I'm hoping disabling simple file
sharing doesn't considerably complicate security adminsitration for this
computer or affect performance; this is the only situation that I can think
of where simple file sharing would not suffice. There is one other thing
that I'd like to ask about. You say "be sure you disable 'Guest' on the
computer". However, I do use the Guest account and would like to continue to
use it for all visitors in the house needing access to a browser. Could you
explain why it is very important that this be accomplished with Guest
disabled?

Thanks.

P.S. Sorry about the excessive newsgroup posting. I usually don't do that,
but I really couldn't decide which one(s) would get the best response so I
chose 6 newsgroups. I narrowed it down to 3.

"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"