Password access to XP computers?

[JimmyJam]

Having just switched from Win98, I miss the easy (and weak) security of
that OS.

I want to be able to connect to each subdir on every machine on my home
network so I can move files around.

I would like to be able to limit other family members to be able to read
(and see?) specific folders and files on my computer.

As I read it, because I am not on a domain, I cannot use the more advanced
security system in XP, but must use Simple and let everyone have access to
all my files?

Am I correct? or hopelessly confused?

If I am correct, are there reg hacks or other software that will let me
control access to others in my home workgroup? GPEdit doesnt seem to offer
any solution because everything seems to come back to groups of users in a
domain. Lacking a server, I have no domain.

Help!

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

You may wish to review the following:

HOW TO: Set the My Documents Folder as "Private" in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;298399

You Cannot Select the "Make This Folder Private" Option
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307286

How to set, view, change, or remove special permissions for files
and folders in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308419

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User
Microsoft Newsgroups

Get Windows XP Service Pack 2 with Advanced Security Technologies:
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/windowsxp/choose.mspx

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:

| Having just switched from Win98, I miss the easy (and weak) security of
| that OS.
|
| I want to be able to connect to each subdir on every machine on my home
| network so I can move files around.
|
| I would like to be able to limit other family members to be able to read
| (and see?) specific folders and files on my computer.
|
| As I read it, because I am not on a domain, I cannot use the more advanced
| security system in XP, but must use Simple and let everyone have access to
| all my files?
|
| Am I correct? or hopelessly confused?
|
| If I am correct, are there reg hacks or other software that will let me
| control access to others in my home workgroup? GPEdit doesnt seem to offer
| any solution because everything seems to come back to groups of users in a
| domain. Lacking a server, I have no domain.
|
| Help!

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Having just switched from Win98, I miss the easy (and weak) security of
that OS.

I want to be able to connect to each subdir on every machine on my home
network so I can move files around.

I would like to be able to limit other family members to be able to read
(and see?) specific folders and files on my computer.

As I read it, because I am not on a domain, I cannot use the more advanced
security system in XP, but must use Simple and let everyone have access to
all my files?

Am I correct? or hopelessly confused?

If I am correct, are there reg hacks or other software that will let me
control access to others in my home workgroup? GPEdit doesnt seem to offer
any solution because everything seems to come back to groups of users in a
domain. Lacking a server, I have no domain.

Help!

HOW TO Create and Configure User Accounts in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;279783

HOW TO Set, View, Change, or Remove File and Folder Permissions
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;q308418

--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having
both at once. - RAH

 

[JimmyJam]

HOW TO Create and Configure User Accounts in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;279783

I'm not sure how this applies to my situation. The accounts are created on
the other machines. And the situation (I cannot fully access those files
in various subdirs from my machine) exists whether the accts are admin or
limited ones.

HOW TO Set, View, Change, or Remove File and Folder Permissions
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;q308418

From within this document: "Note This article assumes that you are using
Windows XP on a domain."

I am not on a domain or I understand that I could set permissions this way.

 

[JimmyJam]

You may wish to review the following:

HOW TO: Set the My Documents Folder as "Private" in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;298399

You Cannot Select the "Make This Folder Private" Option
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307286

My biggest problem isnt making the folders private, it is gaining access to
a specific set of folders for RW access on my wife's PC on the home
network.

How to set, view, change, or remove special permissions for files
and folders in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308419

From within this document: "Note This article assumes that you are using
Windows XP on a domain."

I am not on a domain or I understand that I could set permissions this way.

 

[JimmyJam]

Just to be clear, I am using WinXP Pro, SP2, on a home network, with no
domain. I would like to be able (whether by permissions or password) to
access all the files in all subdirs on the other machines on my network so
I can transfer files back and forth.

All the information I have about setting permissions requires that I be in
a domain. Unless there is a way to simply declare a domain, then I don't
see a way to a solution to my problem.

Many thanks.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Just to be clear, I am using WinXP Pro, SP2, on a home network, with no
domain. I would like to be able (whether by permissions or password) to
access all the files in all subdirs on the other machines on my network so
I can transfer files back and forth.

All the information I have about setting permissions requires that I be in
a domain. Unless there is a way to simply declare a domain, then I don't
see a way to a solution to my problem.

Many thanks.

On the WinXP PC, create local user account(s), with password(s),
that have the desired access privileges to the desired shares. Log on
to the other PCs using those account(s), and you will be able to
access the designated shares, provided your network is configured
properly. Also, make sure that WinXP's built-in firewall
is disabled on the internal LAN connection.

Usually, WinXP's Networking Wizard makes it simple and painless --
almost entirely automatic, in fact. There's a lot of useful,
easy-to-follow information in WinXP's Help & Support files, and here:

Home Networking
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/using/howto/homenet/default.asp

Networking Information
http://www.onecomputerguy.com/networking.htm

PracticallyNetworked Home
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/index.htm

Steve Winograd's Networking FAQ
http://www.bcmaven.com/networking/faq.htm

Configuring Windows 2000 Professional to Work in a Peer-to-Peer
Network
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;q258717

--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having
both at once. - RAH

 

[Jayso]

To make it simpler, if you already have ur network set up, and with local
user accounts. right-click on the folder(s) you would like to share on the
network (or the entire c:\ drive if you'd like). And go to properties >>
Sharing. From here it becomes quite simpler to do. (i have XP Home btw)

You can then access all of the shared files from all of the computers from
My Network Places. (And from there you can map them as network drives, so
they appear in My Computer)

 

[Guest]

I'm also trying to protect folders with passwords, so other users on this
computer do not have acces to my private files...however when i go to
properties, under the sharing tab, "make this folder private" check box. the
check box is shaded and clicking on it does nothing as if though it is
disabled...
How do i change this or otherwise protect my files?

 

[Jayso]

Sometimes you can't make the folder private. You can still protect your
files but i ask have you got WinXP Home or Pro?

 

[JimmyJam]

But not folders \windows, \Program Files ?

To make it simpler, if you already have ur network set up, and with
local
user accounts. right-click on the folder(s) you would like to share on
the network (or the entire c:\ drive if you'd like). And go to
properties >> Sharing. From here it becomes quite simpler to do. (i
have XP Home btw)

You can then access all of the shared files from all of the computers
from My Network Places. (And from there you can map them as network
drives, so they appear in My Computer)

 

[cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)]

Having just switched from Win98, I miss the easy (and weak) security of
that OS.

Yep. It was certainly safer out of the box; no instant death RPC and
LSASS defects being waved at the 'net even before you do anything.

I want to be able to connect to each subdir on every machine on my home
network so I can move files around.

Careful - do NOT full-share all HDs on all PCs! If one PC gets
malware'd, that malware can immediately drop into the startup axis
(any \Autorun.inf, the Startup groups, etc.) and go active as soon as
those PCs start up again. If you *must* "share everything", then do
so as Read-Only. Then within the HD, full-share only safe locations.

I would like to be able to limit other family members to be able to read
(and see?) specific folders and files on my computer.

That's more sensible, yes.

As I read it, because I am not on a domain, I cannot use the more advanced
security system in XP, but must use Simple and let everyone have access to
all my files?

Yup. It gets worse; dumb-ass XP has "hidden" admin shares c$, d$ etc.
that break the advice I just gave you, and these are active in XP Pro
at least. They're only "hidden" so that you don't see them; the nice
fixed names mean any malware can use them just fine.

If I am correct, are there reg hacks or other software that will let me
control access to others in my home workgroup? GPEdit doesnt seem to offer
any solution because everything seems to come back to groups of users in a
domain. Lacking a server, I have no domain.

Some debate on that; as I understand it, the answer is maybe, and only
if you use NTFS and can do file permissions at that level. Simple
file sharing works through the Guest account, rather than each user's
account settings, so it's not fine-grained per user. Even though
Guest may be (should be) disabled as a local logon, it's there and has
to be there if Simple File Sharing is to work.

The old Win9x practice of "protecting" shares via band-aid passwords,
and doiing so on a per user basis, is absent in XP, because XP has the
More Secure access system based on per-file NTFS permissions. So even
though passwords can be near-useless, you don't even have that.

------------------------ ---- --- -- - - - -

Forget http://cquirke.blogspot.com and check out a
better one at http://topicdrift.blogspot.com instead!

 

[JimmyJam]

Thanks for these comments, Chris. It is reassuring that I didn't miss
something big. I just need to find a way (third party? probably not,
right?) to access subdirs on the other machines in the network. We are all
using NTFS on WinXP Pro, so I need to explore the admin shares to see if
there is something there.

I tried accessing one of the XPs from a 98 machine and it asked for a
password. Now I need to know how I could have set that password. Admin
share? In any case, none was set, so i couldn't access the subdir.

You'd think that someone would provide an easy and secure way to allow an
admin on a small, non-domain'd system to access subdirs to update files.

Alas.

 

[JimmyJam]

Either I wasnt being clear (in addition to being dumbheaded) or a very easy
solution was overlooked by many, many folks. Here it is:

I need to create the same or a matching user/password pair on every
computer on the home network. So, if I log on as User1 with User1Pwd, my
wife's computer (though she is User2 with User2Pwd) must have a user named
User1 with User1Pwd. Daughter's computer (She is User3), must still have a
user named User1 with User1Pwd. (I learned this from the discussion in the
book for www.xphomenetworking.com -- in a mixed network.)

When it is applied to XP, I can obviously setup shares (because User1
exists on each PC) and I can read and write to those previously protected
\Windows, \Program Files, etc. folders.

Is that what y'all were suggesting I learn by reading that basic material?