Hiding folders for a user group in XP Pro

  • Thread starter Thread starter edojan
  • Start date Start date
E

edojan

I need to hide certain folders from restricted users
(and don't see this option on the security tab). People
recommend purchaising a third party tool but I wonder if
anyone knows how to do it in XP.
Thanks
 
XP PRO: In Windows Explorer, go to Tools, Folder Options, View and uncheck
Use Simple File Sharing. Now, when you right click on a drive, folder or
file (on an NTFS partition) and select Properties, you'll see a Security
tab. Here you can assign or deny permissions based on user name or user
group membership.

XP Home: By default, you can only make files and folders under My Documents
"private". This is done by right clicking a folder or file and selecting
Properties, Sharing. To change the permissions on other folders, you need
to boot the computer to Safe Mode and log in on the built in Administrator
account. In this mode, you'll see the Security tab in Properties, and you
can assign permissions based on user name or group membership.

How Do I Get the Security Tab in Properties - XP Home (makes the Security
tab appear outside of Safe Mode)
http://www.dougknox.com, Win XP Tips section

HOW TO: Set, View, Change, or Remove File and Folder Permissions in Windows
XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308418

HOW TO: Set, View, Change, or Remove Special Permissions for Files and
Folders
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;308419

HOW TO: Disable Simplified Sharing and Password-Protect a Shared Folder in
Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;307874

NOTE: Do not DENY access to the group in question. Rather, remove the
Allow permissions. For example, if you Deny the Users group, this will
also deny permissions to Administrators, since they are also members of the
Users group. Deny takes precedence over Allow permissions.
 
Doug, thanks for the info. But my question was how to
hide the folder, not restrict acess to it. I see the
security tab under XP PRO but it doesn't give me an
option of making the folder invisible. All I can do is to
restrict access to it but the restricted users would
still see that this folder exist. My question is how do I
hide it from the restricted user groups and leave it
visible for the admins? The computer is not part of the
domain that is the problem. Any ideas what could I do?
 
Simple, hide the folder, adjust the limited user accounts folder options to
not show hidden files and folders. Then prevent them from adjusting their
folder options, and prevent them from running REGEDIT.
 
Thanks Doug. Please pardon my ignorance, but how could I
prevent them from adjusting the folder options (i.e.
unhiding it from Tools/Folder Options and second, how do
prevent the restricted users from running regedit? (I
browsed through the options in secpol.msc but couldn't
find it.
Thanks again for your help
Ed
 
These are not in SECPOL.MSC, these are in GPEDIT.MSC, and unless you're in a
domain environment, these settings apply to all users. There is a work
around to exclude the Administrator, or a specific profile:

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=293655
HOW TO: Apply Local Policies to all Users Except Administrators on Windows
2000 in a Workgroup Setting

I've also written a small utility, that makes applying a number of the
policies available in GPEDIT, on a per user basis, much easier. See
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_securityconsole.htm
 
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