Is there a way to share "C-drive"

[George]

I've got 2 PC's on a network and want to use PC1 to see the c-drive on PC2.
I set up "share" on PC2's c-drive, but when I try to access certain folders
from the other PC, it says "inaccessible". Notably, it won't access
'Documents and Settings'.

Is there a workaround for this? I really need to fully access everything on
the c-drive, and not have Windows decide and block certain folders within
c-drive...

[Note. Windows help says... "The Sharing option is not available for the
Documents and Settings, Program Files, and WINDOWS system folders."]

Thanks,
George

 

[Chuck]

I've got 2 PC's on a network and want to use PC1 to see the c-drive on PC2.
I set up "share" on PC2's c-drive, but when I try to access certain folders
from the other PC, it says "inaccessible". Notably, it won't access
'Documents and Settings'.

Is there a workaround for this? I really need to fully access everything on
the c-drive, and not have Windows decide and block certain folders within
c-drive...

[Note. Windows help says... "The Sharing option is not available for the
Documents and Settings, Program Files, and WINDOWS system folders."]

Thanks,
George

George,

Is this XP Home or XP Pro? If XP Home, you're stuck with Simple File Sharing,
Guest authentication, and lack of access to these shares. If XP Pro, you can
disable Simple File Sharing, and either grant full access to Everyone, or setup
non-Guest accounts with specific permissions.
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/06/file-sharing-under-windows-xp.html#Guest>

 

[Ron Lowe]

I've got 2 PC's on a network and want to use PC1 to see the c-drive on
PC2.
I set up "share" on PC2's c-drive, but when I try to access certain
folders
from the other PC, it says "inaccessible". Notably, it won't access
'Documents and Settings'.

Is there a workaround for this? I really need to fully access everything
on
the c-drive, and not have Windows decide and block certain folders within
c-drive...

[Note. Windows help says... "The Sharing option is not available for the
Documents and Settings, Program Files, and WINDOWS system folders."]

Thanks,
George

The actual 'Docs and Settings' folder is accessible
( read only ), but the folders within it are not.

These are blocked by NTFS permissions.
Yes, there are work-arounds.

If you have XP-Pro, you need to disable Simple File Sharing, and then set up
explicit share and NTFS permissions for the folders you want to share.

With XP-Home, that's not possible.
Simple File Sharing is the only option.
All network sharing is via the Guest account.

A work-around is to use the CACLS command to remove the
restrictions by granting 'Everyone' the necessary permissions.

************* IMPORTANT*************

Notice that this will make the user's profile directory visible to
ANYONE on the network, either read-only, or Read-Write,
depending on the option you choose. This is because all incoming
connections use the Guest account, which has a blank password by
default. This is a security issue.
If you want to add an element of security over and above this,
then consider passwording the Guest account.

**************************************

If you still want to do this, then follow along with this commented
screen-dump.
We will go to a command prompt window, and use the CACLS command.
So start up a commad prompt window and follow along...

In this example, I'm making my profile directory
(C:\Docs+Setts\Ron ) accessible across the network:

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

# First, notice that the command prompt window has opened
# with the profile directory I wish to edit as my current working
# directory ( C:\Docs+Sets\Ron ). I'm going to move up one level,
# to C:\Docs+Sets so the Ron directory is visible to me.

C:\Documents and Settings\Ron>cd ..

# Can I see the directory I want to edit?
# Let's try the DIR command and see...

C:\Documents and Settings>dir
Volume in drive C has no label.
Volume Serial Number is C4C5-AAB4

Directory of C:\Documents and Settings

12/06/2005 14:06 <DIR> .
12/06/2005 14:06 <DIR> ..
12/06/2005 13:45 <DIR> All Users
12/06/2005 14:06 <DIR> Ron
0 File(s) 0 bytes
4 Dir(s) 15,526,223,872 bytes free

# Ah, yes, there it is.
# Let's look at the existing permissions:

C:\Documents and Settings>cacls ron
C:\Documents and Settings\Ron BUILTIN\AdministratorsOI)(CI)F
XP-HOME-VPC\RonOI)(CI)F
NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEMOI)(CI)F

# Now, add the Everyone group, which includes Guest:
# the last 'C' means I'm granting read/write access to everyone
# including the Guest account across the network.
# Replace the 'C' with 'R' for read-only ( eg backing up ).

C:\Documents and Settings>cacls ron /E /G Everyone:C
processed dir: C:\Documents and Settings\Ron

#Now, lets look at the permissions again:

C:\Documents and Settings>cacls ron
C:\Documents and Settings\Ron BUILTIN\AdministratorsOI)(CI)F
XP-HOME-VPC\RonOI)(CI)F
NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEMOI)(CI)F
EveryoneOI)(CI)C

# Now the folder is accessible across the network.
# All the contents of the folder are too, because they
# inherit the parent folder's permissions.

# This works with the Program Files folder too.
# You need to put "Program Files" in quotes, because of the space in the
folder name.

C:\Documents and Settings>cd ..
C:\>cacls "program files" /E /G Everyone:C
processed dir: C:\Program Files
C:\>cacls "program files"
C:\Program Files BUILTIN\AdministratorsOI)(CI)F
CREATOR OWNEROI)(CI)(IO)F
EveryoneOI)(CI)C
NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEMOI)(CI)F
BUILTIN\UsersOI)(CI)R

# This is now accessible across the network too.

 

[Al Romanosky]

Both "C" drives are accessible whether both computers are XP Pro or one
computer XP Home and the other XP Pro.

Where an XP Home and XP Pro are involved- Home can access the "C" drive on
Pro including the Documents and Settings
folder - however it cannot "open" the Administrators or designated users
folders (access denied) - it can open other sub-folders.
Also Home cannot access the "Program files" folder on the Pro drive.
Regarding Pro - it can access a shared Home "C" drive including all
sub-folders in the Documents and Settings and Program Files folders. Simple
file sharing on Pro does not have to be disabled.
BTW - The above has been confirmed on simple network -Home and Pro by use of
a crossover cable.

 

[George]

Thanks Chuck,

It's WinXP-pro, so I'll read the info on the link you mentioned, and give a
try to... "disable Simple File Sharing, and either grant full access to
Everyone, or setup"

Only thing I want to avoid is, however, doing anything that opens up the PC
to lots of risks/problems... it's behind a firewall... am I still safe?

Thanks,"
G

 

[George]

Thanks Ron,

All the steps are really appreciated, will give this a try. Thanks again
for taking time out to post everything.

G

 

[George]

Thanks Al,

Actually, I have two WinXP-pro PC's (and one Win98 which sort of doesn't
count)... but the WinXP-pro's don't allow *full* access to the other's
C-drive... most things can be accessed, but not the "forbidden" folders like
Program Files.

Since you got this to work on your setup (without disabling simple file
sharing), is there possibly something else I'm doing wrong that I can't get
to these forbidden folders on my WinXP-pro PCs?

Thanks,
G

 

[Chuck]

Thanks Chuck,

It's WinXP-pro, so I'll read the info on the link you mentioned, and give a
try to... "disable Simple File Sharing, and either grant full access to
Everyone, or setup"

Only thing I want to avoid is, however, doing anything that opens up the PC
to lots of risks/problems... it's behind a firewall... am I still safe?

Thanks,"
G

George,

If you use a properly constructed Layered Defense, you should be able to make
authenticated file sharing work safely.
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/05/please-protect-yourself-layer-your.html>