question re simple file sharing

[Lee Bowman]

I have XP pro installed.

Whenever I boot up, my drives are shared "for administrative
purposes". Oddly, when I go to 'my computer', 'tools', 'view', the
box for "Use simple file sharing (recommended)" is not checked.

So I checked the box, rebooted, and now, all of the drive properties
say, "To protect your computer from unatuthorized access, sharing the
root of a drive is not recommended."

I assume that simple file sharing is not now in effect. I'm puzzled,
however, that it was in effect before (without the simple file sharing
option checked), and that now it's warning me about security of the
root drive (when properties for any drives are looked at), and the box
is checked.

What I want is _NO_ simple file sharing upon bootup. I'm confused!
Any suggestions much appreciated.

Lee

 

[Phil \(a.k.a. purplehaz\)]

See below...........

I have XP pro installed.

Whenever I boot up, my drives are shared "for administrative
purposes". Oddly, when I go to 'my computer', 'tools', 'view', the
box for "Use simple file sharing (recommended)" is not checked.

Not sure why this seems odd to you. Drives have admin shares by default.
Simple file sharing is off.

So I checked the box, rebooted, and now, all of the drive properties
say, "To protect your computer from unatuthorized access, sharing the
root of a drive is not recommended."

Again, this is normal because you have turned simple file sharing on.

I assume that simple file sharing is not now in effect. I'm puzzled,
however, that it was in effect before (without the simple file sharing
option checked), and that now it's warning me about security of the
root drive (when properties for any drives are looked at), and the box
is checked.

With it checked, xp uses simple file sharing which is a simple easy to use
version of permissions and file security, allowing you to mark folders under
my documents as private.
With it unchecked, xp does not simple file sharing. This now gives you the
power of ntfs and the nt style of using permissions and file security,
allowing you to set permissions and security on individual files and
folders.

What I want is _NO_ simple file sharing upon bootup. I'm confused!
Any suggestions much appreciated.

If you don't want to use simple file sharing then uncheck the box and your
done.

 

[Barry Watzman]

In my view, while XP is the best desktop OS that MS has ever released,
one of the few terrible mistakes that they made with it was not allowing
the Windows 98-style of file sharing, which is essentially simple file
sharing but WITH A PASSWORD for each shared device.

The file sharing in Win9X was exactly what home users with multiple
computers in a simple peer-to-peer network need.

 

[Lee Bowman]

With it checked, xp uses simple file sharing which is a simple easy to use
version of permissions and file security, allowing you to mark folders under
my documents as private.
With it unchecked, xp does not simple file sharing. This now gives you the
power of ntfs and the nt style of using permissions and file security,
allowing you to set permissions and security on individual files and
folders.

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, the partition is FAT32, which
means I can't mark some of all of the folders as private by that
method. I wonder if that means I can only share ALL or NONE of the
folders, but not share selectively.

Regards,
Lee

 

[Phil \(a.k.a. purplehaz\)]

Password protection is easier, but not better. Password crackers are a dime
a dozen. But, actually if you setup the shares, users, and permissions
correctly you can get xp to ask you for a password when accessing a share. I
had some setup here like that before. It was tricky to setup, but it did
ask. I think win2k boxes may have been involved also, so not sure if that
makes a difference or not.

 

[Phil \(a.k.a. purplehaz\)]

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, the partition is FAT32, which
means I can't mark some of all of the folders as private by that
method. I wonder if that means I can only share ALL or NONE of the
folders, but not share selectively.

Regards,
Lee

You're welcome. If you convert to ntfs then you'll be able to do what you
want.

 

[Michael Burk [MSFT]]

No, it sounds like you did not have Simple File Sharing on to begin with.
The security warning about sharing out the root of your drive is a warning
that Simple File Sharing emits.

--
Michael Burk

Longhorn Shell
http://msdn.microsoft.com/longhorn
----===========================----

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[Michael Burk [MSFT]]

It does still allow it, but you have to manually use the NetAPIs to set up
that kind of share.

The model for XP was to use the Guest account so that way someone trying to
attack your shares would be forced to attempt authentication as opposed to
just hammering away at the Share password. Simple File Sharing was then
added to help with the problem of a share having different security
attributes than the files within the share.

I know that sharing on 2000 or XP is not always the easiest thing to do.
Any suggestions that you may have without compromising the security of
either machine I would be more than happy to listen to.

--
Michael Burk

Longhorn Shell
http://msdn.microsoft.com/longhorn
----===========================----

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.