Recreating NetWare File Structure on MS 2000 Server

[Jeff]

We are in process of migrating the NetWare file system to
a new Win2K box. Off the root there is a directory with
sub-directories where users only can see the directories
that they have rights to read and file scan. How do we
replicate this kind of behavior in Windows 2000?
Currently, users see all directories. While they can't get
into the directories that they don't have access to, they
complain that this is different than before and that all
of the additional directories are confusing.

Any Ideas??? Thanks - Jeff

 

[Opti_mystic_69]

Jeff,

Unfortunately Microsoft networking technology does not
offer this type of functionality. This is probably one of
the hardest cultural differences to sell when moving from
NetWare to Windows. The canned answer is to do exactly
what you have done; Use NTFS permissions to restrict users
from being able to access these shares even though these
shares are visible to users.
There is no Microsoft solution to recreate this
functionality. Some people have had success with creating
shares which have names that end in $, for example,
user1$. This will make the share "hidden" but still
accessible to anyone who knows the name. Also, users will
not be able to "browse" to their shares because they
are "hidden" i.e., won't show up in the browse list.
Most people simply adapt to this difference and find a way
to sell it to their users and management. You might try
asking in microsoft.public.win2000.file_system, as there
are some very smart people there who may know something I
don't. If you should find a good solution to this please
post back and let us know as I encounter this very
frequently. Good luck.

Opti_mystic

 

[Michael Young]

We have run into the same thing, the solution I decided on was to use DFS,
this allows me to create roots to only the shares I want a person to see
based on group membership. If you have a ton of shares this is a problem for
workload to set up but once it is in place it is fairly easy to maintain.