Shared user folders across a network.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
  • Start date Start date
G

Guest

Hi,
I have a small home network of several computers used by the family.
Currntly I have them set up so that the user folders (my documents, settings
etc) are on the one machine and are shared out to be accessed from the other
machines. The idea is that I want any family member to be able to log in
from any machine and have access to all the same files and settings. This
works, as long as nobody reboots the main machine. I have two questions that
I hope you can help with or point me at documents that might.
If I were to use a NAS drive to store the user folders are there any
features that the NAS drive would have to have for it to work in a similar
fashion as my current setup?
Is there a better way to do what I'm doing. I now at work we have "roaming"
profiles and a my documents directory on a newtwork share, but I don't know
what's required to set this up.


Ta,
Paul
 
TaffyDownUner said:
Hi,
I have a small home network of several computers used by the family.
Currntly I have them set up so that the user folders (my documents, settings
etc) are on the one machine and are shared out to be accessed from the other
machines. The idea is that I want any family member to be able to log in
from any machine and have access to all the same files and settings. This
works, as long as nobody reboots the main machine. I have two questions that
I hope you can help with or point me at documents that might.
If I were to use a NAS drive to store the user folders are there any
features that the NAS drive would have to have for it to work in a similar
fashion as my current setup?
Is there a better way to do what I'm doing. I now at work we have "roaming"
profiles and a my documents directory on a newtwork share, but I don't know
what's required to set this up.
Click to expand...

A NAS device would work great for what you want to do as long as none of
the machines are running Windows Vista. Vista has a lot of issues with
NAS devices and if you do have any Vista machines (or think you will be
upgrading), do some careful research at the NAS mftrs.' websites before
buying one.

As for roaming profiles, you can only have them in a domain setup. This
isn't something that's going to work for you at home.


Malke
 
Hi,
I have a small home network of several computers used by the family.
Currntly I have them set up so that the user folders (my documents, settings
etc) are on the one machine and are shared out to be accessed from the other
machines. The idea is that I want any family member to be able to log in
from any machine and have access to all the same files and settings. This
works, as long as nobody reboots the main machine. I have two questions that
I hope you can help with or point me at documents that might.
If I were to use a NAS drive to store the user folders are there any
features that the NAS drive would have to have for it to work in a similar
fashion as my current setup?
Is there a better way to do what I'm doing. I now at work we have "roaming"
profiles and a my documents directory on a newtwork share, but I don't know
what's required to set this up.


Ta,
Paul
Click to expand...

Paul,

When you say that you want "any family member to be able to log in from any
machine and have access to all the same files and settings", do you mean that
person should have access to ALL files and settings, or to ONLY files and
settings pertaining to that person?

You'll have to have Advanced File Sharing / Password Protected Sharing enabled,
in either case. You'll have to have a non-Guest account with identical
non-blank password, setup and in use on all computers. If you want each person
to have access only to his own files, any non-Guest account, properly activated,
will do. If you want any person to have access to all files, that person will
need an administrative account on each server.
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/06/file-sharing-under-windows-xp.html#NonGuest>
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/06/file-sharing-under-windows-xp.html#NonGuest

If you want to provide any type of restricted access, or access to personal
files, on a NAS drive, the drive will have to support NTFS Permissions. Simple
File Sharing won't work here. Not transparently, using the same Windows account
on each computer.
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2006/12/nas-has-its-own-limitations.html>
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2006/12/nas-has-its-own-limitations.html

--
Cheers,
Chuck, MS-MVP 2005-2007 [Windows - Networking]
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/
Paranoia is not a problem, when it's a normal response from experience.
My email is AT DOT
actual address pchuck mvps org.
 
Chuck said:
Paul,

When you say that you want "any family member to be able to log in from any
machine and have access to all the same files and settings", do you mean that
person should have access to ALL files and settings, or to ONLY files and
settings pertaining to that person?

You'll have to have Advanced File Sharing / Password Protected Sharing enabled,
in either case. You'll have to have a non-Guest account with identical
non-blank password, setup and in use on all computers. If you want each person
to have access only to his own files, any non-Guest account, properly activated,
will do. If you want any person to have access to all files, that person will
need an administrative account on each server.
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/06/file-sharing-under-windows-xp.html#NonGuest>
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/06/file-sharing-under-windows-xp.html#NonGuest

If you want to provide any type of restricted access, or access to personal
files, on a NAS drive, the drive will have to support NTFS Permissions. Simple
File Sharing won't work here. Not transparently, using the same Windows account
on each computer.
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2006/12/nas-has-its-own-limitations.html>
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2006/12/nas-has-its-own-limitations.html
Click to expand...

Chuck,
thanks for the info on the NTFS permissions. I'll chase up the links you
supplied.

Your right I wasn't that clear in my original posting. Each machine has an
administrator account which has local my documents, settings etc.; this way
if the main machine is down I can still log in as Admin on any machine.

I've also created a login/pwd for each family member on each machine (same
login/pwd on all machines, unfortunately if they want to change pwd in my
setup they have to go to each machine to do it). But when they log to any
machine , their my documents, settings etc from the main machine are used.
The directories files are shared on the main machine but only to each user;
If I log on as me I can't access my son's files and vise versa; however I'm
the only one that knows the admin password?

On the machines other than the main machine I changed the Shell folders in
the registry editor to point to the appropriate machine for each user.

It all works but it was a bit of trial and error and I'm wondering if this
is the best approach on an XP home network and also issues with using a NAS.

Thanks to everybody that has replied.

Ta,
Paul
 
:

A NAS device would work great for what you want to do as long as none of
the machines are running Windows Vista. Vista has a lot of issues with
NAS devices and if you do have any Vista machines (or think you will be
upgrading), do some careful research at the NAS mftrs.' websites before
buying one.

As for roaming profiles, you can only have them in a domain setup. This
isn't something that's going to work for you at home.
Click to expand...

Malke,
thanks for the reply. And the tip about Vista; currently all the machines
are on XP but its something to think about for the future.

I wasn't sure if roaming profiles were an option in my home network, thanks
for clarifying that for me.

Cheers,
Paul
 
Chuck,
thanks for the info on the NTFS permissions. I'll chase up the links you
supplied.

Your right I wasn't that clear in my original posting. Each machine has an
administrator account which has local my documents, settings etc.; this way
if the main machine is down I can still log in as Admin on any machine.

I've also created a login/pwd for each family member on each machine (same
login/pwd on all machines, unfortunately if they want to change pwd in my
setup they have to go to each machine to do it). But when they log to any
machine , their my documents, settings etc from the main machine are used.
The directories files are shared on the main machine but only to each user;
If I log on as me I can't access my son's files and vise versa; however I'm
the only one that knows the admin password?

On the machines other than the main machine I changed the Shell folders in
the registry editor to point to the appropriate machine for each user.

It all works but it was a bit of trial and error and I'm wondering if this
is the best approach on an XP home network and also issues with using a NAS.

Thanks to everybody that has replied.

Ta,
Paul
Click to expand...

Interesting, Paul. Sounds like you have half of a domain controller, using
local accounts on a server forest. So from what you are saying, the various
family members want private files, so yes you will end up learning about NTFS
level permissions.

Have fun, and please let us know how it works out. Especially please note the
make and model of the NASs that you consider, and finally select for your use.

--
Cheers,
Chuck, MS-MVP 2005-2007 [Windows - Networking]
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/
Paranoia is not a problem, when it's a normal response from experience.
My email is AT DOT
actual address pchuck mvps org.
 
Not strictly true that roaming profiles require a domain. They do require an
always-available central store, for obvious reasons. They can be setup such
that all computers have an identical set of local accounts with roaming
profiles.

HST, I would think twice about any roaming profile setup, in most cases the
hassles far outweigh the advantages. Not least of which is that when changing
settings on a computer, you are never sure what the scope of those changes
will be -Will they affect every computer, only this account on this computer,
or only this computer itself? You can never be sure.
 
Not strictly true that roaming profiles require a domain. They do require an
always-available central store, for obvious reasons. They can be setup such
that all computers have an identical set of local accounts with roaming
profiles.

HST, I would think twice about any roaming profile setup, in most cases the
hassles far outweigh the advantages. Not least of which is that when changing
settings on a computer, you are never sure what the scope of those changes
will be -Will they affect every computer, only this account on this computer,
or only this computer itself? You can never be sure.
Click to expand...

Well, I'm not sure what the issue is about the roaming profile and domains.
We're discussing a roll-your-own equivalent, which is a possibility, but Paul
will need Advanced File Sharing, at a minimum. And who's HST?

And Malke is right, if Paul wants to use a NAS with Vista, he'll need to
research it carefully before buying.

--
Cheers,
Chuck, MS-MVP 2005-2007 [Windows - Networking]
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/
Paranoia is not a problem, when it's a normal response from experience.
My email is AT DOT
actual address pchuck mvps org.
 
Back
Top