- Simple vs. Advanced Sharing Settings
- Sharing Permissions VS File (NTFS) permissions
- Organizing Users and Groups
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Organizing Users and Groups
Before we get into sharing and permissions, we want to make sure that we have our user accounts and groups (if available) organized. This helps when creating permissions and accessing shares. The ability to create custom groups is available only in Windows XP Professional, and in the Business and Ultimate editions of Vista.
On a simple Workgroup network (in other words, one that isn't a part of a Domain, like most home or smaller businesses), it's usually best that everyone have a Windows account created on each PC, with the exact same username and password. This is because when users access a shared folder on a computer, they must supply a valid username and password for a Windows account on the particular computer they are trying to access.
Therefore, if Joe shares a folder for Jane, and Jane doesn't have an account on his PC, Joe would have to give Jane his password. However, if Jane did have an account on his computer, even if she never uses it to log onto the actual PC, she could just use her password.
To create and modify user accounts, open the Control Panel and find the user account settings. In addition to creating duplicate accounts on all the computers, keep your eye on the type of accounts.
Make sure that only appropriate people are marked as an Administrator, like you and your partner at home, or you and other IT staff in the office.
When organizing the user accounts, you might also want to create security groups. For example, you could create a Management group and add the upper staff to it, or you could create an Adults group for you, your partner, and your older children.
Then when defining the sharing or file permissions for folders or files, you can add a group at once instead of adding members individually. Just like with the user accounts, it is best to create identical groups among all the computers on the network.
Some groups are actually already created by Windows and can be used when creating permissions, which include the following:
- Administrators: Accounts that have administer rights, which gives virtually unlimited access and rights to the computer and should only be given to trusted users.
- Users: Includes all the users assigned to the standard or limited (non-administrator) account type.
- Guests: Accounts classified as Guest accounts—they have the same privileges of regular limited users except that they can't change the account's password.
Here's how to create a group in Windows XP Professional and in Vista Business or Ultimate:
- In XP, right-click My Computer and select Manage. In the Computer Management window, double-click Local Users and Groups.
- In Vista, click the Start button, type mmc into the Search box, and press Enter. Tend to the UAC prompt if necessary. On the Console window, click File > Add/Remove Snap-in. On the dialog box, double-click Local Users and Groups from the left, and click Finish on the new dialog box.
- Right-click Groups and select New Group.
- Enter the desired group name and click Add to select users for the group.
- Enter the user name in the text box or click the Advanced button to search.
- Select the desired users and click OK. To select more than one at a time, hold down the Ctrl key.
- Click OK to continue.
- Click Create to finish up.
Stay tuned—in Part 2 we'll activate advanced sharing and configure the sharing and file permissions.