# MS SkyDrive: Trouble with Public vs. Private folders
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-skydrive-trouble-with-public-vs-private-folders/672056
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [October 23, 2013, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-skydrive-trouble-with-public-vs-private-folders/672056 "2013-10-23T20:43:57Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)
#### Post date: [October 23, 2013, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-skydrive-trouble-with-public-vs-private-folders/672056/1 "2013-10-23T20:43:57Z")
I’ve recently started trying to use Microsoft SkyDrive as a way of sharing large media files with other people. I had no trouble setting it up and uploading files. I was also able to send an email to somebody with a link to my public folder where they could access the file. So far so good.
But then I did some tests to see if anyone besides me could access the private folders as well as the public folders. I sent a link to the public folder to another of my email addresses. Then I opened that link and instead of just giving me access to that one file in a public folder, it gave access to everything on my SkyDrive. Including remote access to my entire computer !!!:eek::eek:
In other words, the link, which would be sent to any person I wanted to share files with, brought up the same SkyDrive home page that only I should have access to. I’ve looked all around on the webz for a solution, but all I can find is instructions for privacy settings–how to designate which folders other people can, and can not, access.
I had already carefully applied those settings and yet I was still able to access my entire SkyDrive site from the outside. How in the world do I make it so folks I send sharing links to can’t access everything on my SkyDrive??
Thank you in advance for any help you can offer.
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### Author:  [@Blakeyrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blakeyrat)
#### Post date: [October 23, 2013, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-skydrive-trouble-with-public-vs-private-folders/672056/2 "2013-10-23T23:17:10Z")
Were you still logged-in with your Skydrive account when you clicked the second link?
To do a fair test, you need to click that link while not logged-in. Even better, click it on a completely different computer you’ve never logged-in to. (SkyDrive might be able to use Single Sign-On.)
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### Author:  [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2013, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-skydrive-trouble-with-public-vs-private-folders/672056/3 "2013-10-24T00:09:13Z")
Hmmmm… good point. I should try that.
What I DID try, however, was turning off my normal DSL internet connection and then tethered my cell phone to my computer as a totally different ISP. This way, I assumed, my IP address is totally different so there wouldn’t be any “Well, you’re on the same computer so we’re just going to give you all the private rights.”
I don’t have any convenient access to a computer I’ve never used before… I was hoping changing ISPs was good enough.
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### Author:  [@Blakeyrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blakeyrat)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2013, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-skydrive-trouble-with-public-vs-private-folders/672056/4 "2013-10-25T18:12:43Z")
Logins are typically stored in the browser, not with the IP. (Think about it-- wouldn’t it be irritating if you were logged-out of every website just because you switched wifi access points?) Some banks and other “super secure” sites might check the IP, but in my experience it’s pretty rare.
I wager the reason you had full access is because you had previously used “Keep Me Logged In”.
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### Author:  [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2013, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-skydrive-trouble-with-public-vs-private-folders/672056/5 "2013-10-25T22:38:33Z")
Yeah, changing IPs rarely matters. It’s most likely that you’re still logged in.
To check, just open a new Private Browsing (Firefox)/Incognito (Chrome)/InPrivate (IE) window, which will have its own set of cookies. Open the private link there and see if you can still access everything.
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### Author:  [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)
#### Post date: [October 26, 2013, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-skydrive-trouble-with-public-vs-private-folders/672056/6 "2013-10-26T07:01:58Z")
Thanks for all the help. It looks like it was some king of login / logout problem. I was signed into SkyDrive as one Hotmail user, and then I used another Hotmail account to check the privacy. I figured since I accessed a different Hotmail account I would have to be logged out of the first one (the SkyDrive one).
Apparently I wasn’t. Or, I was logged out of it but somehow since I was using the same computer I still had access.
Anyway… I’ve tried it again making sure I was completely logged out of the SkyDrive account and I had no problems. Geeeez… now I feel kinda dumb for even having to ask! Sometimes it just takes someone else looking at it to get to the (very simple) solution.
Thanks again