For example, on a computer running Win 2K or XP, there are four users: Administrator, Manager, Employee 1, and Employee 2. Is it possible for each user to create a folder for documents so that they cannot even be seen by the other users?
Furthermore, is it possible for Employee 1 to create a folder such as “Secret Project” which can be accessed also by Administrator and Manager, but not Employee 2?
I’m not a corporate user, and my computer is not on a network. So far, it seems to me that any user can navigate to the other user’s folders and documents. Despite messing around in the “Help” index, I have the feeling I’ll find my answer sooner if I ask here. Much thanks!
Just right click on any folder and choose Properties, Security. You can not only choose which users but what tasks they can do. Note that you must be Administrator in order to have top level control of everthing.
Thank you Hail Ants (always loved your name), that’s what I was told to do already, but when I right click on a folder and choose Properties, I get only General and Sharing tabs (not Security). Under Sharing, whether I choose “Do not share this folder” or “Share this folder”, other local users can still always access the folder through My Computer>C:>Documents and Settings>Administrator>My Documents.
Have I missed something on the way? So far, the peon Guest user can access anything on the local computer, he just can’t change settings on the computer. How can I lock him out of documents?
In XP, under Explorer -> Folder Options -> Tools -> View there is a scoll list of options. The bottom option is one called “Enable Simple File Sharing” which is checked by default. Uncheck it and there you go! Full NTFS security for all files and folders.
This may be a little redundant, but the OP should check to see whether the drive is actually formatted with NTFS. Right-click on the drive, hit Properties, and read the entry next to File System. If it’s FAT32 it can be converted without losing any data by entering the following at the command line: convert [drive letter]: /FS:NTFS
This is a one-way process. It can’t be changed back to FAT32 without reformatting.
It’s also worth noting that any user belonging to the Administrators group can take ownership of any folder and reset its permissions, even if they are denied access to it.