# Windows Server 2003

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-server-2003/217355>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 6, 2003, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-server-2003/217355 "2003-12-06T09:07:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![vasyachkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c5a1d2/32.png) [@vasyachkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vasyachkin)\
**Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-server-2003/217355/1 "2003-12-06T09:07:48Z")

</div>

or just windows server, whatever. how is it diferent from XP Profession which is what i got on both my desktop and laptop ?

i have the two networked and i am wondering if i could get some extra flexibility with Windows Server. one particular function i want is ability to password protect folders without zipping them.

but in general what are the differences ?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![DarrenS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)\
**Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-server-2003/217355/2 "2003-12-06T11:05:39Z")

</div>

You can password protect folders on any Windows OS that supports NTFS - namely, Windows NT, 2000 (all editions), XP and 2003. No need for zipping.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\
**Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-server-2003/217355/3 "2003-12-06T15:39:51Z")

</div>

V,

Don’t mess with server OSes. The thrust of the questions you’ve been asking indicate you’d just give yourself another thousand things to goof up. I’m not trying to be a jerk; these are pro tools for pros. They are NOT designed to be simple for consumers to operate.

There are phone-book sized books available which will teach you all there is to know about security in Windows. The topic is that complicated. You absolutely CAN achieve whatever degree of secrecy you want with the XP you’ve already got.

But you can’t do it on a drive formatted with FAT32, and I doubt you can do it by asking short questions on the SDMB.

It is 100% possible to create entire folder hierarchies that nobody except the currently logged on user can see. Others will have no ability to detect their existence, much less list the names of the files or read the contents of the files. It’s also possible to encrypt them so even after someone steals your hard drive and takes it back to his lair, they’ll still be gibberish.

But these aren’t simple, “click this box and it’ll do it” type options. And teaching you Windows’ users / groups / objects / ACL concepts is beyond the scope of this messageboard.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![vasyachkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c5a1d2/32.png) [@vasyachkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vasyachkin)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-server-2003/217355/4 "2003-12-10T00:27:35Z")

</div>

damn.

so how is a brotha supposed to educate himself ? any suggested read ?