Windows XP Home Edition uses Simple File Sharing to make drives and folders available on a network.

To share a drive or folder:

1. Locate a drive or folder to be shared;

2. right-click it and select Sharing and Security… from the context menu;

3. if the Network sharing and security warning is displayed, click 'If you understand the security risks…'

   

   Network sharing security warning.

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   and select Just enable file sharing;

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4. select the Share this folder on the network check box. If the Share this folder on the network check box is unavailable, the computer is not on a network. To set up a home or small office network, click the Network Setup Wizard link and follow the instructions to turn on file sharing. Once file sharing is enabled, begin this procedure again.

   

   The Sharing tab of the Folder Properties dialog can be used to control folder sharing.

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5. Click the Share this folder on the network checkbox. Windows uses the folder name as the default share name however it can be changed. Adding a dollar sign ($) to the end of the Share Name will hide the resource from the Network Neighborhood directory. This is referred to as a hidden share.

6. Click the Allow network users to change my files checkbox to enable network users to create, edit and delete files in the shared folder. Full access will give others the ability to create and delete files in the shared folder. Read only access prevents shared files from being written to or deleted.

7. Click OK to save changes and close.

Windows XP Professional offers a higher level of security and options for sharing folders on NTFS drives. They are disabled by default.

To disable Simple File Sharing, open My Computer, select Tools > Folder Options…, select the View tab, and uncheck Use simple file sharing (Recommended) in the Advanced settings section.

To apply advanced permissions after Simple File Sharing has been disabled:

1. Locate a drive or folder to be shared;

2. right-click it and select Sharing and Security… from the context menu;

3. check Share this folder and specify a share name. It’s fine to leave User Limit: Maximum allowed checked. The maximum is ten users.

   

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4. Click Permissions. In the Permissions dialog box, notice that the default group is Everyone (that means everyone on the network), and those users have Read access to the shared folder. To change that, select or deselect any entry.

   

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5. In the same Permissions dialog box, you can add or remove groups of users or specific users. Click Add… to add a group or user, or click Remove to remove one.

   

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6. Back in the Properties dialog box, click the Security tab. Again, as with the previous steps, you can select a group or a user, and configure specific advanced permissions, as shown. You can also add or remove groups here. If a user belongs to a group with certain share permissions, and that group also has applied NTFS permissions, the “effective” permission for those users is difficult to calculate.

Windows 2000/XP share access

When you attempt to connect to shares on a Windows 2000/XP computer, the username/password you used to logon will be used to authenticate you to the Windows 2000/XP security system. This will only succeed if you have created an identical username with the same password used during logon, or if the Guest account has been enabled on the remote system (not recommended for Internet-connected networks). Users can also connect by entering a valid username/password.

Once you're authenticated at a basic level you will see the list of available shared resources to which you may be able to connect. Windows 2000/XP requires that you grant user account premissions to the share and to the files and directories being shared or that the Guest account has been enabled.

UNC paths

Shared folders can be accessed via Universal Naming Convention (UNC) paths or mapped drives. UNC paths are network addresses of the form \\<computer name>\<share name>\<path>. Two backslashes precede the remote computer name followed by a single backslash and the share name. An optional directory path can be used to specify lower level files or folders.

Logical Drives

DOS applications do not recognize UNC paths and can only access shared folders via logical drives. The association, referred to as a mapping, can be defined in Windows by right clicking My Computer and selecting Map Network Drive.... In the screen capture below a logical drive N: is created with the content of the af$ share on the computer named fhcserver. Mapped paths are restricted to two components, \\<computer name>\<share name>, and can not refer to subfolders within a share. Both computer names and IP addresses be used in mapped paths when TCP/IP is installed, e.g. \\192.168.0.48\af$.

The Map Network Drive dialog is used to associate a drive letter with a network path.

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The 'Reconnect at logon' checkbox name is misleading. Actually the parameter controls the persistence of the mapping. If unchecked the mapping is temporary, i.e. for the current session only, if checked the mapping will be available each time the system is started.

Reconnection of resources to shares is controlled by the Network Logon Options section in the Client for MS Networks Properties dialog illustrated on the previous page. Selecting Quick Logon will have Windows log the system onto the network without opening shared resources. This is usually the best option when hosts may not be operating when the clients logon.

Selecting Restore Network Connections will have Windows attempt to re-establish a connection and assign the same drive letter to a resource every time it starts. If the resource is not available, e.g. host not turned on, a "connection not available" or "share name not found" message will appear along with a Yes/No prompt to try again next time. Unfortunately, if you click on the No button, Windows will delete the connection record from the Registry.

List How to Share and Set Permissions for Folders and Files Using Windows XP

Microsoft TechNet reference.