Windows 7: Sharing ALL Folders

In Windows XP I was able to share a drive and change the permissions on "Everyone" to full control. This step excluded system folders like Windows, Program Files, etc. However in XP, I was able to change the permissions for those folders separately.

I would like to set it up in Windows 7 so that anyone over the network has full permissions for all files on my hard drive, without using a password.

I was able to change the permissions for everyone for the root of the drive. This excluded system folders just like XP did. However, when I try to manually change the permissions on "Program Files" for example it says "Access is denied."



Any tips? Thanks!

Hi bob65536,

First of all, you shouldn't share a whole drive... it's way too risky.

Second of all, Microsoft changed the way you own files in your computer, and changed the way Windows works with files (and how you work with your files too). So when you want to access your files, Windows will ask you "Who are you?" question before granting access. For the most part, it's to save you from your self (like what you are trying to do now).

Third of all, IIRC you need Windows7 Pro edition and above to access the "Security" tab in the File/Folder properties dialog (I don't think that changed over from Vista, but I could be wrong [I'm using Windows7 Ultimate x64, so the tab is already there in my installation]), which in turn will enable you to micro-manage the ACL of each folder/files in your system.

Now the last one... I don't know how other users can access "your" files without entering "your" credentials when they connect to your computer, unless you change "your" files to become "everyone's" file, which from a security perspective is horrendously mad. Again, all of this is for saving you from your self.

The point is, don't share your entire volume to the network. You should share a folder instead a volume...

Regards,

zzz2496

I appreciate your position however I am completely aware of the security implications. Viruses/hackers can bypass security...Anyone that can connect to the computer can change any file...etc. However I feel that the likelihood of that being an issue for me is very small. Despite the fact that:Most social engineering schemes are not very well thought out, but some of them can be quite ingenious. You can also be infected by viruses by going to perfectly legitimate websites...especially ones with banner ads. I'm aware of the risks and willing to live with the consequences.

I probably shouldn't be telling you this because I'm sure your going to think I'm retarded, but I disabled UAC, System Restore, Windows Defender, Windows auto-update, and do not run an anti-virus. I also turned off the notifications so Windows quits telling me how dumb I am. Honestly though the reason why I'm so lax with security, is because if anything happens to my computer I no longer have any trust in it and consider a reformat to be the only option. If I feel that I'm going to be doing something that might put my computer at risk I boot into Ubuntu.

Shared folders are fine if you are organized and know ahead of time that you are going to want to share something. However I'm often on one computer and realize that I could use a file on another computer, which is usually in a protected directory like the desktop. I have five different computers in three different rooms so if I don't remember which computer has the file I want, it becomes quite a bother to check them all by hand. I could use a remote desktop, but we already established the fact that I am insane and enjoy being difficult.

I did however find the solution to my problem hidden in the wording of your response. I don't know if the wording was intentional or not, but the solution is to change the owner of the protected folder to the administrators group so that they can change the privileges.

Thanks for the answer whether it was intentional or not, and I guess to each their own.

I can access the security tab with 7 home premium

Hi bob65536,

If what I wrote helped you in anyway, that's good, and no... you are not retarded, each to their own I suppose, one have one's way of doing things. I too ran my Windows just like you once, no UAC, no System Restore, disabled auto update, etc... but I still run one instance of anti virus. I too know the consequence of my conduct and too boot up into Linux (OpenSuSE lover over here) if I assume what I'm about to do will jeopardize my production system. BUT then, at the advent of Windows 7 (after 99% ignoring Vista, tried Vista, went back to XP in less than 2 days), I got that "Ah ha" moment, system restore is there so that if I in need to repair/restore my system back in operational state when in an emergency (like a deadline in 2 days, now the computer won't even boot up). Installing instances of Web servers, Database servers, and my development tools, setting them up to be ready will take a lot of time and effort, you might as well cry in blood just to get it done so you can finish before the deadline.

I only supply you with facts, it is truly up to you to "accept" it. As I said before, it's horrendously mad to do what you are about to do (or did). I too have many computers, each computer has more than 3 Harddisks, the new ones are filled with 1TB disks, the older ones are between 200 - 500GB, so I know that feeling of need "this specific file". My current setup has 5 disks on it, I have quite some content. What I want to say is, you need to "reorganize" a bit, it's ridiculous to scatter your files all over your main volume if you need to access it remotely...

What I did for my self was, I put each files in their respective "containers", be it a folder, another volume all together, a network share, a virtual disk, etc. I categorize them, and I put "things" in each "container", which then available remotely. In the advent of cheap disks, Linux, and iSCSI, you can easily build an el' cheapo SAN Setup, and work everywhere as if you have a mobile harddisk at hand... I personally use FreeNAS, but is looking at OpenFiler, I have 1 dedicated gigabit connection to my SAN box, ~40MB/s transfer rate is not bad for me (much better than ~30MB/s USB 2.0 connection, and without the headache of bringing the disk with me, and risking on dropping it in the process).

The point is, it's all coming back to you, get organized, put things is containers, then share the containers for remote use. It's cheap enough to create a SAN setup these days, you have plenty computers, I assume it won't be a burden to create one SAN node...

Regards,

zzz2496

Ps. I write SAN, yes SAN not NAS.