Restricting access to shared network folders for specific Win7 pc's

Hi, I've been trying to find a solution online for several hours now, but have had no luck at all. I'll try my best to describe my situation as concisely as possible:-

I have multiple family members in the household, along with two Win7 desktops and three Win7 laptops. All pc's are on the same workgroup with file and folder sharing working faultlessly - we do not use Homegroups.

I have a large amount of important data on my desktop that serves as a data backup for all work I do on my laptop. On top of this it contains a large amount of media files that get shared to all pc's too. All communication is done over the network. However, as the other family members are far less tech savvy, shall we say, than I, I am growing concerned with how easy it would be for someone else to access my laptop backup work, as it is all business related, and do something disastrous to it.

I would like to have it so that my laptop is the only machine allowed to access this backup data from my desktop. The rest of the shared folders on this desktop would have to remain accessible to 'everyone'.

As I said, I've been doing a tonne of searching, but found no successful solution. I'm now just hoping someone can provide with a definitive solution to this.

Thanks for all your time.

Hello,

I would restrict access to the folder using the security tab within the properties of the backup folder. Change the access so that only one user account (not the everyone group) can access the file. OR just remove the everyone group from the folder access and just set permissions for one of the existing user accounts.

When you need to access this file from your laptop simply use this login to access the folder. Does that make sence?


Dave

Thanks for the prompt reply, Dave. I'm afraid it isn't making sense to me.

Regarding your suggestions, as far as I'm aware there's no way of changing the permissions in the 'security' tab to include a user account on a completely separate machine. The only things I have been able to change there seems to be users limited to that 'location'/local machine.

Would you be able to explain in more detail how you would change the 'Sharing->Advanced Sharing->Permissions' and 'Security->Permissions' sections of the folder 'properties' to get this sort of scenario working?

As mentioned, I see no way of listing my laptop account username in the permissions for this backup data folder.

Thanks a lot once again. :)

Hello again,

Create a new User Account on the PC but use the same username and password that you have on your laptop. Windows automatically uses the logged on credentials when accessing shares so you shouldnt have a problem because the details are the same.

Then go into your shared folder in the security tab and deny access to the Everyone Group. Add the new user account and give it full acess.


Dave

This may (Or may not) e helpful:
Share files with someone

Cheers again for the reply.

I tried exactly that last night prior to making this thread.

On the desktop I created a matching account to my laptop and set a matching password. I enabled folder sharing for that data backup file on the desktop. In the security settings of the folder, I added the new account and gave it full control, and removed the 'everyone' permission. I applied the changes and tried multiple times, even with computer restarts and all users on the desktop logged in. Nothing. Nada!

I even tried setting the permissions in the 'advanced sharing' section to exclude 'everyone' too, and added full control for two new entries; one for 'administrators', and another for the new username. Still nothing. I created dummy folders and tried getting this process to work with completely different computers too. I couldn't. After all of that I gave up and came on here. :/

I can't see anywhere I could have gone wrong. Oh well. I appreciate the advice given so far none-the-less.

It sounds as though you have done a fair bit of testing yourself already!

Windows 7 sharing can be a pain - The things you have done should have worked. I've setup shares on Windows 7 before doing the exact same thing.

I am presuming that you dont have the same username and password on the other machines?

Also, is the laptop backup share within another shared folder? If so, it maybe inheriting permissions.


Dave