Need help sharing a folder to a specific user

Hi,

I have a home network consisting of several machines, all running Windows 7. I want to share a folder located on one machine, called PC1, with another machine called PC2. All other machines on the network are not to have access to this folder.

On PC1, I created a non-admin user account with the same login and password credentials as the admin user for PC2. I then right clicked the folder I want to share on PC1 and went into advanced sharing and added this user to both the Sharing and Security tabs and provided full control permission. I also removed the Everyone group from both tabs, since I only want PC2 to access this folder.

With this setup, I am able to see the shared folder in Networks when on PC2 but I get an error saying access denied if I try to open it. Not sure why I'm getting this error since I added the user and provided access rights.

I have noticed that if I go to PC1 and add the Everyone group back in, I'm able to access the folder without any errors. But this defeats the purpose of providing access to only one machine. If anyone has suggestions, I would like to hear them.

Thanks.

catback said:

Hi,

I have a home network consisting of several machines, all running Windows 7. I want to share a folder located on one machine, called PC1, with another machine called PC2. All other machines on the network are not to have access to this folder.

On PC1, I created a non-admin user account with the same login and password credentials as the admin user for PC2. I then right clicked the folder I want to share on PC1 and went into advanced sharing and added this user to both the Sharing and Security tabs and provided full control permission. I also removed the Everyone group from both tabs, since I only want PC2 to access this folder.

With this setup, I am able to see the shared folder in Networks when on PC2 but I get an error saying access denied if I try to open it. Not sure why I'm getting this error since I added the user and provided access rights.

I have noticed that if I go to PC1 and add the Everyone group back in, I'm able to access the folder without any errors. But this defeats the purpose of providing access to only one machine. If anyone has suggestions, I would like to hear them.

Thanks.

There is a way to do this but it's required that you return the file access permissions to their default settings, add the Everyone share back in. Setting shares up like you are doing will only work when all User accounts are on the same machine.

If you need to share specific files with only one machine then it's required that you set up a Homegroup on the first machine that has the files on it and then join that Homegroup from the second machine that requires access. Don't allow any other machines to join this new Homegroup.

At this point both Homegroup machines will have access to each others "shared" files and folders. None of the other machines in the local Workgroup will have access to any of those shared files because those two machines are in a Homegroup which is basically a Domain within the Workgroup.

If you need to lock down some of the Users folders on either of the Homegroup machines then you can either uncheck that Library from being shared via the Homegroup settings or you can right click a particular Library folder then choose "share with" then choose "stop sharing".

Besides using the Public folders to share with Users in the local Workgroup, there is also an easy way to share a particular Library folder with Users in the local Workgroup if you need to do that.

Thanks for the reply.

By creating a new user account on PC1 with the same credentials as the user account for PC2, aren't all users essentially on the same machine?

Do you have a method to achieve this type of folder share using Workgroups only, and not Homegroups? I have a media player that I would also like to have access to this shared folder in the future but this device is only compatible with Workgroups.

catback said:

Thanks for the reply.

By creating a new user account on PC1 with the same credentials as the user account for PC2, aren't all users essentially on the same machine?

Do you have a method to achieve this type of folder share using Workgroups only, and not Homegroups? I have a media player that I would also like to have access to this shared folder in the future but this device is only compatible with Workgroups.

You can try adding another account with the same user name and password etc. but in order to limit access to system files etc. that account would need to be a standard "non Admin" User account. Password protected sharing doesn't always work as it should in this respect, I'd call it unreliable at best.

If the Media player requires access to the same folder it might present a problem although you can give access to any Library folder for machines in the local Workgroup by adding the "Everyone" share to the folder as is shown in the picture.

Yes, the media player is a whole different animal that may present it's own problems as you mentioned. :)

On PC1, under the Advanced Sharing Settings, there is an option to "Turn on password protected sharing". This is currently turned off but if I turned it on, which password would be needed when accessing the shared folder from PC2? Is it the admin login password for PC1 or an arbitrary password I can set for just the shared folder?

catback said:

Yes, the media player is a whole different animal that may present it's own problems as you mentioned. :)

On PC1, under the Advanced Sharing Settings, there is an option to "Turn on password protected sharing". This is currently turned off but if I turned it on, which password would be needed when accessing the shared folder from PC2? Is it the admin login password for PC1 or an arbitrary password I can set for just the shared folder?

The User name and password would be the same one used for both machines. No guarantee's on password protected sharing working correctly but it's worth a try.

If you could set up a different Library folder to share with the Media player and Workgroup machines, then Homegroup would work for this.

I turned on the password protected shares option on PC1. As expected, when I attempted to access the shared folder from PC2, it asked me for a network password. Problem is, none of the passwords I typed in worked.

I tried the admin login password for PC1 as well as the admin login password for PC2. I have no other passwords created for either machines. What password it then looking for?

catback said:

I turned on the password protected shares option on PC1. As expected, when I attempted to access the shared folder from PC2, it asked me for a network password. Problem is, none of the passwords I typed in worked.

I tried the admin login password for PC1 as well as the admin login password for PC2. I have no other passwords created for either machines. What password it then looking for?

Like I mentioned before, password protected sharing may not work as it should which is why I suggested to use the method I described.

Ok thanks for the posts. I submitted reps for you.