NTFS Junctions, Sharing and User Permissions

[jabalsad]

Hi all,

I have a peculiar situation. I tend to use NTFS junctions a lot to keep all my media in one place. I also make use of the Windows 7 Homegroup feature in order to easily access this media.

When I share a folder to a homegroup that contains, as subfolders, an NTFS junction, the user permission for 'HomeUsers' do not get applied (inherited) to all the folders inside the NTFS junction. Even though I can list the contents of that NTFS junction from another computer, I cannot enter into another level of directories.

Example:

D:\Media\ is a normal folder containing the following subfolders:
D:\Media\Audio which is a standard folder
D:\Media\Video which is a NTFS junction that points to say E:\Videos\

Right clicking on D:\Media\ and selecting Share With -> Homegroup allows me to then access this media over the network.

On another PC that is joined to the Homegroup I have full access to everything contained in D:\Media\Audio (Since it is not a junction), however, I can only list the contents of D:\Media\Video and nothing more. I cannot go another level deep of listing or anything.

Manually inspecting the user permissions, I notice that all the folders contained in D:\Media\Video\ does not have the 'HomeUsers' permission. However the NTFS junction itself does have the 'HomeUsers' permission.

So I tried two things:
- Manually adding the 'HomeUsers' permission to the content that the NTFS junction is pointing to, i.e. everything in E:\Videos\ . This still leaves this content inaccessible.
- Manually adding the 'HomeUsers' permission to the content inside the NTFS junction, i.e. everything in D:\Media\Video\ . No love.

Can anyone suggest how I would overcome this issue?

 

[sup3rsprt]

Hello,

I got it to work using a program called Junction Link Magic. Here is my setup:

Junction C:\Testshare\Videos pointing to F:\Videos
C:\Testshare is shared to Homegroup with read/write

Permissions on F:\Videos is "Authenticated Users" have full control. The folder itself is not shared.

From another computer I can list the contents of files and folders within it.

I hope that helps.

 

[SquonkSC]

Hi all,

I have a peculiar situation. I tend to use NTFS junctions a lot to keep all my media in one place. I also make use of the Windows 7 Homegroup feature in order to easily access this media.

When I share a folder to a homegroup that contains, as subfolders, an NTFS junction, the user permission for 'HomeUsers' do not get applied (inherited) to all the folders inside the NTFS junction. Even though I can list the contents of that NTFS junction from another computer, I cannot enter into another level of directories.

Example:

D:\Media\ is a normal folder containing the following subfolders:
D:\Media\Audio which is a standard folder
D:\Media\Video which is a NTFS junction that points to say E:\Videos\

Right clicking on D:\Media\ and selecting Share With -> Homegroup allows me to then access this media over the network.

On another PC that is joined to the Homegroup I have full access to everything contained in D:\Media\Audio (Since it is not a junction), however, I can only list the contents of D:\Media\Video and nothing more. I cannot go another level deep of listing or anything.

Manually inspecting the user permissions, I notice that all the folders contained in D:\Media\Video\ does not have the 'HomeUsers' permission. However the NTFS junction itself does have the 'HomeUsers' permission.

So I tried two things:
- Manually adding the 'HomeUsers' permission to the content that the NTFS junction is pointing to, i.e. everything in E:\Videos\ . This still leaves this content inaccessible.
- Manually adding the 'HomeUsers' permission to the content inside the NTFS junction, i.e. everything in D:\Media\Video\ . No love.

Can anyone suggest how I would overcome this issue?

The junction is pointing to the location, but the junction itself is in your C:\users\....

You have to set the right permissions for the junction itself, not the content it's pointing to.

A side note:
Why not use libraries? Junctions are kind of obsolete since we have libraries.

good luck

 

[sup3rsprt]

Why not use libraries?

Good point.

Go to Libraries, right-click on Videos > Properties and then include any folders that have videos in them.

 

[jabalsad]

Thanks guys I will give your advice a try quick and bring feedback.

The junction is pointing to the location, but the junction itself is in your C:\users\....

You have to set the right permissions for the junction itself, not the content it's pointing to.

That is what I did. Right clicking on the junction D:\Media\Video and inspecting the permissions does well list 'HomeUsers' and it is gray (meaning its inherited from the parent folder D:\Media\ which I shared to the HomeGroup). However if I then inspect the permissions of the content inside the junction (D:\Media\Video\*), no 'HomeUsers' is inherited anywhere. From another computer this gives me access to list the contents of D:\Media\Video\ but I am not able to do anything else.

A side note:
Why not use libraries? Junctions are kind of obsolete since we have libraries.

I'm not really fond of the way windows displays libraries. I tried adding multiple locations to one library on my laptop and then it doesn't always work very intuitively. For example if I open up the documents library with three sub-libraries, and I press ctrl-v to paste an object, it doesn't go into the library that is currently expanded but instead just always goes into the first library. Also I don't like the tree expand structure being used for each library, I prefer folders pointing to locations. Maybe I'm just picky, but little things can annoy me

 

[jabalsad]

Hello,

I got it to work using a program called Junction Link Magic. Here is my setup:

Junction C:\Testshare\Videos pointing to F:\Videos
C:\Testshare is shared to Homegroup with read/write

Permissions on F:\Videos is "Authenticated Users" have full control. The folder itself is not shared.

From another computer I can list the contents of files and folders within it.

I hope that helps.

Have you actually tried going another level deep instead of just listing the contents?

For example try to browse to C:\Testshare\Videos\SomeFolder\AnotherFolder\

(From another PC on the network ofcourse)

 

[jabalsad]

The biggest problem here is that a junction's contents do not inherit permissions from its parent (the junction itself)! I don't know if this is intentionally made so or what but it is rather annoying.

I'll still appreciate any feedback

 

[MacGyvr]

Thanks guys I will give your advice a try quick and bring feedback.

The junction is pointing to the location, but the junction itself is in your C:\users\....

You have to set the right permissions for the junction itself, not the content it's pointing to.

That is what I did. Right clicking on the junction D:\Media\Video and inspecting the permissions does well list 'HomeUsers' and it is gray (meaning its inherited from the parent folder D:\Media\ which I shared to the HomeGroup). However if I then inspect the permissions of the content inside the junction (D:\Media\Video\*), no 'HomeUsers' is inherited anywhere. From another computer this gives me access to list the contents of D:\Media\Video\ but I am not able to do anything else.

A side note:
Why not use libraries? Junctions are kind of obsolete since we have libraries.

I'm not really fond of the way windows displays libraries. I tried adding multiple locations to one library on my laptop and then it doesn't always work very intuitively. For example if I open up the documents library with three sub-libraries, and I press ctrl-v to paste an object, it doesn't go into the library that is currently expanded but instead just always goes into the first library. Also I don't like the tree expand structure being used for each library, I prefer folders pointing to locations. Maybe I'm just picky, but little things can annoy me

You have to specify which of the folders is your default save location. This is done in the same dialog where you add or remove folders from the library.

 

[jabalsad]

But that would still limit you to a single save location. Not to mention the weird tree-expand like view I prefer a folder type navigation.

Anyway, there are a lot of other reasons I don't want to use libraries. It still doesn't change the problem with ntfs junctions and why the contents don't inherit the permissions :/

 

[SquonkSC]

For example if I open up the documents library with three sub-libraries, and I press ctrl-v to paste an object, it doesn't go into the library that is currently expanded but instead just always goes into the first library.

Before you enter ctrl+v, you need to click on the folder you want to save it to, on the left pane of the explorer,
(where the small icons represent the tree).
In my example I have "my documents" and "favorites" under "documents" library.

If I want to copy a file into the favorites, i need to click on documents to expand the tree,
and then click on favorites, then ctrl+v.

Also I don't like the tree expand structure being used for each library, I prefer folders pointing to locations. Maybe I'm just picky, but little things can annoy me

Tip:
Then you should use 1 library for 1 folder, instead of many folders in one library.
You can create your own libraries for each folder, just like you would create a junction.(minus the permissions problem)

Right-click on "libraries" in the left pane of the explorer, and chose -> new -> library
You can give it it's own name, it's own icon and view settings.

Try and see if that works for you.

Good luck

 

[sup3rsprt]

Have you actually tried going another level deep instead of just listing the contents?

(From another PC on the network ofcourse)

Of course. After all, that is the whole problem I was trying to help you solve.

 

[jabalsad]

Tip:
Then you should use 1 library for 1 folder, instead of many folders in one library.
You can create your own libraries for each folder, just like you would create a junction.(minus the permissions problem)

Right-click on "libraries" in the left pane of the explorer, and chose -> new -> library
You can give it it's own name, it's own icon and view settings.

Try and see if that works for you.

Good luck

Thanks, that is a good tip! Even though that is a good solution, it's not perfect; another reason why I would like to use NTFS junctions is to have one network share for all videos for example. If I were to create separate libraries for each type of video, they would all appear as separate shares (handy in certain cases, but undesirable in others).

 

[jabalsad]

Have you actually tried going another level deep instead of just listing the contents?

(From another PC on the network ofcourse)

Of course. After all, that is the whole problem I was trying to help you solve.

I'm going to try again your steps exactly as you laid them out to see if I can get it to work. However I think the software used to create NTFS junctions should be irrelevant. I will come back with my results.

 

[SquonkSC]

Tip:
Then you should use 1 library for 1 folder, instead of many folders in one library.
You can create your own libraries for each folder, just like you would create a junction.(minus the permissions problem)

Right-click on "libraries" in the left pane of the explorer, and chose -> new -> library
You can give it it's own name, it's own icon and view settings.

Try and see if that works for you.

Good luck

Thanks, that is a good tip! Even though that is a good solution, it's not perfect; another reason why I would like to use NTFS junctions is to have one network share for all videos for example. If I were to create separate libraries for each type of video, they would all appear as separate shares (handy in certain cases, but undesirable in others).

Get creative, use them both.

One video library for all, and separate libraries for the ones you want to separate.

By the way, how would a junction be better in that scenario?

Greetings

 

[jabalsad]

Get creative, use them both.

One video library for all, and separate libraries for the ones you want to separate.

By the way, how would a junction be better in that scenario?

Greetings

Yes, that is the plan. Separate libraries for the ones I want to have separate shares. But, in the case of the Video library, it may only contain one folder (and not multiple sub-libraries). This folder is then the one that contains NTFS junctions (which I now got to work for some obscure reason).

 

[jabalsad]

I'm going to try again your steps exactly as you laid them out to see if I can get it to work. However I think the software used to create NTFS junctions should be irrelevant. I will come back with my results.

Alright, it seems the change in software worked! Hell only knows why. I was previously using a software called Winbolic Link. I removed all the junctions that has been created by it and uninstalled the software completely. I then continued to download and install junction link magic, created the junctions I desired and *bam* it worked!

What a frustration to find out where the problem lies, but then again I learned some information through this thread, especially in using libraries more efficiently.

Thank you all for the input.

 

[SquonkSC]

I'm going to try again your steps exactly as you laid them out to see if I can get it to work. However I think the software used to create NTFS junctions should be irrelevant. I will come back with my results.

Alright, it seems the change in software worked! Hell only knows why. I was previously using a software called Winbolic Link. I removed all the junctions that has been created by it and uninstalled the software completely. I then continued to download and install junction link magic, created the junctions I desired and *bam* it worked!

What a frustration to find out where the problem lies, but then again I learned some information through this thread, especially in using libraries more efficiently.

Thank you all for the input.

You're welcome,

By the way, I never noticed you used software for the junctions.

I thought you used the command line.
(I have made a tutorial on it in our tutorial section)

That might have made me point you in the right direction sooner.

But like you said, this way you found out a little more about the libraries.

Another powerful item is Favorites in the explorer (not to be confused with IE favorites)

If you have a folder that is deep down a folder tree, but you need to access it regularly, just drop that folder on favorites.

That way you'll go there instantly when you click on it.

Greetz