[KShef]

When I shared a file in ME it allowed me to protect it with a password. I can't find this feature in XP. Is there a way I can do this?

[ekÆsine]

can you explain to me how you set up this protection in ME? i'm trying to understand what kind of protection you are talking about.

[KShef]

When you open the properties of a folder you want to share in ME the sharing tab looks like this.

http://www.homenethelp.com/web/howto...in98-share.gif

When you do the same thing in XP the sharing tab looks like this.

http://www.homenethelp.com/web/howto...-share-xp2.gif

When you select the Access Type Depends on Password in ME, it will prompt you to enter the password you set when you try to access it from another computer.

Does XP have this capability, or is that setting such a weak security measure they decided not to even include it?

[ekÆsine]

to do what you want you must have winXP professional on the machine who will setup this protection. by default winXP enables simple sharing mode. we want to switch to advanced sharing mode. this is setup almost the same way as win2000 and is many times more secure than password protection in winMillenium or win98.

open my computer select tools> folder options. on the very last option in the list, uncheck use simple sharing mode. on folders you want to share right click them and select sharing & security. you will see you have new options.

you must duplicate the username and password of all users you want to share with and add them to this permission list. example:

computer1 is username: john, password: 1111
compuuer2 is username: bill, password: 2222

you want to share a folder on john's computer so bill can access it using advanced sharing mode.

on john's machine goto control panel> user accounts create a new limited account (instead of administrator account). give it the username bill and password: 2222. this must match bill's exact name and pass.

john can only add users from user accounts from his own machine. this is why we must duplicate bill's account on john's machine. setting it to limited means bill has limited access as opposed to the all powerful administrator privledges which has complete control over john's computer.

so back to the folder permissions. select everyone and click the remove button. everyone means anyone has permission to access the folder, we do not want this. click the add button and add bill to the permission list of that folder.

you can set all the other sharing options and click ok to apply those changes. in network neighborhood bill should now be able to access that folder. all other unauthorized user will get a permission denied warning message

[KShef]

I did like you said... My Computer> Tools> Folder Options> View> Advanced Settings> Use simple file sharing (Recommended). Then I went to, not only the file I'm trying to share, but I experimented with five different files and none of the Sharing properties give me a different dialog on the Sharing tab. I have XP Pro 2002 Service Pack 1, if that makes a difference.

As far as I can tell I'm the administrator, but I'm wondering if there's any way I can be sure of that. Everyone who uses windows on this computer has a profile but there are no login passwords.

I've actually seen someone do what you're describing before and it worked for them, but every time I try it myself it doesn't. There's gotta be something I'm doing wrong.

[ekÆsine]

KShef you can only set sharing permisions on a folder not an individual file. right click on a folder you want to share and select sharing & security.

[frankieee]

One way you can double check to see if you are the Administrator in XP is if you go to start/run and type "control userpasswords2". In there you'll be able to view the properties. If you are not an administrator you may want to ask the administrator on the pc to give you administrative rights. If the administrator does not allow this then you will have to call upon that individual to change the permissions for you. People like to put user restrictions on their pc's as a security feature or just so people don't mess up their settings. Usually happens in a controlled environment.
This sounds like the case...

--Good Luck

[KShef]

ekAEsine: Sorry about my ignorance. I thought files and folders were the same thing.

That notwithstanding, when I unchecked use simple sharing mode I should have had new options when I went to the folder I want to share. I've seen someone else do this and it worked, too. When I do it in this case, (right click the folder, select Sharing and Security) the options are the same as they were.

I bought this computer myself and verified that I am the administrator. I even rebooted and went back to Folder Options to verify that Simple Sharing Mode is still unchecked. Is there another setting somewhere that could be preventing the folders from going into Advanced Sharing Mode?

Frankieee: Thanks. That's a valuable command to know. It'll definitely help me a lot!

[frankieee]

No probs.
Have you gone into Start/Control Panel/User Accts?

[KShef]

Yeah, I'm definitely the administrator