Re: system folders not shared?

Hey Ron, you ARE a GENIUS!

It is amazing how much can be accomplished at a command line. Got things resolved and thought you'd like to hear some of this
'adventure' so here goes.

Well, the post did not mention this is XP pro. I'm glad it was forgotten because after going through the procedure you outlined for
PRO, I still could not access XP's system folders (or sub folders). Went to instructions for HOME edition, went to the command
prompt, did my thing and voila', had access to the Program Files folder, but that was it! No access was given to sub folders unless
each was done individually, and even file types within a folder made a difference whether or not they could be accessed (eg. TXT
files would open across the network but media files [WMA] would not).

After HOURS of fiddling, to make a long story short, I found by going to XP's root drive folder, clicking sharing & security, share
folder, security tab, (may have had to add 'Everyone' group), highlighted 'Everyone', upgraded permissions, clicked 'advanced',
highlighted 'Everyone', edit, reselected permissions, and the KEY (after all that, which your help got me to) was to check 'replace
permission entries on all child ...'

Finally I was able to access the entire drive. Now I have a tape backup of EVERYTHING (except some locked open files, which were not
many) AND can manipulate files back and forth in the network. Pretty nice!

THANKS for your detailed, helpful response!
Vic



"Ron Lowe" <ron-msng@{d.e.l.e.t.e}lowe-family.me.uk> wrote in message news:uQofmB#NGHA.2916@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Vic" <bogus@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:eDRRnJ9NGHA.2320@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
As a late bloomer to XP (last week) there is still a lot to learn. Got
networking fine with two home computers (XP & 98SE). BUT much
to my dismay XP's 'windows' and 'program files' cannot be shared. Looked
in the networking documentation and it plainly states these
folders cannot be shared!

Well, I the DAT tape backup is on the Win98 PC (not XP pc) and I would
like to backup the XP PC. Is there ANY work around which
would allow XP's system folders to be shared over the network so I can
back them up?

Thanks
Vic




Yes, there is a workaround.

Background:
Windows XP using Simple File sharing on an NTFS disk will use NTFS
permissions to block the sharing of certain folders.
Also, XP Home Edition does not expose the NTFS permissions UI to let you
change it.

It depends which version of XP you have.
XP Pro:
1) Disable Simple File Sharing;
2) Go to the blocked folders, R-Click, Sharing and Security, Security tab.
3) Set the permissions manually.
4) Log into the win9x box with a username / password that matches the
permissions.

XP Home:
XP home is more tricky, for 2 reasons.
1) You cannot disable Simple File Sharing - so you cannot access the
Security tab;
2) You cannot disable Simple File Sharing - so all incoming connections
authenticate as Guest.

We can't do anything about (2), but we can work around (1) to that Guest has
the same permissions as other folders.

There are 2 ways to do it:
1) Boot to safe mode and manipulate the folder permissions there ( Add the
'Everyone' group );

or

2) Go to a command prompt.
Change Directory to the parent of the target folder.
Use the CALCS command to change the folder permissions:

Here's a commented screen-dump of me making some inaccessible
folders available across the network on XP Home:


We will go to a command prompt window, and use the CACLS command.
So start up a commad prompt window and follow along...

In this example, I'm making my profile directory
(C:\Docs+Setts\Ron ) accessible across the network:


Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.


# First, notice that the command prompt window has opened
# with the profile directory I wish to edit as my current working
# directory ( C:\Docs+Sets\Ron ). I'm going to move up one level,
# to C:\Docs+Sets so the Ron directory is visible to me.


C:\Documents and Settings\Ron>cd ..


# Can I see the directory I want to edit?
# Let's try the DIR command and see...


C:\Documents and Settings>dir
Volume in drive C has no label.
Volume Serial Number is C4C5-AAB4


Directory of C:\Documents and Settings


12/06/2005 14:06 <DIR> .
12/06/2005 14:06 <DIR> ..
12/06/2005 13:45 <DIR> All Users
12/06/2005 14:06 <DIR> Ron
0 File(s) 0 bytes
4 Dir(s) 15,526,223,872 bytes free


# Ah, yes, there it is.
# Let's look at the existing permissions:


C:\Documents and Settings>cacls ron
C:\Documents and Settings\Ron BUILTIN\Administrators:(OI)(CI)F
XP-HOME-VPC\Ron:(OI)(CI)F
NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(OI)(CI)F


# Now, add the Everyone group, which includes Guest:
# the last 'C' means I'm granting read/write access to everyone
# including the Guest account across the network.
# Replace the 'C' with 'R' for read-only ( eg backing up ).


C:\Documents and Settings>cacls ron /E /G Everyone:C
processed dir: C:\Documents and Settings\Ron


#Now, lets look at the permissions again:


C:\Documents and Settings>cacls ron
C:\Documents and Settings\Ron BUILTIN\Administrators:(OI)(CI)F
XP-HOME-VPC\Ron:(OI)(CI)F
NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(OI)(CI)F
Everyone:(OI)(CI)C


# Now the folder is accessible across the network.
# All the contents of the folder are too, because they
# inherit the parent folder's permissions.


# This works with the Program Files folder too.


C:\Documents and Settings>cd ..
C:\>cacls "program files" /E /G Everyone:C
processed dir: C:\Program Files
C:\>cacls "program files"
C:\Program Files BUILTIN\Administrators:(OI)(CI)F
CREATOR OWNER:(OI)(CI)(IO)F
Everyone:(OI)(CI)C
NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(OI)(CI)F
BUILTIN\Users:(OI)(CI)R


# This is now accessible across the network too.




--
Best Regards
Ron Lowe




.

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