Objective 2.1: Monitor, Manage, and Troubleshoot Access to Files and Folders

As a desktop support technician (DST), one of your primary responsibilities will be troubleshooting issues that might arise when users cannot access files or folders stored on their computers. You should understand how NT File System (NTFS) permissions that are incorrectly configured on a Windows XP computer can restrict access to files and folders, and you should know what to do to correct this type of problem. You should also know how to use the Simple File Sharing user interface, and be able to troubleshoot problems a user might encounter when using simple file sharing on a Windows XP Professional or a Windows XP Home Edition computer. Finally, you should be able to troubleshoot problems users might encounter while using the Windows XP Professional Encryption File System (EFS).

To answer the questions in this objective, you should know how to troubleshoot NTFS folder and file permissions, manage and troubleshoot simple file sharing issues, and be able to answer end-user questions concerning file encryption.

Objective 2.1 Questions

1. You are a desktop support technician (DST) for a large bank that has several servers running Windows Server 2003 throughout the city. Every day, 30 to 40 tellers must type the path of the servers and share name into the Run command dialog box of their workstations running Windows XP Professional so that they can access the shared folders over the network. This is very time consuming and prone to error because many of the tellers have been typing in the Universal Naming Convention (UNC) addresses incorrectly. The supervisor calls you to ask whether there is an easier way for the tellers to connect to the shared folders without having to memorize the location of the resources. What should you tell her?

   1. Inform the supervisor that mapping available drives to the shared folders would be a quick solution.

   2. Inform the supervisor that DHCP can be implemented on the workstations.

   3. Inform the supervisor that Domain Name System (DNS) must be implemented.

   4. Inform the supervisor that Windows XP Professional does not allow drives to be mapped, only the Windows Server products do.

2. You are a DST for a small law practice and receive a phone call from one of the attorneys, who is running Windows XP Professional on his laptop. He informs you that his hard drive is almost filled to capacity and that he wants to use the compression feature that Windows offers. You walk him through the steps, but when he right-clicks the folder he wants to compress, there is no option on the screen allowing compression. The attorney is logged on to his workstation as local administrator, so you do not think it is a permissions issue. What could be the reason the attorney cannot use the compression feature?

   1. Compression is only available on Microsoft server products.

   2. The lawyer’s hard disk is too full to do compression.

   3. The attorney’s computer is configured with a FAT32 partition.

   4. The attorney’s workstation is not assigned to a domain.

3. You are a desktop support technician (DST) for a large auto repair shop franchise and support more than 50 users. The vice president (VP) of the company calls and tells you that he is very concerned that unauthorized personnel are making changes to documents that they should be allowed only to view. The VP wants to restrict access to shared folders that are stored on each of the sales staff’s workstations running Windows XP Professional. The share name of the folder is called Status. He wants to allow employees only the Read permission to the shared folder when they connect from home or from anywhere outside the office, and Full Control of the shared folder when they are at work. What should you do to meet the VP’s request?

   1. Configure the shared folder permission to Read; NTFS permission Full Control.

   2. Configure the shared folder permission to Full Control; NTFS permission Read.

   3. Configure the shared folder permission to Read; NTFS permission Read.

   4. Inform the VP that it is not possible to configure the folder to meet his requirements.

4. You are a desktop support technician for a diagnostic lab. A user calls and asks you why she is not able to encrypt the contents of a folder that contain sensitive archived information. She informs you that she was able to compress the contents of the folder, but she is not able to select the Encryption check box. What should you tell her? (Choose the best answer.)

   1. You should tell her that a compressed folder cannot be encrypted.

   2. You should tell the user that she is probably not authorized to encrypt the folder.

   3. You should tell her that she needs to enable encryption using the EFS wizard.

   4. You should tell her that her partition needs to be NTFS.

Objective 2.1 Answers

1. Correct Answers: A

   1. Correct: Rather than having to re-type the UNC path to access a shared resource, it is more efficient to simply map a drive to the resource so that it is always available.

   2. Incorrect: Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is used on a network to automatically issue IP addresses, subnet masks, default gateway information, and other TCP/IP configuration, to workstations that participate in address selection. DHCP does not map network drives.

   3. Incorrect: DNS is a name resolution solution. When you connect to an Internet address, DNS resolves the host name you enter, such as www.microsoft.com, to an IP address. DNS does not map drives.

   4. Incorrect: The ability to create a mapped drive is available on Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Millennium Edition (Windows Me), and all other Microsoft operating systems.

2. Correct Answers: C

   1. Incorrect: Compression is available only on Microsoft operating systems that use NTFS file systems.

   2. Incorrect: Compression can be done regardless of the space available.

   3. Correct: The compression feature, as well as disk quotas, and NTFS permissions, can only be done on an NTFS-formatted partition.

   4. Incorrect: The workstation does not have to be assigned to a domain.

3. Correct Answers: A

   1. Correct: When a user connects from outside the organization, the combined shared folder permissions and NTFS permissions will give the remote user Read permission to the folder. Remember that the most restrictive permission is selected. The user will have Full Control permission when accessing the folder from the workstation.

   2. Incorrect: A remote user in this situation would have an effective permission of Read. However, the user would have the same permission when logged on to the local machine.

   3. Incorrect: This would prevent the user from having Full Control access when logged on locally.

   4. Incorrect: Configure the shared folder permission to Read; NTFS permission Full Control, to meet the VP’s requirements.

4. Correct Answers: A

   1. Correct: Compression and encryption are mutually exclusive.

   2. Incorrect: Because she is able to compress the folder, she has the appropriate permissions to also encrypt it.

   3. Incorrect: There is no such wizard. Encryption is enabled by default.

   4. Incorrect: The fact that she could use compression on the folder indicates that the partition is already formatted as NTFS.