Objective 2.2: Manage and Troubleshoot Access to Shared Folders

As a desktop support technician (DST), you might have to assist users who call and say they are not able to connect to a network resource, or that they received an Access Deny message. In some cases, the problem might be as simple as a workstation network cable being unplugged from a wall socket. Other times, the problem might be a little more complex. A user might not have the appropriate permissions to access a shared folder, or shared folder permissions combined with NTFS permissions might prevent the user from having the access needed.

As a DST, you typically will not assign NTFS permissions to network resources, but you should have an understanding of how shared permissions can be combined with NTFS permissions to create a more secure environment. You should also know how to create shared folders.

To answer the questions in this objective, you should know how Windows XP Professional uses both NTFS and shared folder permissions to make network resources available to users.

Objective 2.2 Questions

1. You are a desktop support technician (DST) for a music retail company that has all workstations running Windows XP Professional and one workstation running Windows 98 that is used for timekeeping. A user calls you to ask why he cannot access the SalesRpt folder. He tells you that four of his co-workers cannot access the folder either and that if this isn’t fixed, heads are going to roll! What should be the first thing you do? (Choose the best answer.)

   1. You should tell the user to reboot his workstation to reestablish any share connections.

   2. Determine which workstation is sharing the folder and whether that workstation is accessible over the network.

   3. You should determine which workstation is sharing the folder and perform a shutdown.

   4. You should determine which workstation is sharing the folder and perform a restart.

2. You are a desktop support technician (DST) for a large bookstore that has only workstations running Windows XP Professional. A Power User wants to share a folder named Inventory, which is located on her FAT32 partition, with four other employees. She wants two of the employees to have Read permission to the contents of the folder because it contains information that the two employees should not be able to modify. She also wants the two other employees to have access to the same Inventory folder, but she wants these two people to have Full Control permission of the folder. She calls you and asks if it is possible for her to accomplish this goal. What should you tell her?

   1. You should tell the user that she needs to create a new folder named Inventory2, and that she should copy the contents of the folder Inventory into the new folder. She should then give Read permission to the Inventory folder and Full Control permission to the Inventory2 folder.

   2. You should tell the user that she needs to format the hard drive with NTFS to accomplish her goal.

   3. You should tell the user that she can accomplish her goal by creating multiple share names for the Inventory folder.

   4. You should inform the user that only administrators have the ability to share folders.

3. You are a desktop support technician (DST) for a small collection agency. A user calls you and says that she is trying to share a folder that she created on her workstation running Windows XP Professional with several other co-workers, but that she doesn’t have the option to select individuals or groups to access the shared folder. What could be the reason for this?

   1. Simple file sharing is enabled.

   2. The user does not have permission to share folders.

   3. Windows XP Professional does not allow for the sharing of network resources. Sharing folders can only be done on Windows 2000 Server or Windows 2003 Server.

   4. The user’s workstation is not configured with an NTFS partition.

4. You are a desktop support technician (DST) for an insurance company that has more than 40 workstations running Windows XP Professional. The workstations are configured with two partitions, C and D. The C partition is configured as FAT32, and the D partition is configured as NTFS. A new user calls you and says she is not able to share her status reports folder, which is located on partition C, with any of her peer reviewers. She says that when she right-clicks the folder icon in Windows Explorer, she does not see a Sharing And Security option. What should you do?

   1. Tell the user to copy the folder to the D partition because shared folders are not accessible in FAT32.

   2. Tell the user to disable simple file sharing.

   3. Tell the user to select the Enable Sharing On This Computer option on the General tab of the Systems Properties dialog box.

   4. You should tell the user that she currently does not have permission to create shared folders.

5. You are a desktop support technician (DST) for a small medical center that has nine workstations running Windows XP Professional. A user calls and says she shared a resource on her computer, but that no one is able to see the share in My Network Places. You go to the user’s office to verify the folder is shared, but you are not able to see the shared folder from any other workstations. What could be the possible cause of this problem?

   1. The server service might be stopped on the user’s workstation.

   2. The user does not have the correct permissions to share folders.

   3. High Security is set on the user’s workstations, which prevents all shared folders from being visible to network users.

   4. The workstation running Windows XP Professional should be replaced with Windows 2000 Server because workstations cannot share resources.

6. You are a desktop support technician DST for a small international bakery. One of the bakers is going to Paris, France, to discuss a secret family recipe for blueberry scones. He will be taking his laptop with him and staying at a world-renowned hotel. What might you want to do to make the laptop more secure?

   1. You should consider using an NTFS file system instead of FAT.

   2. You should use EFS on all folders containing sensitive information.

   3. You should select Hibernation mode in Power Options.

   4. You should select Standby mode in Power Options.

7. You are a desktop support technician (DST) for a large real estate company that has 15 workstations running Windows XP Professional. A user calls to ask why she is unable to access a shared folder on her co-worker’s workstation. At the co-worker’s workstation, you check the shared permissions that are assigned to the folder and verify that the Everyone group has Full Control, yet she is not able to access the resource. You verify that several other employees can access the share with no problems. What could be the reason for this problem?

   1. The user is not a member of the Everyone group.

   2. The user does not have the correct shared permission to access the resource.

   3. You should reboot the workstation sharing the folder to reestablish the share permissions.

   4. The folder might be configured with NTFS permissions that restrict the user’s access.

8. Which of the following commands would connect you to a shared folder named EmpShr that is located on partition D: of a workstation named Computer1?

   1. A. d:\\computer1\ EmpShr

   2. B. //computer1/empshr

   3. C. /computer1/empshr

   4. D. \\computer1\empshr

9. A user is attempting to look at a folder that is on her Windows XP Professional desktop and gets an Access Denied error. What could be the possible cause of this problem?

   1. The shared permissions on the folder restrict access to the folder.

   2. NTFS permissions are restricting user access.

   3. The user needs to share the file.

   4. The user must have the folder permission of Full Control.

10. You are a desktop support technician of a health spa. A user calls you to ask which utility she would use to map one of her drives to a workstation running Windows XP Professional that is located across town. What should you tell her?

    1. Internet Explorer

    2. Windows Explorer

    3. Event Viewer

    4. User Manager for Domains

11. You are a desktop support technician (DST) for a computer training school that has five class rooms. Each of the classrooms contains 12 workstations running Microsoft Windows XP Professional. The Director of the training center wants to share a folder on the training center’s Windows Server 2003 server that contains student evaluation forms that can be access by students who enroll in a class. She wants the enrolled students to be able to click an icon on the desktop instead of having them use a network drive to access the shared folder. How can you meet the Director’s requirement?

    1. Use Internet Explorer, and create a mapped drive to the shared folder resource.

    2. Use the Systems Properties dialog box, and select to enable shortcut shares.

    3. Create a shortcut on each workstation desktop that has the UNC entered in the Type The Location Of The Item text box

    4. Create a VBScript that maps each workstation to the training center server.

12. To which of the following Windows XP Professional local groups must users belong to enable them to share folders? (Choose all that apply.)

    1. Administrators

    2. Print Operators

    3. Power Users

    4. Server Operators

Objective 2.2 Answers

1. Correct Answers: B

   1. Incorrect: It is unlikely a problem with the user’s workstation because four other workstations are unable to connect to the resource.

   2. Correct: Because a total of five workstations cannot connect to the resource, it is probable that the network resource is unavailable.

   3. Incorrect: Performing a shutdown will prevent any other users from connecting to other resources that might be shared on the workstation. You should first determine if the workstation is connected to the network before shutting it down.

   4. Incorrect: Performing a restart will also prevent any other users from connecting to other resources that might be shared on the workstation. You should first determine if the workstation is connected to the network before restarting it.

2. Correct Answers: C

   1. Incorrect: You do not give share permissions to a folder, but to a shared folder. When you create a shared folder, you must give it a share name. You can create multiple share names for one folder. In this example, the user can give the employees Read permissions to the share name Inventory, and then share the same folder with a different share name and give the other two employees Full Control permission.

   2. Incorrect: Formatting a drive with any file system will delete all of its contents. If it were necessary to change a file system from FAT to NTFS, the convert command would be used. In this scenario, NTFS is not needed because folders can be shared on both FAT and NTFS partitions.

   3. Correct: You can create multiple share names for a folder and assign different share names to the folder. You could then assign different share permissions to each of the share names.

   4. Incorrect: Power Users, administrators, and members of the Server Operators local group can share folders.

3. Correct Answers: A

   1. Correct: For a user to be able to assign shared folder permission to specific users or groups, simple file sharing must be disabled. You do this by selecting Appearance And Themes in Control Panel, and then selecting Folder Options. Then click the View tab, and deselect the Use Simple File Sharing (Recommended) option in the Advanced Settings section.

   2. Incorrect: If a user does not have the required permissions to share folders, she will not have the Sharing And Security option in the Properties dialog box of the resource. In this scenario, the user said she could not assign permissions to specific users, not that she couldn’t share the folder.

   3. Incorrect: Windows XP Professional and Windows XP Home Edition allow users to share network resources if they are members of the Administrators (Computer Administrator), Power Users, or Server Operators groups.

   4. Incorrect: Even though shared resources should be placed on NTFS partitions for increased security, it is not mandatory.

4. Correct Answers: D

   1. Incorrect: Shared folders can be created on both FAT32 and NTFS partitions.

   2. Incorrect: In this scenario, the user does not have the permissions to share folders.

   3. Incorrect: There is no such option.

   4. Correct: When a user does not have the Sharing And Security option listed in the properties menu of a folder, it indicates that the user is not a member of the Administrators or Power Users groups.

5. Correct Answers: A

   1. Correct: The server service must be enabled on a workstation so that the workstation can broadcast all the resources it is sharing over the network. You can stop and start this service by using the Services console.

   2. Incorrect: In this scenario, the user has shared the folder. The issue here is that no one on the network can see the shared folder, not if the user can share a folder. Even though the share is not visible from My Network Places, users could access it if they knew the network path by either mapping to it or using a UNC.

   3. Incorrect: There is no such thing.

   4. Incorrect: Users can share resources on workstations running Windows XP Professional if they belong to the Administrators or Power Users local groups.

6. Correct Answers: A, B

   1. Correct: A FAT file system does not provide any security.

   2. Correct: Laptops are perfect candidates for using the Encryption File System.

   3. Incorrect: Hibernation mode is not a security feature.

   4. Incorrect: Standby mode is not a security feature.

7. Correct Answers: D

   1. Incorrect: Everyone is a member of the Everyone group—no exceptions.

   2. Incorrect: In this scenario, the user has the Full Control shared permission to the folder.

   3. Incorrect: Other users are connecting to the shared folder, which verifies that the workstation sharing the folder is running.

   4. Correct: Even though a user might have Full Control shared permission, if an NTFS permission is configured to restrict access (Deny Access), the user attempting to connect over the network will not be able to access the folder. When shared permissions are combined with NTFS permissions, the most restrictive permissions are applied.

8. Correct Answers: D

   1. Incorrect: The correct syntax for an UNC is \\server_name\share_name. In this example, \\computer1\empshr would be the correct syntax.

   2. Incorrect: The correct syntax for an UNC is \\server_name\share_name. In this example, \\computer1\ would be the correct syntax.

   3. Incorrect: The correct syntax for an UNC is \\server_name\share_name. In this example, \\computer1\empshr would be the correct syntax.

   4. Correct: Users can share resources on workstations running Windows XP Professional if they belong to the Administrators or Power Users local groups.

9. Correct Answers: B

   1. Incorrect: Shared folder permissions do not apply to someone logged on interactively (locally). Shared permissions only apply to users connecting over a network.

   2. Correct: NTFS permissions can restrict a user from accessing resources on their local workstation.

   3. Incorrect: Files cannot be shared. Only folders are shared.

   4. Incorrect: Because the user is logged on to her workstation, and the folder is locally stored, shared folder permissions do not matter.

10. Correct Answers: B

    1. Incorrect: Internet Explorer is used as a browser to connect to the Internet or intranets.

    2. Correct: Windows Explorer is the utility used to map network drives to shared folders. Select Tools from Windows Explorer, and select Map Network Drive from the menu.

    3. Incorrect: Event Viewer is a tool to view system log files, not to map drives.

    4. Incorrect: User Manager for Domains was a management console used in older versions of Microsoft Windows NT.

11. Correct Answers: C

    1. Incorrect: The director did not want the enrolled student to have to use network drives.

    2. Incorrect: There is no such thing.

    3. Correct: You can use an UNC, such as \\TrainingCenter\Evals, as the value in the Type The Location Of The Item text box.

    4. Incorrect: This does not meet the Director’s requirement.

12. Correct Answers: A, C

    1. Correct: A user must be a member of the local Administrators or Power Users group to share folders.

    2. Incorrect: A user must be a member of the local Administrators or Power Users group to share folders.

    3. Correct: A user must be a member of the local Administrators or Power Users group to share folders.

    4. Incorrect: A user must be a member of the local Administrators or Power Users group to share folders.